Bureau of Indian Education: Challenges, Reform Proposals, Funding and Expenditure Issues

Unlike public schools, Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) schools receive almost all of their funding from federal sources. BIE directly operates about a third of its schools, and tribes operate two-thirds. BIE, within Interior's office of Indian Affairs, oversees 185 schools, serving about 41,000 students on or near Indian reservations. BIE's mission is to provide students with a quality education. However, BIE student performance has been consistently below that of public school students, i...