Letter to the Hon. Tara Sweeney, Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of Indian Affairs - With nearly $2 million at risk & critical resources for 10,000+ Western New York students in jeopardy, Schumer presses Bureau of Indian Affairs to cut through bureaucratic red tape and secure impact aid for six Native American WNY districts

Letter

Dear Assistant Secretary Sweeney,

I write to strongly urge the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) to immediately sign off on the Indian Lands Source Check forms for six districts in New York: Salamanca City, Gowanda Central, Silver Creek Central, Akron Central, Niagara Wheatfield Central, and Evans-Brant Central. Without immediate action by the BIA, these school districts risk penalties of 10% of their total Impact Aid claim, nearly a staggering $2,000,000, for a late submission to the Department of Education, which is due tomorrow, January 31st.

The school districts report that these documents were submitted to the BIA over six weeks ago, as early as December 13, 2019. It is absolutely unacceptable for vital education dollars for over 10,000 New York students to be at risk due to bureaucratic hold ups and inaction by a federal agency tasked to ensure the trust responsibilities to provide quality education of Native American children is met. According to the National Indian Education Association, over ninety percent of Native American students are enrolled in public schools, making Impact Aid not just an important resource, but an essential fund for local education agencies to address the needs of Native American students.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time the New York school districts have encountered a delay in securing BIA sign off on the Source Documents. Moving forward, I suggest that you work with the Eastern Region to ensure that this does not happen in the future or coordinate with the Department of Education so that school districts and their thousands of students are not penalized for delays originating at the BIA.

Source