The Bureau of Indian Affairs will transfer fifteen Alaskan village day schools to the state school system at the end of this school year. Deputy Assistant Secretary John Fritz ordered the transfer completed by June 15.
The move is part of a plan to transfer all BIA schools in Alaska to the state.
In 1982-83, the BIA will operate 22 village schools and one boarding high school in Alaska. At the end of that year the high school will be closed and the village schools transferred to the state.
Fritz noted that the Bureau of Indian Affairs' schools for the Alaska Natives were established to meet needs until the state was able to assume the responsibility. He added that the BIA and the state had formalized an agreement in 1963 for the transfer of Bureau schools to state administration, At one time there were as many as 120 BIA schools in Alaska. Transfers have occurred intermittently over the years. Village councils for each of the fifteen schools to be transferred this year have passed resolutions of concurrence in the transfer plan. Fritz said that all school property and equipment together with the buildings would be transferred to state ownership.
