(NAME-MCE) Native Children Left Behind

[Paul C. Gorski]

 <http://www.indiancountry.com> 	
 	
Native Children Left Behind	
by: Editors Report / Indian Country Today	
C Indian Country Today May 03, 2007. All Rights Reserved	
 	
Every parent in Indian country should be aware of President Bush's 2008
budget proposal to cut funding for critical education programs. Tribes, on
behalf of their youngest members, must fight measures to eliminate critical
funding for educational mainstays: the Johnson O'Malley program and Indian
Head Start. These long-standing programs are specifically targeted to
address the unique needs of Indian children and their families. To lose them
would devastate the great strides our students have made and are making in
education. 

In near-constant danger is the 73-year-old JOM program. It is an undeniable
institution within Indian education. Funding has steadily decreased for
decades. For the third consecutive year, the domestic policy-challenged Bush
administration has requested either drastic reductions or eliminations in
funding. Citing duplicative federal programs as justification for its
request, the administration is again forcing a tactic that was already
determined in 2006 to be ''completely unfounded'' by the House Interior
Appropriations Subcommittee, the National Congress of American Indians, the
National Indian Education Association, and just about every administrator
and educator working in Indian country. Funding for JOM was restored then,
but anyone bearing witness to the administration's audacity during its final
act knows there is no guarantee that even the most integral, beneficial
programs will survive. 

At $12 million (down from $16 million in 2006 and $24 million in 1994), the
JOM program provides supplementary funds specifically for Indian students
beginning at age 3 through grade 12 who attend public schools. It helps them
stay in school and to achieve personal and academic success. Among the
wealth of academic services made possible by JOM are culturally based
tutoring, testing fee aid, books and other reading materials, college
preparation classes, computer equipment, and eyeglasses and contacts.
Physical education is also a major part of the program. Athletic equipment,
even entire teams or leagues are often funded solely by tribes' JOM funds.
It is a leveler for disadvantaged school children, providing opportunities
that would otherwise be out of reach. 

Because it is the only federal funding program that allows for cooperative
planning within communities, JOM is a popular way to enhance tribal
education. The program is very much ingrained within the physiological and
emotional development of Indian children. The program allows Indian families
to experience opportunities that underfunded tribal school systems could not
afford. Imagine little girls attending ballet class every week in their
school gym, or teens gathering after school for volleyball or softball
games, or incentive trips to museums and cultural events, or college visits
and Native-language tutors. These are the real-life benefits our children
receive through JOM. It is a shame that the federal powers that be fail to
see the intrinsic value of this particular program to their well-being. 

Also moving through Congress now is the Improving Head Start Act, which
revises and reauthorizes Head Start programs. The program has been
invaluable to early childhood development in Indian country. The National
Head Start Association reports that American Indian and Alaska Native
programs began in 1965 with 43 grantees in 14 states. Today there are
operations in some 27 states serving more than 22,000 children ages 3 - 5,
and many infants and toddlers. Head Start programs are encouraged to
incorporate Native languages and culture into curriculum goals. The basic
elements of Head Start - education, health, parental involvement and social
services - are geared to serve low-income families and communities that
would not have access to such assistance. 

Currently only 2.7 percent of Head Start funding is allocated to Indian and
Alaska Native programs, which the NIEA states is ''inadequate to address the
impact of poverty and economic disparities on Indian reservations and Indian
Head Start programs.'' For this reason, education and Indian organizations
have urged an increase, to 4 percent, to mitigate the effects of a poverty
rate on Indian reservations that is three times the national average, and an
ever-growing population. 

No Child Left Behind is also up for reauthorization in the 110th Congress.
President Bush's fiscal year '08 budget proposes to underfund NCLB by more
than $10 billion, for a cumulative cut of $70 billion since its enactment in
2001. The initial goal of NCLB was standard-based education reform, but the
legislation has met with controversy since day one. Although Indian
education is acknowledged in Title VII of the law, Bush's failure to commit
to adequate funding to programs in Indian country utterly diminishes the
intent. 

JOM and other Indian education initiatives are meant to help meet the
federal trust obligation to Indian tribes. This sort of commitment, though
not formalized by statutes or treaties, by the United States is being
extended to people around the world. The people of Iraq might take note, for
example. According to the State Department, ''the United States remains
firmly committed to the political, economic, and social reconstruction of
Iraq.'' While too many schools in Indian country are consistently deemed
substandard, the United States has built and renovated more than 3,000 Iraqi
schools during the course of its ongoing war on terror. While that is
certainly honorable, it is also necessary to note that the American Embassy
compound in Iraq will be the largest of its kind in the world, according to
Associated Press reports. The presence of a lavish facility located within
the U.S.-controlled, fortified ''Green Zone'' makes critics wary. It is
''seen by Iraqis as an indication of who actually exercises power in their
country,'' says the International Crisis Group, a nongovernmental
organization working to prevent and resolve deadly conflict. 

According to the Congressional Budget Office, the Pentagon is spending about
$200 million each day in Iraq. The Washington Post reports that since Sept.
11, 2001, ''the government has allocated about $503 billion for Iraq,
Afghanistan and anti-terrorism operations - with about 70 percent going to
the war in Iraq ... Bush has asked for an additional $245 billion for war
spending, including the $100 billion in the emergency supplemental bill now
at issue.'' 

The ease with which the government has allocated funds for the war on terror
and its resulting contract opportunities contradicts everything Indian
tribes know about the arduous federal appropriations process - that fiscal
conservatism and accountability should be rewarded, that program success and
progress should require thorough justification, and that those people in
need of basic programs and services who actually live in the United States
should remain a priority.	
 	
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