Copyright 1999 Federal News Service, Inc.
Federal News Service
OCTOBER 27, 1999, WEDNESDAY
SECTION: IN THE NEWS
LENGTH:
2569 words
HEADLINE: PREPARED TESTIMONY OF
LLOYD D.
TORTALITA
GOVERNOR OF THE PUEBLO OF ACOMA
BEFORE THE
SENATE INDIAN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
SUBJECT - REAUTHORIZATION
OF THE ELEMENTARY
AND SECONDARY EDUCATION ACT
BODY:
I. INTRODUCTION
Honorable Chairman and Committee Members, on
behalf of the Pueblo of Acoma, its children, youth and other life-long learners
within the Acoma Reservation, I would like to express our appreciation for this
opportunity to testify before your Committee on the reauthorization of the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) and its
subsequent amendments. For the Acoma Tribe, education is a priority. We firmly
believe that education is the foundation upon which we can realize our
self-determination goals and the key to achieving economic self-sufficiency.
My testimony will focus first on Impact Aid issues; Acoma strongly advocates
the elimination of Section 8009 of Title VIII of the ESEA which
creates a loophole allowing States to retain funds intended for school systems
on or near federal lands, including reservation lands. Second, I will focus on
many of the overall concerns raised by the National Indian Education Association
regarding ESEA, which Acoma supports. Third, I would like to
address funding of public schools that serve Indian communities as well as
general education issues. I approach these issues not only as the Governor of
Acoma, but also as a former District School Board Member, elected public
official and coordinator for the Acoma Educational Services.
II. IMPACT AID
FUNDING IN NEW MEXICO
New Mexico takes "impact aid" funds away from public
schools serving Indian communities (as well as other federally impacted
schools). Title VIII of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (P.L. 103-
382) provides "Impact Aid" funds for school systems located on or near federal
lands to make up for the loss of property taxes due to the tax-exempt status of
those lands. For Indian tribes, whose lands are held in trust by the United
States, such funds are critical to the success of the local public school
systems. In New Mexico, however, the State has reduced state funding to such
schools, through 1998, by an amount equal to 95% of the Impact Aid funds. In
1999, the state reduced the funding by 75%. The funding that the State withholds
is then redistributed to all schools in the state.
The Grants/Cibola County
School District, where Acoma's youth go to school, is eligible for Impact Aid
funds from the Federal Government under Section 8003 of Title VIII of the
ESEA because over 65% of the property in Cibola County is
federal or trust land and therefore not taxable. In addition to National
Forests, National Monuments and National Parks, the district encompasses the
Pueblo of Acoma, Pueblo of Laguna and portions of the Navajo Nation. Most of the
children and youth of the Pueblos and the Navajo Chapters in Cibola County
attend public schools in the Grants/Cibola County School District.
The
Loophole. Although eligible for Impact Aid funding, the Cibolla County schools
actually receive only a fraction of the authorized amount. New Mexico has taken
advantage of a loophole in the law which allows the State to reduce state
funding to federally impacted school districts if the majority of the school
districts in the state are funded within 25% of each other on a per student
basis (Section 8009). This formula does not include the top 5% or the bottom 5%
of schools by per student funding, which further skews the outcome. For example,
Grants/Cibola County Schools receive only 52% of the funding received by the Los
Alamos Public Schools on a per student basis. Acoma does not believe that our
children deserve only half as much education as the children in Los Alamos, New
Mexico. These statistics are all the more upsetting when funds designated to
help our children, our held back by the State of New Mexico under this loophole.
In New Mexico's case, equality under this formula is achieved by effectively
taking money from school systems which serve Indians and other federally
impacted communities and redistributing the funds to all school systems. Under
this redistribution system, Albuquerque public schools receive $13 million in
Impact Aid funds that they would otherwise be ineligible to receive. Meanwhile,
school systems which serve Indian populations are deprived of critically needed
funds, especially for school construction and renovation where the Indian
schools greatly lag behind the non-Indian schools. For example, the
Grants/Cibola County Schools, as well as Zuni and Gallup/McKinley County
Schools, have used all their bonding capacity and are unable to generate enough
property taxes to build any new schools. Meanwhile, the Albuquerque Public
Schools have an unused bonding capacity of $350 million.
