Post by Okwes on Jan 13, 2008 18:35:39 GMT -5
Historic school battles to survive
Flandreau Indian
School seniors line up May 24 to enter the auditorium for commencement.
"I think they get a really good education in a safe and caring
environment at Flandreau. That's important to me," says Wanda Two Bulls,
a parent and Flandreau Indian School board member. She is worried about
enrollment at the boarding school. (Photo by Lloyd B. Cunningham / Argus
Leader) Historic school battles to survive
New BIA rules cut Flandreau Indian School budget
Flandreau Indian School, a storied place in the education of generations
of Native American children, is fighting for its future, and maybe its
life.
Changing times, a revised funding formula and new federal education
policies have put the boarding school in a financial squeeze. The school
reduced its staff by 14 positions last year, and another nine jobs might
be eliminated this year. Enrollment has declined as well, and some
connected with the school have gone so far as to begin talking about
ending its status as a Bureau of Indian Affairs-operated school.
Instead, it would be run as a grant or contract school with tribal
government as the administrator.
That would change 114 years of tradition for what is thought to be the
first Indian boarding school in the nation.
The school's financial concerns have begun to ripple through this Moody
County community, since FIS is one of Flandreau's largest employers.
It might be overly dramatic to say the school is fighting for its life,
says an Oglala Sioux Tribe member whose children attend Flandreau Indian
School. The money shortage, though, is real and painful, Wanda Two Bulls
says.
It's forcing her, as a member of the FIS school board and a parent, and
other supporters of the boarding school to cast about for ways to
continue to run what she says is a high-quality, life-shaping program.
"The school helps so many young people," Two Bulls said. "It would be a
shame if we couldn't send our children there. That's where I wanted my
kids."
At the root of the problem is a change in the federal funding formula.
Money comes on a per-student allocation. The more students a school has,
the more money it should get for basic education programs.
In 2004, in the wake of the No Child Left Behind law, the BIA funding
formula was changed. Instead of a single enrollment count in the fall
that produced the number of students to be funded for the year, the
agency went to an average daily count, with a three-year rolling
average. The result, several administrators of Native American schools
say, is a lower enrollment number and less money.
Much as in South Dakota's state system - also funded on a per-student
basis - officials in BIA-funded schools complain the enrollment drop
often isn't enough to allow major spending reductions.
"You can only cut back on so many teachers before you start cutting into
the quality of your education," at which point parents may choose to
send their children to another school, said David Keehn, superintendent
of Circle of National School in Wahpeton, N.D. "That turns into a
cycle.''
Two Bulls said there is talk among the FIS community about moving from
BIA-operated status to grant, or contract, status. Essentially, that
means that instead of the bureau directly administering the school,
setting salaries and so on, the agency would provide an amount of money.
A tribe, tribes or other entities then would be in charge day to day.
"The talk of becoming a grant school, that's real. It's an ongoing
discussion right now," Two Bulls said. "I think it could go either way.
But still, the bureau has an obligation to provide an education. That's
in the treaties."
Indian boarding schools have dwindled to a handful
Founded in 1876 by the Board of Presbyterian Missions, Flandreau Indian
School's focus was to assimilate Indian children into white families.
The federal government took over the campus in 1877, and it has been
operated as a boarding school since 1893. Since the 1970s, however, the
BIA has been phasing out Indian boarding schools. There were 22 BIA
schools in early 1980s. Fewer than a half dozen are operating today.
Flandreau draws students from at least 23 states, the school Web site
shows. The school is a place where several generations of families might
send their children, many from hundreds of miles away.
"Some families just naturally send their kids to Flandreau,'' Harry
Eagle Bull, education coordinator for the Oglala Sioux Tribe, said.
"It's like a part of their family.''
Students more insulated from Flandreau these days
The FIS campus is one of Flandreau's foundation institutions, although
as the relationship between the community and the school has evolved, it
has become more diffuse.
