[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 154 (Tuesday, August 11, 1998)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 42681-42684]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-21643]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 154 / Tuesday, August 11, 1998 /
Presidential Documents
___________________________________________________________________
Title 3--
The President
[[Page 42681]]
Executive Order 13096 of August 6, 1998
American Indian and Alaska Native Education
By the authority vested in me as President by the
Constitution and the laws of the United States of
America, in affirmation of the unique political and
legal relationship of the Federal Government with
tribal governments, and in recognition of the unique
educational and culturally related academic needs of
American Indian and Alaska Native students, it is
hereby ordered as follows:
Section 1. Goals. The Federal Government has a special,
historic responsibility for the education of American
Indian and Alaska Native students. Improving
educational achievement and academic progress for
American Indian and Alaska Native students is vital to
the national goal of preparing every student for
responsible citizenship, continued learning, and
productive employment. The Federal Government is
committed to improving the academic performance and
reducing the dropout rate of American Indian and Alaska
Native students. To help fulfill this commitment in a
manner consistent with tribal traditions and cultures,
Federal agencies need to focus special attention on six
goals: (1) improving reading and mathematics; (2)
increasing high school completion and postsecondary
attendance rates; (3) reducing the influence of long-
standing factors that impede educational performance,
such as poverty and substance abuse; (4) creating
strong, safe, and drug-free school environments; (5)
improving science education; and (6) expanding the use
of educational technology.
Sec. 2. Strategy. In order to meet the six goals of
this order, a comprehensive Federal response is needed
to address the fragmentation of government services
available to American Indian and Alaska Native students
and the complexity of intergovernmental relationships
affecting the education of those students. The purpose
of the Federal activities described in this order is to
develop a long-term, comprehensive Federal Indian
education policy that will accomplish those goals.
(a) Interagency Task Force. There is established
an Interagency Task Force on American Indian and Alaska
Native Education (Task Force) to oversee the planning
and implementation of this order. The Task Force shall
confer with the National Advisory Council on Indian
Education (NACIE) in carrying out activities under this
order. The Task Force shall consult with
representatives of American Indian and Alaska Native
tribes and organizations, including the National Indian
Education Association (NIEA) and the National Congress
of American Indians (NCAI), to gather advice on
implementation of the activities called for in this
order.
(b) Composition of the Task Force. (1) The
membership of the Task Force shall include
representatives of the Departments of the Treasury,
Defense, Justice, the Interior, Agriculture, Commerce,
Labor, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban
Development, Transportation, Energy, and Education, as
well as the Environmental Protection Agency, the
Corporation for National and Community Service, and the
National Science Foundation. With the agreement of the
Secretaries of Education and the Interior, other
agencies may participate in the activities of the Task
Force.
[[Page 42682]]
(2) Within 30 days of the date of this order, the
head of each participating agency shall designate a
senior official who is responsible for management or
program administration to serve as a member of the Task
Force. The official shall report directly to the agency
head on the agency's activities under this order.
(3) The Assistant Secretary for Elementary and
Secondary Education of the Department of Education and
the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs of the
Department of the Interior shall co-chair the Task
Force.
(c) Interagency plan. The Task Force shall, within
90 days of the date of this order, develop a Federal
interagency plan with recommendations identifying
initiatives, strategies, and ideas for future
interagency action supportive of the goals of this
order.
(d) Agency participation. To the extent consistent
with law and agency priorities, each participating
agency shall adopt and implement strategies to maximize
the availability of the agency's education-related
programs, activities, resources, information, and
technical assistance to American Indian and Alaska
Native students. In keeping with the spirit of the
Executive Memorandum of April 29, 1994, on Government-
to-Government Relations with Native American Tribal
Governments and Executive Order 13084 of May 14, 1998,
each participating agency shall consult with tribal
governments on their education-related needs and
priorities, and on how the agency can better accomplish
the goals of this order. Within 6 months, each
participating agency shall report to the Task Force
regarding the strategies it has developed to ensure
such consultation.
(e) Interagency resource guide. The Task Force
shall identify, within participating Federal agencies,
all education-related programs and resources that
support the goals of this order. Within 12 months, the
Task Force, in conjunction with the Department of
Education, shall develop, publish, and widely
distribute a guide that describes those programs and
resources and how American Indians and Alaska Natives
can benefit from them.