Tax Cut for the
Wealthy at the Expense of the Tribes. In 1976, when New Mexico invoked the
equalization provision, the loss of Impact Aid funds to Indian tribes and other
federally impacted communities was offset by state-wide redistribution of
property taxes to all school systems. However, since then, the state property
tax has been cut by 94%, giving wealthier districts a substantial tax break at
the expense of the school districts which serve Indian communities.
Administration's Position. The Administration has proposed amending Section
8009 of the law, but Acoma remains concerned that the amendment will make no
practical difference. Under the Administration's proposal, a state could only
withhold the funds if (1) it can show that it has a program to equalize public
education funding throughout the state and (2) the average per-pupil expenditure
within the state is at least 80 percent of the national average. We understand
that New Mexico funds its schools at about 80% of the national average.
Acoma does not believe that just became New Mexico chooses to underfund
education, schools serving Indian and other federally impacted communities
should be deprived of critically needed Impact Aid dollars.
Eliminate the
Loophole. Congress provided for impact aid to assure quality educational
opportunities for children residing on or near Federal property. Acoma urges the
Congress, when it re, authorizes the Elementary and Secondary Education Act this
year, to strike the loophole in Title VIII and allow the "Impact Aid" funds to
be used as Congress originally intended. Acoma is supported in this matter by
the National Association of Federally Impacted Schools, the Grants/Cibola
County, Gallup/McKinley County Public Schools, and Zuni Public School District,
and the Zuni Tribe.
Additionally we request stronger language in Section
8004 - Policies and Procedures Relating to Children Residing on Indian Lands,
which will allow a Local Educational Agency to use its Impact Aid funds for
activities designed to increase tribal and parental involvement in the education
of Indian children, and to include involvement of Tribal Government in its
definition of tribal involvement.
III. SUPPORT FOR NIEA POSITIONS
Support for State and Local School Reform. Acoma generally agrees with the
positions taken by the National Indian Education Association in the following
areas:
* Retain all provisions in the Office of Educational Research and
Improvement authorizing research, assessment, and include American Indians and
Alaskan Natives as eligible applicants for program funding.
* Retain
all existing set-asides that currently provide funds for Bureau of Indian
Affairs schools such as Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities Act,
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Education of
Homeless Children and Youth, Title I Helping Disadvantaged Children Meet High
Standards, Title II Eisenhower Math and Science, Title III Technology Literacy
Challenge Fund, Goals 2000 and the Bilingual Education Programs.
* Include
language in all new or reauthorized ESEA programs that will
identify Indian tribes, tribal schools and BIA schools as eligible applicants
and continue to include BIA as a state education agency to ensure that all
eligible Indian children are served.
* Retain existing Title IX legislation
regarding Indian Preference in personnel actions.
* Retain all existing
authorization for programs provided in current legislation.
* Indian Student
Eligibility forms (ED506) - The definition of Indian should be revised with
considerable tribal consultation for clarity.
BIA School Funding under OIE
Formula Grant Program. Acoma also makes the following recommendations for BIA
Schools receiving funding under the OIE formula grant program. In many cases,
these recommendations are similar if not the same as those made by the National
Indian Education Association:* The Bureau of Indian Affairs should not be
required to seek specific permission for use of state activity funds.
*
Include recognition of the BIA as a SEA in any new programs proposed and in
existing programs that do not include BIA schools.
* Include tribal
standards in the definition of local standards.
* Increase percentage of
funding for BIA funded schools staff development in Title II.
* Since
BIA-funded schools serve American Indian students who are counted as high
poverty students, BIA should not have to desegregate its student data in its
reporting requirements. * Broaden the role of Title IX in BIA-funded schools so
that students are provided an overall program that meets their culturally
related needs, including integration of language and culture throughout the base
curriculum rather than viewing Title IX as a separate program.
* Allow
BIA-funded schools to utilize the consolidated school reform plans to meet the
requirements of comprehensive plans required by Title IX.
* Mandate a
relationship between BIA and Office of Bilingual Education including funding, in
order to meet the goals of American Indian language development and determine a
unified and viable approach to addressing the needs of LEP students.
*
Mandate BIA-funded schools to ensure that assessments utilized are culturally
and linguistically cognitive-appropriate.
