H. R. 1—583
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by subsection (a)
shall be deemed to be effective on the date of enactment of Public
Law 106–400.
PART D—NATIVE AMERICAN EDUCATION
IMPROVEMENT
SEC. 1041. SHORT TITLE.
This part may be cited as the ‘‘Native American Education
Improvement Act of 2001’’.
SEC. 1042. AMENDMENTS TO THE EDUCATION AMENDMENTS OF 1978.
Part B of title XI of the Education Amendments of 1978 (25
U.S.C. 2001 et seq.) is amended to read as follows:
‘‘PART B—BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS
PROGRAMS
‘‘SEC. 1120. DECLARATION OF POLICY.
‘‘Congress declares that the Federal Government has the sole
responsibility for the operation and financial support of the Bureau
of Indian Affairs funded school system that it has established
on or near Indian reservations and Indian trust lands throughout
the Nation for Indian children. It is the policy of the United States
to fulfill the Federal Government’s unique and continuing trust
relationship with and responsibility to the Indian people for the
education of Indian children and for the operation and financial
support of the Bureau of Indian Affairs-funded school system to
work in full cooperation with tribes toward the goal of ensuring
that the programs of the Bureau of Indian Affairs-funded school
system are of the highest quality and provide for the basic
elementary and secondary educational needs of Indian children,
including meeting the unique educational and cultural needs of
those children.
‘‘SEC. 1121. ACCREDITATION FOR THE BASIC EDUCATION OF INDIAN
CHILDREN IN BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS SCHOOLS.
‘‘(a) PURPOSE; DECLARATIONS OF PURPOSE.—
‘‘(1) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the accreditation required
under this section shall be to ensure that Indian students
being served by a school funded by the Bureau of Indian Affairs
are provided with educational opportunities that equal or
exceed those for all other students in the United States.
‘‘(2) DECLARATIONS OF PURPOSE.—Local school boards for
schools operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, in cooperation
and consultation with the appropriate tribal governing bodies
and their communities, are encouraged to adopt declarations
of purpose for education for their communities, taking into
account the implications of such declarations on education in
their communities and for their schools. In adopting such dec-
larations of purpose, the school boards shall consider the effect
the declarations may have on the motivation of students and
faculties.
‘‘(b) ACCREDITATION.—
‘‘(1) DEADLINE.—
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 24 months after the
date of enactment of the Native American Education
H. R. 1—584
Improvement Act of 2001, each Bureau-funded school shall,
to the extent that necessary funds are provided, be a can-
didate for accreditation or be accredited—
‘‘(i) by a tribal accrediting body, if the accreditation
standards of the tribal accrediting body have been
accepted by formal action of the tribal governing body
and such accreditation is acknowledged by a generally
recognized State certification or regional accrediting
agency;
‘‘(ii) by a regional accreditation agency;
‘‘(iii) by State accreditation standards for the State
in which the Bureau-funded school is located; or
‘‘(iv) in the case of a Bureau-funded school that
is located on a reservation that is located in more
than one State, in accordance with the State accredita-
tion standards of one State as selected by the tribal
government.
‘‘(B) FEASIBILITY STUDY.—Not later than 12 months
after the date of enactment of the Native American Edu-
cation Improvement Act of 2001, the Secretary of the
Interior and the Secretary of Education shall, in consulta-
tion with Indian tribes, Indian education organizations,
and accrediting agencies, develop and submit to the appro-
priate committees of Congress a report on the desirability
and feasibility of establishing a tribal accreditation agency
that would—
‘‘(i) review and acknowledge the accreditation
standards for Bureau-funded schools; and
‘‘(ii) establish accreditation procedures to facilitate
the application, review of the standards and review
processes, and recognition of qualified and credible
tribal departments of education as accrediting bodies
serving tribal schools.
‘‘(2) DETERMINATION OF ACCREDITATION TO BE APPLIED.—
The accreditation type applied for each school shall be deter-
mined by the tribal governing body, or the school board, if
authorized by the tribal governing body.
‘‘(3) ASSISTANCE TO SCHOOL BOARDS.—
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, through contracts
and grants, shall provide technical and financial assistance
to Bureau-funded schools, to the extent that necessary
amounts are made available, to enable such schools to
obtain the accreditation required under this subsection,
if the school boards request that such assistance, in part
or in whole, be provided.
‘‘(B) ENTITIES THROUGH WHICH ASSISTANCE MAY BE PRO-
VIDED.—The Secretary may provide such assistance directly
or through the Department of Education, an institution
of higher education, a private not-for-profit organization
or for-profit organization, an educational service agency,
or another entity with demonstrated experience in assisting
schools in obtaining accreditation.
‘‘(4) APPLICATION OF CURRENT STANDARDS DURING ACCREDI-
TATION.—A Bureau-funded school that is seeking accreditation
shall remain subject to the standards issued under section
1121 of the Education Amendments of 1978 and in effect on
the day before the date of enactment of the Native American
H. R. 1—585
Education Improvement Act of 2001 until such time as the
school is accredited, except that if any of such standards are
in conflict with the standards of the accrediting agency, the
standards of such agency shall apply in such case.
