Across the country, urgent conversations are taking place about the future of education in Indian Country. At the center of these discussions is a critical and often overlooked issue: the growing cost of federal bureaucracy and its impact on student achievement at Bureau of Indian Education (BIE)-funded and Tribally Controlled Grant Schools.

While federal funding levels are frequently debated, the real crisis is not simply about how much money is available—it’s about where that money goes.

The Hidden Costs of Bureaucracy

Currently, up to 10% of federal entitlement grants allocated for Native education, such as Title I (for disadvantaged students) and Special Education funding, is deducted by the BIE for administrative oversight. These funds are withheld before they reach schools, reducing the amount available for direct student services, teacher salaries, instructional materials, and school improvements.

These administrative withholdings can have devastating consequences in a system already stretched thin. According to a 2020 report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), Native American students consistently perform significantly below national averages in reading and mathematics, with many BIE-operated schools ranking in the bottom 5% nationally for academic achievement.

The problem compounds when one considers how much time schools must devote to compliance, reporting, and audits. BIE-funded and Tribally Controlled Schools must navigate an extensive web of requirements, including:

• Accreditation processes like Cognia,
  
• FBI and EPA audits,
  
• Special Education compliance reviews,
  
• Financial, HR, personnel security, and facilities audits,
  
• Environmental health checks, and
  
• Constant participation in mandated planning sessions like the One Plan.
  

In isolated, rural areas, where administrative staffing is minimal, schools are forced to redirect instructional dollars to hire consultants simply to survive the compliance load. Meanwhile, critical educational activities such as classroom observations, teacher coaching, and student intervention services are delayed or sacrificed entirely.

Facilities That Are Failing Students

The infrastructure crisis adds another layer of complexity. Many Native schools operate in facilities over 70 years old—some, like Theodore Roosevelt School in Arizona, are housed in buildings over 100 years old and protected as historic sites. These schools face significant barriers to modernization. Outdated HVAC systems, compromised plumbing, and unsafe structural conditions are common, yet these facilities cannot be meaningfully renovated due to preservation restrictions.

Despite numerous studies—such as the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s 2019 findings—linking safe, modern facilities to improved student outcomes, many Native students attend schools where environmental hazards and structural deficiencies are an everyday reality.

Barriers to Staffing and Stability

Staffing challenges further threaten stability. In BIE-controlled hiring processes, it can take eight months to a year to clear the background investigation and adjudication necessary for employment. In an era of fierce competition for teachers, delays of this magnitude often mean that qualified educators accept positions elsewhere, often in districts where hiring can be completed within 30 days.

Without stable, experienced teachers, Native students lose access to consistent instruction, mentorship, and positive academic relationships—all key ingredients for student success identified by the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and decades of educational research.

Moreover, without affordable teacher housing—another glaring gap in many tribal communities—the odds of recruiting and retaining effective educators decrease even further. In some areas, teachers face commutes of over an hour, with rental costs exceeding $2,500 per month, well beyond the reach of most public school salaries.

The Consequences: Students Pay the Price

The cumulative impact of administrative overhead, compliance fatigue, poor facilities, and staffing instability is predictable: Native students continue to experience some of the lowest academic achievement rates in the nation. According to the 2023 Nation’s Report Card (NAEP), less than 25% of Native American students scored at or above proficiency in reading and mathematics, figures that have barely moved over the past decade.

When schools must choose between attending another compliance meeting or providing critical interventions for struggling readers, the students suffer. When teacher salaries must be used to pay for audit consultants, the students lose access to quality instruction. When outdated facilities hinder learning, the students fall further behind.

A Path Forward: Streamlining for Success

This crisis is not inevitable. Solutions exist:

• Reduce Administrative Overhead: Ensure that federal entitlement dollars reach the classroom, not administrative offices.
  
• Streamline Compliance Requirements: Consolidate audits and reporting to free up school leadership to focus on teaching and learning.
  
• Accelerate Hiring Processes: Align background check timelines with national best practices to enable the timely recruitment of qualified staff.
  
• Invest in Facilities and Housing: Modernize school facilities and provide realistic housing solutions to support teacher retention.
  

The Bureau of Indian Education, Indian Affairs, and federal policymakers have a critical opportunity to reimagine a system where schools, not bureaucracies, are at the center of decision-making. A system where funding, time, and energy are directed where they belong: in classrooms, teacher support, and student achievement.

The stakes are clear. Every day lost to paperwork instead of teaching, every dollar spent on compliance instead of instruction, is a day—and a child’s future—we cannot afford to sacrifice.