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[article provided by Lona. Thanks!]

Mon, 21 Feb 2000
http://www.omaha.com/Omaha/OWH/StoryViewer/1,3153,304441,00.html

Aid to Indian Schools Promised

BY HENRY J. CORDES AND PAUL GOODSELL
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITERS

Gov. Mike Johanns says the State of Nebraska is failing to meet its legal
obligation to ensure American Indian children receive an adequate
educational opportunity and must move promptly to do something about it.

U.S. Sens. Chuck Hagel and Bob Kerrey say the United States has clearly
broken its promise to educate Indian children.

Many Indian students, such as T.J. Baxter, left, grow indifferent toward
school. Baxter often skips class at Omaha Nation School on the Omaha
Reservation. He sits in art class with Jeff Webster in front of a mural
depicting Chief Big Elk's prophecy.

Rudi Mitchell, a former chairman of the Omaha Tribe, says his tribe must do
more to help its parents and children see the value of an education.

And all agreed it will take federal, state and tribal governments all
working together with local schools to address the tragic state of Indian
education in Nebraska and nationally.

That was the reaction last week to "Broken Promise," The World-Herald's
five-part series on the failures of Indian education in America. The series
detailed in Nebraska and nationally the struggles of Indian children in
school, with the highest dropout rate of any racial group, epidemic truancy
and low student achievement.

Hagel, a Nebraska Republican, said the series made clear that Indian
children in Nebraska schools have been neglected, which is typical of how
Indians for more than a century have been treated by the federal government.

"We've not fulfilled the commitments we've made," he said. "We've always
cheated them. We've always abandoned our responsibilities. We've always
shuttled them off to the side."

State officials acknowledge there also has been neglect on the state's part.
But Johanns said that will end.

"Too often there's a feeling that what happens on the reservation is their
problem, not ours," Johanns said. "That is not going to get us anywhere.
There is going to have to be a partnership."

The World-Herald series painted a stark picture of conditions in the Omaha
Nation School District on northeast Nebraska's Omaha Reservation, where 75
percent of the students drop out of school, the average child misses almost
one day of school a week, and national test scores are at rock bottom. The
statistics in Nebraska's other three reservation districts - Walthill,
Winnebago and Santee - in many ways mirror those at Omaha Nation.

The series also revealed problems in urban areas, problems largely hidden
because Indian students are a small, isolated minority within urban schools.
In the Omaha School District, dropout rates for Indian students are worse
than at the four reservation schools.

Those statistics and the students behind them had federal, state and local
officials talking last week about ways to help public schools provide better
education for Indian children. The possibilities include:

 A statewide action plan in Nebraska with proposed legislation for next
year.

 An Indian magnet school in the Omaha School District.

 More federal aid to reservation schools, particularly to help with building
projects.

 Additional federal initiatives after a White House study of Indian
education is finished later this year.

Todd Chessmore, superintendent of Omaha Nation School in Macy, Neb., said he
will welcome additional help, particularly from the state, but will remain
skeptical until he sees it.

Kerrey, a Nebraska Democrat, said the state needs to take the lead in a plan
that has concrete goals and ways to measure success. The federal government
can afford to help pay for it.

"We're not Bangladesh," he said. "The issue is, can we come up with a plan
that works?"

Others agree the state's role is key. Although treaties obligate the federal
government to provide education, more than 90 percent of the Indian children
nationally - and almost all in Nebraska - attend public schools under state
authority.

As courts have interpreted Nebraska's Constitution, all children in every
school district in the state are legally entitled to an opportunity for an
adequate education.

Nebraska's Indian children, Johanns said, clearly are not receiving that.

"That is a fair and obvious assessment," he said.

State Education Commissioner Doug Christensen agreed. He acknowledged that
the state in the past largely ignored the Indian schools' troubles,
deferring to a tradition of local control of public schools. There was also
a feeling among the tribes that they did not want state interference - a
concern that in hindsight he thinks the state should have resolved.

"By not being part of the solution, we have been part of the problem," he
said.

Now, he said, the state needs to support districts in their reform efforts.

