I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 84
To expand opportunity for Native American children through additional
options in education, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY3, 2025
Mr. B
IGGSof Arizona introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Education and Workforce
A BILL
To expand opportunity for Native American children through
additional options in education, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Native American Edu-4
cation Opportunity Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. NATIVE AMERICAN EDUCATION OPPORTUNITY PRO-6
GRAM. 7
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Part B of title XI of the Edu-8
cation Amendments of 1978 (25 U.S.C. 2000 et seq.) is 9
amended— 10
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(1) by redesignating section 1141 as section 1
1142; and 2
(2) by inserting after section 1140 the fol-3
lowing: 4
‘‘SEC. 1141. FUNDING OF TRIBAL-BASED EDUCATION SAV-5
INGS ACCOUNT PROGRAMS. 6
‘‘(a) P
ROGRAMAUTHORIZED.— 7
‘‘(1) D
ISBURSEMENTS.—At the request of 8
Tribes, the Secretary of Education and the Sec-9
retary of the Interior shall, for the 2025–2026 10
school year and each subsequent school year, dis-11
burse amounts transferred under paragraphs (2) 12
and (3) of section 2101(a) of the Elementary and 13
Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 14
6611(a)) for the fiscal year to such Tribes that ad-15
minister education savings account programs to en-16
able the Tribes to award grants to education savings 17
accounts for ESA eligible students for such school 18
year, in accordance with subsection (b). 19
‘‘(2) A
PPLICABILITY.—This section shall apply 20
with respect to ESA eligible students who have sub-21
mitted their application for participation under this 22
section to the Tribe of which the student is an en-23
rolled member on or after January 1, 2025. 24
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‘‘(3) ACCOUNT ADMINISTRATION .—A Tribe may 1
enter into an agreement with a nonprofit entity for 2
the administration of the accounts created through 3
the Tribe’s education savings account program. 4
‘‘(4) R
EQUIRED USE OF FUNDS .—Funds dis-5
bursed to a Tribe under this section shall be used 6
to deposit $8,000 each year in the Tribal education 7
savings accounts of ESA eligible students who have 8
not yet attained a regular high school diploma or its 9
recognized equivalent. 10
‘‘(5) P
ERMISSIBLE USE OF FUNDS .—Funds dis-11
bursed to a Tribe under this section may be used 12
for— 13
‘‘(A) private tutoring, including academic, 14
Native language, or cultural tutoring; 15
‘‘(B) costs of attendance at a private ele-16
mentary school or secondary school recognized 17
by the State, which may include a private 18
school that has a religious mission; 19
‘‘(C) private online learning programs; 20
‘‘(D) services provided by a public elemen-21
tary school or secondary school attended by the 22
child on a less than full-time basis, including in-23
dividual classes and extracurricular activities 24
and programs; 25
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‘‘(E) textbooks, curriculum programs, or 1
other instructional materials, including any sup-2
plemental materials required by a curriculum 3
program, private school, private online learning 4
program, or a public school, or any parent di-5
rected curriculum associated with K–12 edu-6
cation; 7
‘‘(F) computer hardware or other techno-8
logical devices that are used to help meet a stu-9
dent’s educational needs, except that such hard-10
ware or devices may not be purchased by a par-11
ent more than once in an 18-month period; 12
‘‘(G) educational software and applica-13
tions; 14
‘‘(H) uniforms purchased for attendance at 15
a private school recognized by the State; 16
‘‘(I) fees for nationally standardized as-17
sessment exams, advanced placement exams, 18
any exams related to college or university ad-19
mission, or tuition or fees for preparatory 20
courses for such exams; 21
‘‘(J) fees for summer education programs 22
and specialized after-school education programs 23
(but not including after-school childcare); 24
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‘‘(K) educational services and therapies, 1
including occupational, behavioral, physical, 2
speech-language, and audiology therapies; 3
‘‘(L) transportation to receive a service 4
under paragraph (4); 5
‘‘(M) costs of attendance at an institution 6
of higher education; 7
‘‘(N) costs associated with an apprentice-8
ship or other vocational training program; 9
‘‘(O) fees for State-recognized industry 10
certification exams, and tuition or fees for pre-11
paratory courses for such exams; 12
‘‘(P) contributions to a college savings ac-13
count, which may include contributions to a 14
qualified tuition program (as defined in section 15
529(b)(1)(A) of the Internal Revenue Code of 16
1986) or other prepaid tuition plan offered by 17
a State; or 18
‘‘(Q) any other educational expenses ap-19
proved by the Secretary. 20
‘‘(b) D
ISBURSEMENTS.— 21
‘‘(1) A
NNUAL DISBURSEMENTS .—A Tribe that 22
receives a disbursement amount under subsection (a) 23
shall make semi-annual distributions of such amount 24
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to education savings accounts for ESA eligible stu-1
dents. 2
‘‘(2) L
IMITATION.—A Tribe shall allocate not 3
more than 5 percent of the amount received per 4
pupil under this section to the administration of the 5
education savings account programs of the Tribe. 6
‘‘(3) R
OLL OVER AND REMAINING FUNDS IN AN 7