(f) Research. The Secretary of Education, through
the Office of Educational Research and Improvement and
the Office of Indian Education, and in consultation
with NACIE and participating agencies, shall develop
and implement a comprehensive Federal research agenda
to:
(1) establish baseline data on academic achievement
and retention of American Indian and Alaska Native
students in order to monitor improvements;
(2) evaluate promising practices used with those
students; and
(3) evaluate the role of native language and
culture in the development of educational strategies.
Within 1 year, the Secretary of Education shall submit
the research agenda, including proposed timelines, to
the Task Force.
(g) Comprehensive Federal Indian education policy.
(1) The Task Force shall, within 2 years of the
date of this order, develop a comprehensive Federal
Indian education policy to support the accomplishment
of the goals of this order. The policy shall be
designed to:
(A) improve Federal interagency cooperation;
(B) promote intergovernmental collaboration; and
(C) assist tribal governments in meeting the unique
educational needs of their children, including the need
to preserve, revitalize, and use native languages and
cultural traditions.
(2) In developing the policy, the Task Force shall
consider ideas in the Comprehensive Federal Indian
Education Policy Statement proposal developed by the
NIEA and the NCAI.
[[Page 42683]]
(3) The Task Force shall develop recommendations to
implement the policy, including ideas for future
interagency action.
(4) As appropriate, participating agencies may
develop memoranda of agreement with one another to
enable and enhance the ability of tribes and schools to
provide, and to coordinate the delivery of, Federal,
tribal, State, and local resources and services,
including social and health-related services, to meet
the educational needs of American Indian and Alaska
Native students.
(h) Reports. The Task Force co-chairs shall submit
the comprehensive Federal Indian education policy, and
report annually on the agencies' activities,
accomplishments, and progress toward meeting the goals
of this order, to the Director of the Office of
Management and Budget.
Sec. 3. Regional partnership forums. The Departments of
Education and the Interior, in collaboration with the
Task Force and Federal, tribal, State, and local
government representatives, shall jointly convene,
within 18 months, a series of regional forums to
identify promising practices and approaches on how to
share information, provide assistance to schools,
develop partnerships, and coordinate intergovernmental
strategies supportive of accomplishing the goals of
this order. The Departments of Education and the
Interior shall submit a report on the forums to the
Task Force, which may include recommendations relating
to intergovernmental relations.
Sec. 4. School pilot sites. The Departments of
Education and the Interior shall identify a reasonable
number of schools funded by the Bureau of Indian
Affairs (BIA) and public schools that can serve as a
model for schools with American Indian and Alaska
Native students, and provide them with comprehensive
technical assistance in support of the goals of this
order. A special team of technical assistance
providers, including Federal staff, shall provide
assistance to these schools. Special attention shall be
given, where appropriate, to assistance in implementing
comprehensive school reform demonstration programs that
meet the criteria for those programs established by the
Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and
Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act,
1998 (Public Law 105-78), and to providing
comprehensive service delivery that connects and uses
diverse Federal agency resources. The team shall
disseminate effective and promising practices of the
school pilot sites to other local educational agencies.
The team shall report to the Task Force on its
accomplishments and its recommendations for improving
technical support to local educational agencies and
schools funded by the BIA.
Sec. 5. Administration. The Department of Education
shall provide appropriate administrative services and
staff support to the Task Force. With the consent of
the Department of Education, other participating
agencies may provide administrative support to the Task
Force, consistent with their statutory authority, and
may detail agency employees to the Department of
Education, to the extent permitted by law.
Sec. 6. Termination. The Task Force established under
section 2 of this order shall terminate not later than
5 years from the date of this order.
Sec. 7. General provisions. This order is intended only
to improve the internal management of the executive
branch and is not intended to, and does not, create any
right or benefit, substantive or procedural,
enforceable at law or equity by a party against the
United States, its agencies or instrumentalities, its
officers or employees, or any other person. This order
is not
[[Page 42684]]
intended to preclude, supersede, replace, or otherwise
dilute any other Executive order relating to American
Indian and Alaska Native education.
(Presidential Sig.)
THE WHITE HOUSE,
August 6, 1998.
[FR Doc. 98-21643
Filed 8-10-98; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P