Improving American Indian and Alaska Native Educational Opportunities and Strengthening Tribal Colleges and Universities

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Improving American Indian and Alaska Native Educational Opportunities and Strengthening Tribal Colleges and Universities

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, I hereby order as follows:

Section 1.Policy. The United States has a unique political and legal relationship with the federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) tribes across the country, as set forth in the Constitution of the United States, treaties, Executive Orders, and court decisions. For centuries, the Federal Government's relationship with these tribes has been guided by a trust responsibility—a long-standing commitment on the part of our Government to protect the unique rights and ensure the well-being of our Nation's tribes, while respecting their tribal sovereignty. In recognition of that special commitment—and in fulfillment of the solemn obligations it entails—Federal agencies must help improve educational opportunities provided to all AI/AN students, including students attending public schools in cities and in rural areas, students attending schools operated and funded by the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Education (BIE), and students attending postsecondary institutions, including Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs). This is an urgent need. Recent studies show that AI/AN students are dropping out of school at an alarming rate, that our Nation has made little or no progress in closing the achievement gap between AI/AN students and their non-AI/AN student counterparts, and that many Native languages are on the verge of extinction.

It is the policy of my Administration to support activities that will strengthen the Nation by expanding educational opportunities and improving educational outcomes for all AI/AN students in order to fulfill our commitment to furthering tribal self-determination and to help ensure that AI/AN students have an opportunity to learn their Native languages and histories and receive complete and competitive educations that prepare them for college, careers, and productive and satisfying lives.

My Administration is also committed to improving educational opportunities for students attending TCUs. TCUs maintain, preserve, and restore Native languages and cultural traditions; offer a high-quality college education; provide career and technical education, job training, and other career-building programs; and often serve as anchors in some of the country's poorest and most remote areas.

Sec. 2.Definitions. (a) “Agency” means any executive department or agency designated by the Secretary of Education and the Secretary of the Interior to participate in this order.

(b) “Indian tribe” means an Indian or Alaska Native tribe, band, nation, pueblo, village, or community that the Secretary of the Interior acknowledges to exist as an Indian tribe pursuant to the Federally Recognized Indian Tribe List Act of 1994, 25 U.S.C. 479a.

(c) “American Indian and Alaska Native” means a member of an Indian tribe, as membership is defined by the tribe.

(d) “Public school” means a Head Start center or a pre-kindergarten, elementary, or secondary school that is predominantly funded by public means through the Federal Government, a State, a local educational agency, or an Indian tribal government, including a school operated directly by or through contract or grant with the BIE, an Indian tribe, or a State, county, or local government.

(e) “Tribal Colleges and Universities” are those institutions that are chartered by their respective Indian tribes through the sovereign authority of the tribes or by the Federal Government, and defined in section 316 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1059c).

Sec. 3.White House Initiative on American Indian and Alaska Native Education.

(a) Establishment. There is hereby established the White House Initiative on American Indian and Alaska Native Education (Initiative). The Secretary of Education and the Secretary of the Interior will co-chair the Initiative. The Secretary of Education shall appoint an Executive Director who shall be responsible for overseeing implementation of the Initiative. This individual shall be a senior-level, Department of Education official who shall serve as the Secretary of Education's senior policy advisor on Federal policies affecting AI/AN education.