ACCOUNT.—Amounts remaining in the Tribal edu-8
cation savings account of a student at the end of a 9
school year shall remain available until expended for 10
use in accordance with this section. 11
‘‘(4) T
ERMINITION AND RETURN OF FUNDS .— 12
The Tribal education savings account of a student 13
shall terminate on— 14
‘‘(A) the date on which the student enrolls 15
in a public elementary school or secondary 16
school on a full-time basis; 17
‘‘(B) in the case of a student who is pur-18
suing postsecondary education, the earlier of— 19
‘‘(i) the date on which the student 20
completes postsecondary education; or 21
‘‘(ii) the date on which the student at-22
tains the age of 25 years; 23
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‘‘(C) in the case of a student who is an in-1
dividual with a disability, the date on which the 2
student attains the age of 26 years; or 3
‘‘(D) in the case of an individual not de-4
scribed in subparagraph (B) or (C), the earlier 5
of— 6
‘‘(i) the date on which the student at-7
tains the age of 25 years; or 8
‘‘(ii) the expiration of any 2-year pe-9
riod during which funds in the account are 10
not used in accordance with this section. 11
‘‘(c) C
OMPULSORYATTENDANCEREQUIREMENTS.— 12
A State that receives funds under this title shall consider 13
a child with a Tribal education savings account for a 14
school year as meeting the State’s compulsory school at-15
tendance requirements for such school year. 16
‘‘(d) S
PECIALRULE.—In the case of a child with a 17
Tribal education savings account who attends a public 18
school on a less than full-time basis in a school year— 19
‘‘(1) the child may not attend the public school 20
free of charge; and 21
‘‘(2) funds in the account, in an amount deter-22
mined pursuant to an agreement between the parent 23
of the child and the local educational agency con-24
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cerned, shall be used to pay for the child’s costs of 1
attendance at such school. 2
‘‘(e) T
RIBALCONSULTATION.— 3
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Before providing edu-4
cational services to ESA eligible students, and on an 5
annual basis thereafter, a participating educational 6
service provider shall engage in consultation with ap-7
propriate Tribal officials before providing edu-8
cational services to ESA eligible students. 9
‘‘(2) D
OCUMENTATION.—The participating edu-10
cational service provider shall maintain in the pro-11
vider’s records and provide to the Bureau of Indian 12
Education a written affirmation signed by the ap-13
propriate officials of the participating Tribes or 14
Tribal organizations approved by the Tribes that the 15
consultation required by this section has occurred. If 16
such officials do not provide such affirmation within 17
a reasonable period of time, the affected educational 18
service provider shall forward documentation that 19
such consultation has taken place to the Bureau of 20
Indian Education. 21
‘‘(3) R
ULE OF CONSTRUCTION .—Nothing in 22
this section shall be construed to require the partici-23
pating educational service provider to determine who 24
are the appropriate officials. 25
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‘‘(4) LIMITATION.—Consultation required under 1
this section shall not interfere with the timely ap-2
proval and operation of participating educational 3
service providers. 4
‘‘(f) R
ULE OFCONSTRUCTION.—A grant awarded to 5
an ESA eligible student under this section shall be consid-6
ered assistance to the student and shall not be considered 7
assistance to a school that enrolls the ESA eligible student 8
or any other educational service provider from which the 9
ESA eligible student receives services. The amounts pro-10
vided on behalf of an ESA eligible student under this sec-11
tion shall not be treated as income of the parent or the 12
student for purposes of Federal tax laws or for deter-13
mining eligibility for any other Federal program. 14
‘‘(g) T
ERMINATION.—The authority to carry out this 15
section shall expire on the date that is 5 years after the 16
date of the enactment of this Act. 17
‘‘(h) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 18
‘‘(1) A
PPROPRIATE OFFICIALS.—The term ‘ap-19
propriate officials’ means— 20
‘‘(A) Tribal officials who are elected; or 21
‘‘(B) appointed Tribal leaders or officials 22
designated in writing. 23
‘‘(2) E
DUCATIONAL SERVICE PROVIDER .—The 24
term ‘educational service provider’ means an edu-25
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cational service provider that has entered into an 1
agreement with a Tribe. 2
‘‘(3) ESA
ELIGIBLE STUDENT .—The term 3
‘ESA eligible student’ means an individual who is— 4
‘‘(A) an elementary school or secondary 5
school Tribal enrolled student who attended a 6
school operated by the Bureau of Indian Edu-7
cation in the semester preceding the date on 8
which the student first applies for participation 9
in an education savings account program; or 10
‘‘(B) a child who— 11
‘‘(i) will be eligible to attend a school 12
operated by the Bureau of Indian Edu-13
cation for kindergarten or any other ele-14
mentary school grade in the next semester 15
that will start after the date on which the 16
student first applies for participation in an 17
education savings account program; or 18
‘‘(ii) will not be attending a school op-19
erated by the Bureau of Indian Education, 20
receiving an education savings account 21
from another Tribe, or attending a public 22
elementary school or secondary school, 23
while the student is participating in an 24
