Political Quotes

“I rise today to discuss the issue of tribal education; an issue of great importance to Indian Country, but one that does not receive the attention it should from the rest of the nation. Native students' academic outcomes show the worst achievement gaps in the country. Graduation rates for American Indians and Alaska Natives are lower than the graduation rates for all other racial and ethnic groups. American Indian and Alaska Native students have a lower average score in reading than other students. Sadly there's been little improvement to these statistics over the past 80 years. I hear often from many of the tribal school districts in my State, and the issues they face in providing quality education to their students are numerous. Aging infrastructure badly in need of renovation. Difficulties in recruiting trained, Native teachers and administrators. Chronic underfunding and late payments of Impact Aid. The failure of No Child Left Behind requirements to address tribal needs and learning styles especially related to language and culture. All are impediments to the goal of improving educational outcomes of Native American youth. To try and help address these issues, I rise today to introduce the Building upon the Unique Indian Learned and Development, or BUILD, Act. This legislation is an important step towards improving the conditions and teaching for Native American students. In general, our Nation's schools are aging and in a state of disrepair.…”