II 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 1948 

To promote the academic achievement of American Indian, Alaska Native, 

and Native Hawaiian children with the establishment of a Native American language grant program. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 16, 2014 

Mr. TESTER (for himself, Mr. SCHATZ, Mr. BEGICH, Mr. JOHNSON of South 

Dakota, and Mr. BAUCUS) introduced the following bill; which was read 

twice and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs 

A BILL 

To promote the academic achievement of American Indian, 

Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian children with the 

establishment of a Native American language grant program. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Native Language Im5 mersion Student Achievement Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) Congress established the unique status of 

2 Native American languages and distinctive policies 

3 supporting their use as a medium of education in 

4 the Native American Languages Act (Public Law 

5 101–477). 

6 (2) Reports from the Bureau of Indian Affairs 

7 and tribal, public, charter, and private schools and 

8 colleges that use primarily Native American lan9 guages to deliver education, have indicated that stu10 dents from these schools have generally had high 

11 school graduation and college attendance rates above 

12 the norm for their peers. 

13 (3) The Elementary and Secondary Education 

14 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.) includes policy 

15 barriers to schools taught through Native American 

16 languages and a lack of adequate funding to support 

17 such opportunities. 

18 (4) There is a critical need that requires imme19 diate action to support education through Native 

20 American languages to preserve these languages. 

21 SEC. 3. NATIVE AMERICAN LANGUAGE SCHOOLS. 

22 Title VII of the Elementary and Secondary Edu23 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.) is amended 

24 by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘PART D—NATIVE AMERICAN LANGUAGE 

2 SCHOOLS 

3 ‘‘SEC. 7401. NATIVE AMERICAN LANGUAGE SCHOOLS. 

4 ‘‘(a) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this section are— 

5 ‘‘(1) to establish a grant program to support 

6 schools using Native American languages as the pri7 mary language of instruction of all curriculum 

8 taught at the school that will improve high school 

9 graduation rates, college attainment, and career 

10 readiness; and 

11 ‘‘(2) to further integrate into this Act, Federal 

12 policy for such schools, as established in the Native 

13 American Languages Act (Public Law 101–477). 

14 ‘‘(b) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.— 

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—From the amounts made 

16 available to carry out this section, the Secretary may 

17 award grants to eligible entities to develop and 

18 maintain, or to improve and expand, programs that 

19 support schools, including prekindergarten through 

20 postsecondary education, using Native American lan21 guages as the primary language of instruction of all 

22 curriculum taught at the schools. 

23 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—In this section, the 

24 term ‘eligible entity’ means a school or a private or 

25 tribal, nonprofit organization that has a plan to de26 velop and maintain, or to improve and expand, proVerDate Mar 15 2010 06:54 Jan 17, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1948.IS S1948

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1 grams that support schools using Native American 

2 languages as the primary language of instruction of 

3 all curriculum taught at the schools. 

4 ‘‘(c) APPLICATION.— 

5 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity that de6 sires to receive a grant under this section shall sub7 mit an application to the Secretary at such time, in 

8 such manner, and containing such information as 

9 the Secretary may require, including the following: 

10 ‘‘(A) The name of the Native American 

11 language to be used for instruction at the 

12 school supported by the eligible entity. 

13 ‘‘(B) The number of students attending 

14 such school. 

15 ‘‘(C) The number of present hours of Na16 tive American language instruction being pro17 vided to students at such school, if any. 

18 ‘‘(D) The status of such school with regard 

19 to any applicable tribal education department or 

20 agency, public education system, indigenous 

21 language schooling research and cooperative, or 

22 accrediting body. 

23 ‘‘(E) A statement that such school— 

24 ‘‘(i) is engaged in meeting targeted 

25 proficiency levels for students, as may be 


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1 required by applicable Federal, State, or 

2 tribal law; and 

3 ‘‘(ii) provides assessments of student 

4 using the Native American language of in5 struction, where appropriate. 

6 ‘‘(F) A list of the instructors, staff, admin7 istrators, contractors, or subcontractors at such 

8 school and their qualifications to deliver high 

9 quality education through the Native American 

10 language of the school. 

11 ‘‘(2) ADDITIONAL APPLICATION MATERIALS.— 

12 In addition to the application described in paragraph 

13 (1), an eligible entity that desires to receive a grant 

14 under this section shall submit to the Secretary the 

15 following: 

16 ‘‘(A) A certification from a Federally rec17 ognized Indian tribe, or a letter from any Na18 tive American entity, on whose land the school 

19 supported by the eligible entity is located, or 

20 which is served by such school, indicating that 

21 the school has the capacity to provide education 

22 primarily through a Native American language 

23 and that there are sufficient speakers of such 

24 Native American language at the school or 

25 available to be hired by the school. 


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1 ‘‘(B) A statement that such school will 

2 participate in data collection conducted by the 

3 Secretary that will determine best practices and 

4 further academic evaluation of the school. 

5 ‘‘(C) A demonstration of the capacity to 

6 have speakers of its Native American language 

7 provide the basic education offered by such 

8 school on a full-time basis. 

9 ‘‘(d) AWARDING OF GRANTS.—In awarding grants 

10 under this section, the Secretary shall— 

11 ‘‘(1) determine the amount and length of each 

12 grant; 

13 ‘‘(2) ensure, to the maximum extent feasible, 

14 that diversity in languages is represented; and 

15 ‘‘(3) require the eligible entities to present a 

16 Native language education plan to improve high 

17 school graduation rates, college attainment, and ca18 reer readiness. 

19 ‘‘(e) ACTIVITIES AUTHORIZED.—An eligible entity 

20 that receives a grant under this section shall carry out 

21 the following activities: 

22 ‘‘(1) Support Native American language edu23 cation and development. 

24 ‘‘(2) Develop or refine instructional curriculum 

25 for the school supported by the eligible entity, inVerDate Mar 15 2010 06:54 Jan 17, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1948.IS S1948

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1 cluding distinctive teaching materials and activities, 

2 as appropriate. 

3 ‘‘(3) Fund training opportunities for teachers 

4 and, as appropriate, staff and administrators, that 

5 would strengthen the overall language and academic 

6 goals of such school. 

7 ‘‘(4) Other activities that promote Native Amer8 ican language education and development, as appro9 priate. 

10 ‘‘(f) REPORT TO SECRETARY.—Each eligible entity 

11 that receives a grant under this section shall provide an 

12 annual report to the Secretary in such form and manner 

13 as the Secretary may require. 

14 ‘‘(g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATION.—There is 

15 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

16 $5,000,000 for fiscal year 2015, and such sums as may 

17 be necessary for each of the 4 succeeding fiscal years.’’. 

Æ 


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