Flandreau Mayor Warren Ludeman spent 34 years teaching vocational
classes at the school.
"When we came here, we were one, big happy family," Ludeman said,
recalling monthly faculty socials.
Flandreau used to be more of a company town, agrees Chuck Jones, city
administrator and an enrolled member of the Flandreau Santee Sioux
tribe.
"The school is still a significant employer in town," he said, though
more teachers and staff members today commute.
Students used to be seen around town as well.
"Now the kids for the most part stay right on the campus. That's
changed. Years ago they had much more of a presence downtown," Ludeman
said.
One of the results, "because the school is not really in the city
limits, it's kind of out of sight, out of mind," Jones said.
Ludeman wants city, school and tribal officials to start examining the
school's future.
"My concern is the mission of the school is threatened due to funding.
You can't continue to operate by cutting the staff."
Flandreau's situation isn't unique in Indian Country, said John
Tippeconnic III, director of the American Indian Leadership program at
Penn State University.
"Money is always an issue in Indian education," Tippeconnic said. "There
are good reasons why schools like Flandreau are struggling, but there
are good reasons why they exist. It's a complicated situation."
The Chemawa Indian School near Salem, Ore., is under the same cloud,
Administrator Jon Claymore said.
"The funding formula change has really hit us. We're looking at a
$440,000 deficit for next year. It's a tough struggle, and I think we're
all an important part of Indian education," Claymore said.
School is losing money when students leave
The formula change and related policies - such as requiring a student
absent for 10 days to be dropped from the count - have cost Flandreau as
many as 100 students from its count, some officials said.
Claymore said his Oregon school, which usually has about 360 students
from 70 different tribes, loses about 70 kids in the formula change.
Many in Indian Country say it isn't uncommon for the fall count to be
considerably higher than the end-of-spring enrollment, especially in
high schools where the students are older and able to leave classes more
readily.
At Circle of Nations, a program for grades three through eight, the
problem is almost as severe, Keehn said.
"Our older students, seventh- and eighth-graders, sometimes are just
taken out of school, and we lose them," he said. "It's a real issue for
us in funding, just like Flandreau. I think all the (BIA) schools are
struggling with the same thing."
The administration of BIA schools is given to the Bureau of Indian
Education, created a year ago as the new name for the BIA's former
Office of Indian Education programs.
Money tends to be short for Indian education in the best of times, the
National Association of Indian Education said in February testimony to
the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs.
"A dangerous pattern has developed in recent years where Indian programs
receive smaller increases in years when overall funding is up, and
bigger cuts in years when overall funding is down."
Over time, schools generally should be able to adjust to the funding
changes and averaging, although it may be a painful transition, Eagle
Bull said.
"As I understand it, with a three- year phase-in, things ought to level
out at some point,'' he said. "But right now, it's causing problems for
many schools. You can't be missing a bunch of school or leaving early at
the end of the year and still have the school get the money."
Flandreau Indian School Superintendent Betty Belkham said as a bureau
employee, she isn't authorized to speak publicly about the school's
operation. She referred questions to the BIA.
BIA confirms that FIS gets less money than 4 years ago
In a written response, Gayle Liea King, special assistant in the office
of the Bureau of Indian Education, said the formula change has, indeed,
hurt the Flandreau school.
If Flandreau were funded with the 2006-2007 school year's per-student
value and the 2002-2005 enrollment, "the school would have generated
approximately $5,192,500, or $187,700 more per year," King said.
She said FIS would receive about $24,000 next week from a contingency
fund. The school received $88,600 from that account four years ago and
$57,700 last year, BIE figures show.
King also provided a chart that shows Flandreau's funding four years ago
was $5,156,200 through the formula, based on an average enrollment count
of 391.
The next year, the total dropped to $4,797,000 and 359 enrollments. For
school year 2006-2007, the agency said FIS was to have received
$5,004,800, based on 352 enrollment. In simple terms, the funding the
past year was below that of four years ago.