Christensen announced late last year that he would appoint an advisory
council on Indian education. That advisory council has evolved into a task
force charged with developing an comprehensive action plan for the 2001
Legislature.

"It will take legislation, and it will take some money," Christensen said.
"The state should be totally responsible to make sure the money is there for
their educational program."

Johanns said he will leave it to Christensen to take the lead on the task
force but wants to be part of the process. Some of the needs, he said, are
clear.

Johanns wants to continue efforts of the past five years to get more state
school aid dollars to the needy Indian districts.

He said the state also should help train and attract more Indian teachers
and administrators. Only 6 percent of the teachers in Nebraska's reservation
schools are Indians. Experts say qualified Indian teachers in schools can
serve as role models for the children and help the Indian communities
embrace the schools.

"Without Indian teachers," Johanns said, "you have a situation where the
white man is going to come in and solve all your problems. I don't think
that's a very successful strategy. There's too much historical distrust
there."

Johanns said there needs to be a full-time advocate and liaison for the
Indian schools within the Department of Education.

The governor did not fund such a job in the supplemental state budget bill
he proposed to lawmakers in January. But he said he will fund the $78,000
post next year, if not sooner.

Johanns also said he is committed to working with the tribes to bring jobs
to the reservations and create more opportunities for Indian children.
Johanns has opposed one proposal: legalizing casino gambling on the Nebraska
reservations.

And the state must work with the tribes to curb the reservation schools'
high truancy rates, Johanns said.

"We could increase funding by 1,000 percent, but without the kids in school
it's a little meaningless," he said. "Parents, relatives and the community
must commit that their kids will be in school. No excuses. Otherwise, the
cycle will perpetuate itself."

State Sen. Ardyce Bohlke, chairman of the Legislature's Education Committee,
said the newspaper's series had prompted her to plan a study on Indian
education issues this summer. She said she would like to coordinate the
committee's efforts with that of the department.

Although much of any legislative action will have to come next year, Bohlke
said, she would like to move this year to help Nebraska's reservation
schools replace overcrowded, unsafe, rundown and neglected school buildings.

A bill that would allow Indian schools to borrow against their future state
aid for construction projects had a hearing in the Legislature last week,
but it won't pass this year without legislative maneuvering, Bohlke said.

The bill's uncertainty adds to Chessmore's skepticism.

"We're trying to get legislation that is painless, and all we're told is it
can't be done," he said. "In the meantime, we've lost a whole other group of
kids."

Unlike other public schools, reservation schools have no ability to ask
their taxpayers to pass a bond issue to fund renovations because the land on
the reservation is held in trust by the federal government and is
nontaxable.

Reservation schools have had to rely on the federal government to fund
school construction. But Congress has passed little such funding, leaving
billions of dollars in building backlog.

Hagel said he has sponsored legislation to boost federal funding for
construction. He predicted his bill would be enacted this year.

Mitchell, the former chairman of the Omaha Tribe who is on the school board
at Omaha Nation, said he welcomes any state or federal efforts to improve
education on reservations. He said he knows the tribe also has a role to
play, particularly on the issue of truancy.

School district officials in Macy and Omaha say they are eager to make
improvements, although they emphasized that they have well-intentioned,
hard-working teachers who try to provide a good education for Indian
children.

"I understand that the end result is not what it should be," said Omaha
Superintendent John Mackiel. "It isn't because of a lack of awareness or
lack of willingness."

Several Omaha district initiatives, such as a move to smaller classes in
inner-city schools, should help students of all races, including Indians.
But Mackiel said Omaha educators also will consider programs aimed
specifically at Indian children.

One idea he will consider is an Indian magnet program at one or more
elementary schools, where students could feel less isolated and teachers
could use methods geared for Indian culture and learning styles.

Judi Morgan, director of the Nebraska Commission on Indian Affairs, said she
was glad for the spotlight on Indian education. The response state officials
are now talking about is long overdue, she said.

"The state has sat on its hands on this issue for too long," she said.
"These kids have great potential. With proper nurturing, they could be as
successful as anyone. We can do better than this. Nebraska can do the right
thing."
 
 

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