* Provide a mechanism under Goals
2000 for States and BIA to jointly fund consortia projects including BIA funded
and public schools to avoid conflicting regulations.
IV. FUNDING AND OTHER
ISSUES
Increased funding for public schools which serve Indian communities.
In recent years, there has been a great deal of focus on funding BIA schools on
reservations. While it is important that these schools be adequately funded, the
public schools which also serve Indian reservations should not be ignored. Most
Indian students go to these public schools, which are generally underfunded, and
have deficient and antiquated facilities. Most of Acoma's students go to such a
school. We ask this Committee to consider ways to improve the funding of the
public schools which serve Indian communities.
Consultation with Tribal
Governments. The Department of Education does not currently have a policy on
tribal consultation with Tribal Governments in spite of the fact that President
Clinton issued an executive order on tribal consultation on May 14, 1998. We
would like to see a section in the reauthorized ESEA that: (1)
will clearly mandate the Department of Education to establish a policy on and a
system for tribal consultation with Tribal Governments, (2) tribal consultation
shall include all policy aspects that affect the education of Indian students
throughout the country in both public and BIA schools, O) include budget
formulation consultation on programs that affect American Indians and Alaskan
Natives and (4) mandate consultation with Tribal Governments in development of
State and Local Education Plans.
The policy should also require that a
system of accountability of the State Education Agencies (SEAs) and Local
Education Agencies (LEAs) to Tribal Governments be included, that the SEAs and
LEAs shall be required to submit manual reports on the school performance and
academic achievement of an Indian student population by tribal affiliation. By
adding this section to the law, it will strengthen and complement the Department
of Education in its implementation of President Clinton's Executive Order on
Tribal Consultation.
Retention of Previous Programs; Development of a
Funding Plan.
The Indian Education Act programs authorized in the last
reauthorization of the ESEA in 1994 should be retained but
include language that will require the Department of Education to develop a
funding plan to be included in the President's budget request for these
programs. These programs include both the Formula Grants to LEAs and the Special
Programs for Indian Children including Demonstration Grants, Fellowships for
Indian Students, Special Programs for Indian Adults, National Research
Activities, Gifted and Talented Program and especially, Grants to Tribes for
Education Administrative Planning and Development.
Reestablishment of
educational personnel development and teacher training programs. Acoma supports
reestablishment of an educational personnel development and teacher training
program as found in the original Indian Education Act. We believe that the
Department of Education Office of Indian Education should be providing contracts
to support partnership initiatives of Tribal Governments with Universities and
LEAs to establish accredited teacher-training programs. Within our local school
district, we have only four teachers that are Indian out of a total of 250
teachers for K-12 grades. Out of these four, only two are Acoma. We would like
to see more of our Acoma people trained for teaching positions. We believe that
teachers serve as critical career role models for our children and youth. We
believe our people are capable of training and working in capacities beyond
school auxiliary positions such as bus drivers, kitchen personnel and custodial
positions. It is estimated that over a third (35%) of these school auxiliary
positions are filled with our Indian people.
Funding Indian Education - A
Trust Responsibility. The Federal Government has a unique trust responsibility
to American Indians and Alaskan Natives. We believe that supporting Indian
education is a Federal trust responsibility and that education is a moral
responsibility of the Federal Government.To meet this obligation, there needs to
be a general increase in Indian education funding. At Acoma, we have received
the same funding level for our higher education students for the past three
years. Cost of tuition and fees, room and board, books and supplies,
transportation to schools and personal expenses such as childcare have increased
for our students while our funding level has remained at status quo. We have
more and more students coming out of secondary education who are motivated to go
on to college and seek degrees in Education, Business Administration, Hospital
Administration, Communication and Journalism, Speech and Hearing, Anthropology,
various Medical fields, Music and Art Education, etc. Our present funding level
cannot meet the student needs for college education. We estimate that we might
be meeting only 1/3 of our student needs, we would like to be able to meet 100%
of the higher education student needs. Education is the key to the future of
Acoma and, indeed, of all Indian people. We ask that the Congress stand firmly
with us on this important matter by providing us with the tools to be able to
achieve a life of self-esteem and self-sufficiency.
Again, I thank you for
this opportunity to provide you with this testimony on behalf of the Pueblo of
Acoma.
END
LOAD-DATE: October 28, 1999
