2011-03: Support the Immediate Completion and Distribution of the Department of Education’s Report of Consultations with American Indian and Alaska Natives on Education in Tribal and Urban Communities

WHEREAS, the National Indian Education Association (NIEA) was established in 1970 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 education of American Indian and Alaska Native students is an issue of national importance as well as an issue of paramount importance to American Indian and Alaska Native tribes and communities; and

WHEREAS, the United States Department of Education (USDOE) has held meetings, consultations, and public hearings across the country over the past three years regarding the state of American Indian and Alaska Native education; and

WHEREAS, the USDOE has held meetings, consultations, and public hearings in urban areas over the past year regarding the state of American Indian and Alaska Native education for individuals living in these urban centers; and

WHEREAS, the USDOE has represented to the general public, witnesses in attendance, and the American Indian and Alaska Native population that the comments, suggestions, and recommendations presented as testimony at these meetings, consultations, and public hearings would be summarized and presented in a report that is made available to the general public regarding the state of American Indian and Alaska Native Education; and

WHEREAS, information about the state of American Indian and Alaska Native education is vital to be able to acknowledge best and promising practices, to better reach and teach our American Indian and Alaska Native students, and to understand the areas that need to be improved; and

WHEREAS, there is a need for the immediate completion and release to the general public of a report now overdue by the USDOE on the meetings, consultations, and public hearings which have occurred over the last three years; now

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the USDOE shall immediately complete and release a report to the general public on the meetings, consultations, and public hearings which have occurred between the USDOE and American Indians and Alaska Natives on the state of American Indian and Alaska Native education across the United States.