‘‘(5) ANNUAL
REPORT
ON
UNACCREDITED
SCHOOLS.—Not
later than 90 days after the end of each school year, the
Secretary shall prepare and submit to the Committee on Appro-
priations, the Committee on Education and the Workforce, and
the Committee on Resources of the House of Representatives
and the Committee on Appropriations, the Committee on Indian
Affairs, and the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and
Pensions of the Senate, a report concerning unaccredited
Bureau-funded schools that—
‘‘(A) identifies those Bureau-funded schools that fail
to be accredited or to be candidates for accreditation within
the period provided for in paragraph (1);
‘‘(B) with respect to each Bureau-funded school identi-
fied under subparagraph (A), identifies the reasons that
each such school is not accredited or a candidate for accredi-
tation, as determined by the appropriate accreditation
agency, and a description of any possible way in which
to remedy such nonaccreditation; and
‘‘(C) with respect to each Bureau-funded school for
which the reported reasons for the lack of accreditation
under subparagraph (B) are a result of the school’s inad-
equate basic resources, contains information and funding
requests for the full funding needed to provide such schools
with accreditation, such funds if provided shall be applied
to such unaccredited school under this paragraph.
‘‘(6) OPPORTUNITY TO REVIEW AND PRESENT EVIDENCE.—
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Prior to including a Bureau-funded
school in an annual report required under paragraph (5),
the Secretary shall—
‘‘(i) ensure that the school has exhausted all
administrative remedies provided by the accreditation
agency; and
‘‘(ii) provide the school with an opportunity to
review the data on which such inclusion is based.
‘‘(B) PROVISION OF ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.—If the
school board of a school that the Secretary has proposed
for inclusion in an annual report under paragraph (5)
believes that such inclusion is in error, the school board
may provide to the Secretary such information as the board
believes is in conflict with the information and conclusions
of the Secretary with respect to the determination to
include the school in such annual report. The Secretary
shall consider such information provided by the school
board before making a final determination concerning the
inclusion of the school in any such report.
‘‘(C) PUBLICATION
OF
ACCREDITATION
STATUS.—Not
later than 30 days after making an initial determination
to include a school in an annual report under paragraph
(5), the Secretary shall make public the final determination
on the accreditation status of the school.
‘‘(7) SCHOOL PLAN.—
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 120 days after the
date on which a school is included in an annual report
H. R. 1—586
under paragraph (5), the school shall develop a school
plan, in consultation with interested parties including par-
ents, school staff, the school board, and other outside
experts (if appropriate), that shall be submitted to the
Secretary for approval. The school plan shall cover a 3-
year period and shall—
‘‘(i) incorporate strategies that address the specific
issues that caused the school to fail to be accredited
or fail to be a candidate for accreditation;
‘‘(ii) incorporate policies and practices concerning
the school that have the greatest likelihood of ensuring
that the school will obtain accreditation during the
3-year period beginning on the date on which the plan
is implemented;
‘‘(iii) contain an assurance that the school will
reserve the necessary funds, from the funds described
in paragraph (3), for each fiscal year for the purpose
of obtaining accreditation;
‘‘(iv) specify how the funds described in clause
(iii) will be used to obtain accreditation;
‘‘(v) establish specific annual, objective goals for
measuring continuous and significant progress made
by the school in a manner that will ensure the accredi-
tation of the school within the 3-year period described
in clause (ii);
‘‘(vi) identify how the school will provide written
notification about the lack of accreditation to the par-
ents of each student enrolled in such school, in a format
and, to the extent practicable, in a language the par-
ents can understand; and
‘‘(vii) specify the responsibilities of the school board
and any assistance to be provided by the Secretary
under paragraph (3).
‘‘(B) IMPLEMENTATION.—A school shall implement the
school plan under subparagraph (A) expeditiously, but in
no event later than the beginning of the school year fol-
lowing the school year in which the school was included
in the annual report under paragraph (5) so long as the
necessary resources have been provided to the school.
‘‘(C) REVIEW OF PLAN.—Not later than 45 days after
receiving a school plan, the Secretary shall—
‘‘(i) establish a peer-review process to assist with
the review of the plan; and
‘‘(ii) promptly review the school plan, work with
the school as necessary, and approve the school plan
if the plan meets the requirements of this paragraph.
‘‘(8) CORRECTIVE ACTION.—
‘‘(A) DEFINITION.—In this subsection, the term ‘correc-
tive action’ means any action that—
‘‘(i) substantially and directly responds to—
‘‘(I) the failure of a school to achieve accredita-
tion; and
‘‘(II) any underlying staffing, curriculum, or
other programmatic problem in the school that
contributed to the lack of accreditation; and
‘‘(ii) is designed to increase substantially the likeli-
hood that the school will be accredited.