Bureau of Indian Affairs

Southern Plains Regional Office

National Budget Meeting – FY 2012

Education Budget Request

Education

Tribes in the Southern Plains Region have made Education the number 1 priority.

Programs contracted include Scholarships, JOM, Adult Education and Tribally Designed programs

Critical for raising the quality of life for the first Americans

Johnson O’Malley

The largest & by far the most popular education program

There are 31 JOM Contracts in the Southern Plains Region; Two directly operated by the OK Indian Education Office

JOM provides school supplies & much needed tutoring to Indian Students

Approximately 32,000 served in 2009

Issues

Student count frozen in 1995 @ approximately 25,000

There have been several attempts to eliminate JOM altogether

Funding has steadily decreased In 1997 students were funded @

approximately $100 per student Today, they are funded @ approximately

$66 per student

Issues

Increased student counts & increased costs add to shortfall

At current funding levels, programs have to be very selective in what they purchase

Administrative costs incurred by contractors decreases amounts available for students

FY 2012 Recommendations

Reopen the student count to accurately reflect actual student population

Increase per student funding amount to $125

Scholarships

Probably the most underfunded and most critical of the education programs

Tribal Scholarships provide tribal members the opportunity to further education beyond High School level

Job Markets today are extremely competitive & often require more than a bachelor’s degree at the entry level

Scholarships Many tribes have no resources to support

students beyond the under graduate level Even with federal assistance, students

still have a huge unmet need Rising tuition costs + More students

applying for Scholarships = Less $$ available per student

Students forced to take out student loans Tribes cannot keep up with demand at

present funding levels

Funding Request TPA JOM

FY 2009 JOM Enacted - $481,985

FY 2012 JOM Request - $1,460,561

TPA Scholarships:

FY 2009 Enacted - $2,667,209

FY 2012 Request - $4,000,814

Funding Request

TPA Adult Education

FY 2009 Enacted - $579,416

FY 2012 Request - $724,270

Thank you!