JOM Funding For FY1999.

WHEREAS, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Johnson-O’Malley Program (JOM) provides supplemental educational services and programs to eligible Indian students, ages 3 through grade 12, attending pre-schools, public schools and some Indian grant schools located on or near Indian reservations; and

WHEREAS, the BIA’s Office of Indian Education Programs (OIEP) has continually failed, on an annual basis, to recommend adequate funding for the JOM Program, despite the fact that the nationwide JOM student count is over 275,000 students and increases annually; and

WHEREAS, our JOM students will one day be our tribal leaders in all fields, and must be given maximum opportunity to have positive pre-school, elementary and secondary education experiences, which the JOM program provides; and

WHEREAS, the federal budget cuts to Indian education programs are direct violations of treaty rights and the trust responsibility to Indian tribes and Alaska Natives.

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT THE NATIONAL INDIAN EDUCATION ASSOCIATION strongly recommends that President William Jefferson Clinton and the U.S. Congress restore funding to the JOM program at the FY1995 level of $24.3 million for FY1999 and beyond;

AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT THE NATIONAL INDIAN EDUCATION ASSOCIATION collaborate their efforts with the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) and other national, regional, state and local organizations to restore and adequately fund the JOM program for FY1999 and beyond.

SUBMITTED BY: Rodney Bordeaux (Rosebud Sioux) and Phil Two Eagle (Rosebud Sioux)

CERTIFICATION

I do hereby certify that the foregoing resolution was duly considered and passed by the NIEA membership assembled at its annual convention in Tacoma, Washington, at which a quorum was present, during the meeting held November 2-6, 1997.