2008-12: NIEA to Demand that the Bureau of Indian Affairs/Education Follow the Federal Statute that Requires that 100% of the Funds for Facilities, Operations, and Maintenance be Distributed

WHEREAS, the National Indian Education Association (NIEA) was established in 1969 for the purpose of advocating, planning, and promoting the unique and special educational needs of American Indians, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians; and

WHEREAS, NIEA as the largest national Indian organization of American Indian, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiian educators, administrators, parents and students in the United States, provides a forum to discuss and act upon issues affecting the education of Indian and Native people; and

WHEREAS, through its’ unique relationship with Indian nations and tribes, the federal government has established programs and resources to meet the educational needs of American Indians, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiians, residing on and off their reserved or non-reserved homelands; and

WHEREAS, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) has “constrained” the facilities funds for the past numbers of years; and

WHEREAS, the BIA blames the constrainment on Congress’s “continuing resolution;”

WHEREAS, the continuing resolution is a result of the BIA not submitting a budget that is acceptable to the Congress because they have withheld funds from the schools; and

WHEREAS, a federal statute made in 1981 and revised in April 1, 2008, states that 100% of the facilities, operations, and maintenance funds will be distributed by October 1 of each year; and

WHEREAS, the BIA has recently held a teleconference where they reported that the funds would be again constrained by 43% of last year’s funds;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, the National Indian Education Association demands that the BIA immediately come into compliance with the federal statute and fund the schools’ facilities, operations, and maintenance at 100%;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the National Indian Education Association demands that the BIA will immediately submit an acceptable budget for facilities, operation, and maintenance of all schools.