Staffs from each of the state's congressional offices say they've been
in contact with Belkham about budget concerns. They're trying to learn
more specifics of how the formula changes and other funding issues are
affecting the schools in Indian Country.
Darrell Jeannotte, superintendent of the Pierre Indian Learning Center,
said that his enrollment under the old system has fluctuated but less
than a high school enrollment might.
'There's a move to keep the kids at home'
The PILC has a history of having one of the strongest student retention
rates in the nation, he said. Part of that is a strict policy against
parents checking students out except in emergency situations, he said.
It isn't uncommon in some schools for a student to go home for a weekend
or a funeral and be gone for a couple of weeks. Under the averaging
feature of the formula, that costs the school money.
"The car breaks down, or the person who was supposed to bring the
student back isn't available. Some of our kids are in tribes 400 miles
away. We want them here learning."
Changing times also might affect the future of boarding schools such as
Flandreau and PILC, officials acknowledge.
"The public schools, the tribal school and grant schools, they want
these kids too, so there's a move to keep the kids at home," Jeannotte
said.
He said enrollment at PILC used to run 260 a year and now is about 190.
Wanda Two Bulls says people on the Pine Ridge Reservation are divided on
that issue.
"Some people do say, let's keep our kids at home, keep them here,
learning with the family," she said. "Others say we'll send them away
and make sure they get a quality education. I think they get a really
good education in a safe and caring environment at Flandreau. That's
important to me. If we had a vote, though, it would be pretty evenly
split on that."
Those pressures perhaps cloud the future of boarding schools and
BIA-operated schools. Still, Tippeconnic, who has studied Indian
education most of his life, said, "I don't ever see the BIA getting out
of the education business entirely."
No matter how the school is managed, layoffs and enrollment declines at
Flandreau Indian School will affect the whole community of Flandreau,
Mayor Ludeman said.
"It has really not been on the radar of most people," he said. "They
don't realize what is taking place up there and the struggle they are
going through. That's one of the things I want to accomplish with this
task force."
Flandreau Indian
School seniors line up May 24 to enter the auditorium for commencement.
"I think they get a really good education in a safe and caring
environment at Flandreau. That's important to me," says Wanda Two Bulls,
a parent and Flandreau Indian School board member. She is worried about
enrollment at the boarding school. (Photo by Lloyd B. Cunningham / Argus
Leader) Historic school battles to survive
New BIA rules cut Flandreau Indian School budget
Flandreau Indian School, a storied place in the education of generations
of Native American children, is fighting for its future, and maybe its
life.
Changing times, a revised funding formula and new federal education
policies have put the boarding school in a financial squeeze. The school
reduced its staff by 14 positions last year, and another nine jobs might
be eliminated this year. Enrollment has declined as well, and some
connected with the school have gone so far as to begin talking about
ending its status as a Bureau of Indian Affairs-operated school.
Instead, it would be run as a grant or contract school with tribal
government as the administrator.
That would change 114 years of tradition for what is thought to be the
first Indian boarding school in the nation.
The school's financial concerns have begun to ripple through this Moody
County community, since FIS is one of Flandreau's largest employers.
It might be overly dramatic to say the school is fighting for its life,
says an Oglala Sioux Tribe member whose children attend Flandreau Indian
School. The money shortage, though, is real and painful, Wanda Two Bulls
says.
It's forcing her, as a member of the FIS school board and a parent, and
other supporters of the boarding school to cast about for ways to
continue to run what she says is a high-quality, life-shaping program.
"The school helps so many young people," Two Bulls said. "It would be a
shame if we couldn't send our children there. That's where I wanted my
kids."
At the root of the problem is a change in the federal funding formula.
Money comes on a per-student allocation. The more students a school has,
the more money it should get for basic education programs.
In 2004, in the wake of the No Child Left Behind law, the BIA funding
formula was changed. Instead of a single enrollment count in the fall
that produced the number of students to be funded for the year, the
agency went to an average daily count, with a three-year rolling
average. The result, several administrators of Native American schools
say, is a lower enrollment number and less money.
