On January 23, 2025, President Trump issued an Executive Order (EO) to expand educational freedom and opportunity for families. The EO Section 7 directs the Secretary of the Interior (Secretary) within 90 days to review any available mechanisms under which families of students eligible to attend Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) schools may use their Federal funding for educational options of their choice, including private, faith-based, or public charter schools. EO Section 7 also directs the Secretary to submit a plan to the President describing such mechanisms and the steps necessary to implement them for the 2025-26 school year.
To meet the deadline set by the President in the EO, BIE is expediting the formal Tribal consultation process to provide Tribes and critical Indian education stakeholders the meaningful and timely opportunity to review and comment on the EO, generally, and possible authorities available to the BIE. Rather than the usual 30-day notification period, BIE is providing a two week, 14-day notification period that still provides the necessary announcement for meaningful engagement while addressing the timeline set forth in the EO.
Consultation will be conducted to seek input from Tribes and stakeholders on the EO and related topics including:
- Any available mechanisms that could provide families of eligible students use of Federal funding for educational options of their choice including how any such mechanisms will be funded;
- To the extent that there exist any such mechanisms to implement in the 2025-26 school year, the eligibility criteria for students in the plan referenced in the EO;
- Educational options near existing BIE-funded schools that could provide potentially eligible students local flexibility to attend a non-BIE school, such as private, faith-based, or public charter schools.
Invitation
Sessions
Comment Deadline
If you would like to provide written input, please either email your comments to consultationcomments@bie.edu or mail to Ms. Juanita Mendoza, 1849 C Street, NW, MS 3609, Washington DC 20240.
