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Executive Order
August 6, 1998
THE WHITE HOUSE
AMERICAN INDIAN AND ALASKA NATIVE EDUCATION
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the
laws of the United States of America, in affirmation of the unique
political and legal relationship of the Federal government with Tribal
governments, and in recognition of the unique educational and culturally
related academic needs of American Indian and Alaska Native students, it
is hereby ordered as follows:
Section 1. Goals.
The Federal government has a special, historic responsibility for the
education of American Indian and Alaska Native students. Improving
educational achievement and academic progress for American Indian and
Alaska Native students is vital to the national goal of preparing every
student for responsible citizenship, continued learning, and productive
employment. The Federal government is committed to improving the academic
performance and reducing the dropout rate of American Indian and Alaska
Native students. To help fulfill this commitment in a manner consistent
with Tribal traditions and cultures, Federal agencies need to focus
special attention on six goals:
| (1) |
improving reading and mathematics; |
| (2) |
increasing high school completion and
postsecondary attendance rates; |
| (3) |
reducing the influence of long-standing factors
that impede educational performance, such as poverty and substance
abuse; |
| (4) |
creating strong, safe, and drug-free school
environments; |
| (5) |
improving science education; and |
| (6) |
expanding the use of educational technology. |
Section 2. Strategy.
In order to meet the six goals of this order, a comprehensive Federal
response is needed to address the fragmentation of government services
available to American Indian and Alaska Native students and the complexity
of intergovernmental relationships affecting the education of those
students. The purpose of the Federal activities described in this order is
to develop a long-term, comprehensive Federal Indian education policy that
will accomplish those goals.
| (a) |
Interagency Task Force.
There is established an Interagency Task Force on American Indian
and Alaska Native Education (Task Force) to oversee the planning and
implementation of this order. The Task Force shall confer with the
National Advisory Council on Indian Education (NACIE) in carrying
out activities under this order. The Task Force shall consult with
representatives of American Indian and Alaska Native Tribes and
organizations, including the National Indian Education Association
(NIEA) and the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), to
gather advice on implementation of the activities called for in this
order. |
| (b) |
Composition of the Task Force.
| (1) |
The membership of the Task Force shall
include representatives of the Departments of the Treasury,
Defense, Justice, Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Labor,
Health and Human services, Housing and Urban Development,
Transportation, Energy, and Education, as well as the
Environmental Protection Agency, the Corporation for National
and Community Service, and the National Science Foundation.
With the agreement of the Secretaries of Education and the
Interior, other agencies may participate in the activities of
the Task Force. |
| (2) |
Within 30 days of the date of this order,
the head of each participating agency shall designate a senior
official who is responsible for management or program
administration to serve as a member of the Task Force. The
official shall report directly to the agency head on the
agency's activities under this order. |
| (3) |
The Assistant Secretary for Elementary
and Secondary Education of the Department of Education and the
Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs of the Department of
the Interior shall co-chair the Task Force. |
|
| (c) |
Interagency plan.
The Task Force shall, within 90 days of the date of this order,
develop a Federal interagency plan with recommendations identifying
initiatives, strategies, and ideas for future interagency action
supportive of the goals of this order. |
| (d) |
Agency participation.
To the extent consistent with law and agency priorities, each
participating agency shall adopt and implement strategies to
maximize the availability of the agency's education-related
programs, activities, resources, information, and technical
assistance to American Indian and Alaska Native students. In keeping
with the spirit of the Executive Memorandum of April 29,1994, on
Government-to-Government Relations with Native American Tribal
Governments and Executive Order 13084 of May 14, 1998, each
participating agency shall consult with Tribal governments on their
education-related needs and priorities, and on how the agency can
better accomplish the goals of this order. Within six months, each
participating agency shall report to the Task Force regarding the
strategies it has developed to ensure such consultation. |
| (e) |
Interagency resource guide.
The Task Force shall identify, within participating Federal
agencies, all education-related programs and resources that support
the goals of this order. Within 12 months, the Task Force, in
conjunction with the Department of Education, shall develop,
publish, and widely distribute a guide that describes those programs
and resources and how American Indians and Alaska Natives can
benefit from them. |
| (f) |
Research.