Much as in South Dakota's state system - also funded on a per-student
basis - officials in BIA-funded schools complain the enrollment drop
often isn't enough to allow major spending reductions.
"You can only cut back on so many teachers before you start cutting into
the quality of your education," at which point parents may choose to
send their children to another school, said David Keehn, superintendent
of Circle of National School in Wahpeton, N.D. "That turns into a
cycle.''
Two Bulls said there is talk among the FIS community about moving from
BIA-operated status to grant, or contract, status. Essentially, that
means that instead of the bureau directly administering the school,
setting salaries and so on, the agency would provide an amount of money.
A tribe, tribes or other entities then would be in charge day to day.
"The talk of becoming a grant school, that's real. It's an ongoing
discussion right now," Two Bulls said. "I think it could go either way.
But still, the bureau has an obligation to provide an education. That's
in the treaties."
Indian boarding schools have dwindled to a handful
Founded in 1876 by the Board of Presbyterian Missions, Flandreau Indian
School's focus was to assimilate Indian children into white families.
The federal government took over the campus in 1877, and it has been
operated as a boarding school since 1893. Since the 1970s, however, the
BIA has been phasing out Indian boarding schools. There were 22 BIA
schools in early 1980s. Fewer than a half dozen are operating today.
Flandreau draws students from at least 23 states, the school Web site
shows. The school is a place where several generations of families might
send their children, many from hundreds of miles away.
"Some families just naturally send their kids to Flandreau,'' Harry
Eagle Bull, education coordinator for the Oglala Sioux Tribe, said.
"It's like a part of their family.''
Students more insulated from Flandreau these days
The FIS campus is one of Flandreau's foundation institutions, although
as the relationship between the community and the school has evolved, it
has become more diffuse.
Flandreau Mayor Warren Ludeman spent 34 years teaching vocational
classes at the school.
"When we came here, we were one, big happy family," Ludeman said,
recalling monthly faculty socials.
Flandreau used to be more of a company town, agrees Chuck Jones, city
administrator and an enrolled member of the Flandreau Santee Sioux
tribe.
"The school is still a significant employer in town," he said, though
more teachers and staff members today commute.
Students used to be seen around town as well.
"Now the kids for the most part stay right on the campus. That's
changed. Years ago they had much more of a presence downtown," Ludeman
said.
One of the results, "because the school is not really in the city
limits, it's kind of out of sight, out of mind," Jones said.
Ludeman wants city, school and tribal officials to start examining the
school's future.
"My concern is the mission of the school is threatened due to funding.
You can't continue to operate by cutting the staff."
Flandreau's situation isn't unique in Indian Country, said John
Tippeconnic III, director of the American Indian Leadership program at
Penn State University.
"Money is always an issue in Indian education," Tippeconnic said. "There
are good reasons why schools like Flandreau are struggling, but there
are good reasons why they exist. It's a complicated situation."
The Chemawa Indian School near Salem, Ore., is under the same cloud,
Administrator Jon Claymore said.
"The funding formula change has really hit us. We're looking at a
$440,000 deficit for next year. It's a tough struggle, and I think we're
all an important part of Indian education," Claymore said.
School is losing money when students leave
The formula change and related policies - such as requiring a student
absent for 10 days to be dropped from the count - have cost Flandreau as
many as 100 students from its count, some officials said.
Claymore said his Oregon school, which usually has about 360 students
from 70 different tribes, loses about 70 kids in the formula change.
Many in Indian Country say it isn't uncommon for the fall count to be
considerably higher than the end-of-spring enrollment, especially in
high schools where the students are older and able to leave classes more
readily.
At Circle of Nations, a program for grades three through eight, the
problem is almost as severe, Keehn said.
"Our older students, seventh- and eighth-graders, sometimes are just
taken out of school, and we lose them," he said. "It's a real issue for
us in funding, just like Flandreau. I think all the (BIA) schools are
struggling with the same thing."
The administration of BIA schools is given to the Bureau of Indian
Education, created a year ago as the new name for the BIA's former
Office of Indian Education programs.
Money tends to be short for Indian education in the best of times, the
National Association of Indian Education said in February testimony to
the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs.
"A dangerous pattern has developed in recent years where Indian programs
receive smaller increases in years when overall funding is up, and
bigger cuts in years when overall funding is down."
Over time, schools generally should be able to adjust to the funding
changes and averaging, although it may be a painful transition, Eagle
Bull said.
"As I understand it, with a three- year phase-in, things ought to level
out at some point,'' he said. "But right now, it's causing problems for
many schools. You can't be missing a bunch of school or leaving early at
the end of the year and still have the school get the money."
Flandreau Indian School Superintendent Betty Belkham said as a bureau
employee, she isn't authorized to speak publicly about the school's
operation. She referred questions to the BIA.
BIA confirms that FIS gets less money than 4 years ago
In a written response, Gayle Liea King, special assistant in the office
of the Bureau of Indian Education, said the formula change has, indeed,
hurt the Flandreau school.
If Flandreau were funded with the 2006-2007 school year's per-student
value and the 2002-2005 enrollment, "the school would have generated
approximately $5,192,500, or $187,700 more per year," King said.
She said FIS would receive about $24,000 next week from a contingency
fund. The school received $88,600 from that account four years ago and
$57,700 last year, BIE figures show.
King also provided a chart that shows Flandreau's funding four years ago
was $5,156,200 through the formula, based on an average enrollment count
of 391.
The next year, the total dropped to $4,797,000 and 359 enrollments. For
school year 2006-2007, the agency said FIS was to have received
$5,004,800, based on 352 enrollment. In simple terms, the funding the
past year was below that of four years ago.
Staffs from each of the state's congressional offices say they've been
in contact with Belkham about budget concerns. They're trying to learn
more specifics of how the formula changes and other funding issues are
affecting the schools in Indian Country.
Darrell Jeannotte, superintendent of the Pierre Indian Learning Center,
said that his enrollment under the old system has fluctuated but less
than a high school enrollment might.
'There's a move to keep the kids at home'
The PILC has a history of having one of the strongest student retention
rates in the nation, he said. Part of that is a strict policy against
parents checking students out except in emergency situations, he said.
It isn't uncommon in some schools for a student to go home for a weekend
or a funeral and be gone for a couple of weeks. Under the averaging
feature of the formula, that costs the school money.
"The car breaks down, or the person who was supposed to bring the
student back isn't available. Some of our kids are in tribes 400 miles
away. We want them here learning."
Changing times also might affect the future of boarding schools such as
Flandreau and PILC, officials acknowledge.
"The public schools, the tribal school and grant schools, they want
these kids too, so there's a move to keep the kids at home," Jeannotte
said.
He said enrollment at PILC used to run 260 a year and now is about 190.
Wanda Two Bulls says people on the Pine Ridge Reservation are divided on
that issue.
"Some people do say, let's keep our kids at home, keep them here,
learning with the family," she said. "Others say we'll send them away
and make sure they get a quality education. I think they get a really
good education in a safe and caring environment at Flandreau. That's
important to me. If we had a vote, though, it would be pretty evenly
split on that."
Those pressures perhaps cloud the future of boarding schools and
BIA-operated schools. Still, Tippeconnic, who has studied Indian
education most of his life, said, "I don't ever see the BIA getting out
of the education business entirely."
No matter how the school is managed, layoffs and enrollment declines at
Flandreau Indian School will affect the whole community of Flandreau,
Mayor Ludeman said.
"It has really not been on the radar of most people," he said. "They
don't realize what is taking place up there and the struggle they are
going through. That's one of the things I want to accomplish with this
task force."