The Secretary of Education, through the Office of Educational
Research and Improvement and the Office of Indian Education, and in
consultation with NACIE and participating agencies, shall develop
and implement a comprehensive Federal research agenda to:
| (1) |
establish baseline data on academic
achievement and retention of American Indian and Alaska Native
students in order to monitor improvements; |
| (2) |
evaluate promising practices used with
those students; and |
| (3) |
evaluate the role of native language and
culture in the development of educational strategies. Within
one year, the Secretary of Education shall submit the research
agenda, including proposed timelines, to the Task Force. |
|
| (g) |
Comprehensive Federal Indian education policy.
| (1) |
The Task Force shall, within two years of
the date of this order, develop a comprehensive Federal Indian
education policy to support the accomplishment of the goals of
this order. The policy shall be designed to:
| (A) |
improve Federal interagency
cooperation; |
| (B) |
promote intergovernmental
collaboration; and |
| (C) |
assist Tribal governments in
meeting the unique educational needs of their children,
including the need to preserve, revitalize, and use
native languages and cultural traditions. |
|
| (2) |
In developing the policy, the Task Force
shall consider ideas in the Comprehensive Federal Indian
Education Policy Statement proposal developed by the NIEA and
the NCAI. |
| (3) |
The Task Force shall develop
recommendations to implement the policy, including ideas for
future interagency action. |
| (4) |
As appropriate, participating agencies
may develop memoranda of agreement with one another to enable
and enhance the ability of Tribes and schools to provide, and
to coordinate the delivery of Federal, Tribal, State, and
local resources and services, including social and
health-related services, to meet the educational needs of
American Indian and Alaska Native students. |
|
| (h) |
Reports. The Task Force co-chairs shall submit
the comprehensive Federal Indian education policy, and report
annually on the agencies, activities, accomplishments, and progress
toward meeting the goals of this order, to the Director of the
Office of Management and Budget. |
Section 3. Regional partnership forums.
The Departments of Education and Interior, in collaboration with the
Task Force and Federal, Tribal, State, and local government
representatives, shall jointly convene, within 18 months, a series of
regional forums to identify promising practices and approaches on how to
share information, provide assistance to schools, develop partnerships,
and coordinate intergovernmental strategies supportive of accomplishing
the goals of this order. The Departments of Education and the Interior
shall submit a report on the forums to the Task Force, which may include
recommendations relating to intergovernmental relations.
Section 4. School pilot sites.
The Departments of Education and the Interior shall identify a
reasonable number of schools funded by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA)
and public schools that can serve as a model for schools with American
Indian and Alaska Native students, and provide them with comprehensive
technical assistance in support of the goals of this order. A special team
of technical assistance providers, including Federal staff, shall provide
assistance to these schools. Special attention shall be given, where
appropriate, to assistance in implementing comprehensive school reform
demonstration programs that meet the criteria for those programs
established by the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and
Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1998 (Public Law
105-78), and to providing comprehensive service delivery that connects and
uses diverse Federal agency resources. The team shall disseminate
effective and promising practices of the school pilot sites to other local
educational agencies. The team shall report to the Task Force on its
accomplishments and its recommendations for improving technical support to
local educational agencies and schools funded by the BIA.
Section 5. Administration.
The Department of Education shall provide appropriate administrative
services and staff support to the Task Force. With the consent of the
Department of Education, other participating agencies may provide
administrative support to the Task Force, consistent with their statutory
authority, and may detail agency employees to the Department of Education,
to the extent permitted by law.
Section 6. Termination.
The Task Force established under Section 2 of this order shall
terminate not later than five years from the date of this order.
Section 7. General provisions.
This order is intended only to improve the internal management of the
executive branch and is not intended to, and does not, create any right or
benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or equity by a
party against the United States, its agencies or instrumentality's, its
officers or employees, or any other person. This order is not intended to
preclude, supersede, replace, or otherwise dilute any other Executive
order relating to American Indian and Alaska Native education.
WILLIAM J. CLINTON
THE WHITE HOUSE
August 6, 1998. |