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education savings account program of a 1
Tribe. 2
‘‘(4) E
DUCATION SAVINGS ACCOUNT PRO -3
GRAM.—The term ‘education savings account pro-4
gram’ means a program administered by a Tribe in 5
which the Tribe awards a grant to an account man-6
aged by the Tribe or a nonprofit entity on behalf of 7
a parent of an elementary school or secondary school 8
student from which the parent may purchase goods 9
and services needed for the education of the student. 10
‘‘(5) N
ONPROFIT ENTITY DEFINED .—In this 11
paragraph, the term ‘nonprofit entity’ means an en-12
tity that is described in the section 501(c)(3) of the 13
Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and is exempt from 14
taxation under section 501(a) of such Code. 15
‘‘(6) P
ARENT.—The term ‘parent’ has the 16
meaning given the term in section 8101 of the Ele-17
mentary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 18
U.S.C. 7801). 19
‘‘(7) T
RIBE.—The term ‘Tribe’ means any rec-20
ognized Indian Tribe included on the current list 21
published by the Secretary under section 104 of the 22
Federally Recognized Indian Tribe Act of 1994 (25 23
U.S.C. 5131).’’. 24
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(b) CONFORMINGAMENDMENT.—Section 1126(c) of 1
the Education Amendments of 1978 (25 U.S.C. 2006(c)) 2
is amended by striking ‘‘section 1141(12)’’ and inserting 3
‘‘section 1142(12)’’. 4
SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO THE ELEMENTARY AND SEC-5
ONDARY EDUCATION ACT OF 1965. 6
Section 2101(a) of the Elementary and Secondary 7
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6611(a)) is amended 8
at the end by inserting the following new paragraph: 9
‘‘(3) one-half of one percent for Tribes that ad-10
minister education savings account programs under 11
section 1141 of part B of title XI of the Education 12
Amendments of 1978 (25 U.S.C. 2000 et seq.).’’. 13
SEC. 4. CHARTER SCHOOLS AUTHORIZED. 14
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Bureau of Indian Education 15
is authorized to approve and fund a Bureau-Funded Char-16
ter School at any school operated or funded by the Bureau 17
of Indian Education. 18
(b) U
SE OFBUREAUFACILITIES.—Tribes are au-19
thorized to use existing Bureau of Indian Education facili-20
ties for the operation, management, and expansion of 21
grades in Bureau-funded charter schools, as defined in 22
subsection (d)(1). 23
(c) U
SE OFFUNDS.—Funds dispersed to Tribes 24
under this section may be used for subcontracts with a 25
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Tribal organization or developer to manage or operate Bu-1
reau-funded charter schools. 2
(d) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 3
(1) B
UREAU-FUNDED CHARTER SCHOOL .—The 4
term ‘‘Bureau-Funded Charter School’’ means a 5
school that— 6
(A) is approved by the Tribal government 7
where the school operates and is approved and 8
funded by the Bureau of Indian Education; 9
(B) is exempt from significant Federal, 10
State, or local rules that inhibit the flexible op-11
eration and management of Bureau-funded 12
schools, but not from any rules relating to the 13
other requirements of this paragraph; 14
(C) is created by a developer as a Bureau- 15
funded school, or is adapted by a developer 16
from an existing Bureau-funded school; 17
(D) operates in pursuit of a specific set of 18
educational objectives determined by the 19
school’s developer and agreed to by each Tribe 20
served and the Bureau of Indian Education; 21
(E) provides a program of elementary or 22
secondary education, or both; 23
(F) is not affiliated with a sectarian school 24
or religious institution; 25
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(G) does not charge tuition; 1
(H) complies with the Age Discrimination 2
Act of 1975 (42 U.S.C. 6101 et seq.), title VI 3
of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 4
2000d et seq.), title IX of the Education 5
Amendments of 1972 (20 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.), 6
section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 7
(29 U.S.C. 794), the Americans with Disabil-8
ities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.), 9
section 1232g of this title (commonly referred 10
to as the ‘‘Family Educational Rights and Pri-11
vacy Act of 1974’’), and part B of the Individ-12
uals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 13
1411 et seq.); 14
(I) is a school to which parents choose to 15
send their children, and that— 16
(i) admits students on the basis of a 17
lottery, consistent with section 18
4303(c)(3)(A) of the Elementary and Sec-19
ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 20
7221b(c)(3)(A)), if more students apply 21
for admission than can be accommodated; 22
or 23
(ii) automatically enrolls students who 24
are enrolled in the immediate prior grade 25
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level of Bureau-funded schools and, for any 1
additional student openings or student 2
openings created through regular attrition 3
in student enrollment in the affiliated 4
charter school and the enrolling school, ad-5
mits students on the basis of a lottery as 6
described in clause (i); 7
(J) agrees to comply with the same Fed-8
eral audit requirements as do other Bureau- 9
funded schools, unless such Federal audit re-10
quirements are waived by the Bureau of Indian 11
Education; 12
(K) meets all applicable Federal health 13
and safety requirements; 14
(L) operates in accordance with Federal 15
law; 16
(M) has a written performance contract 17
with the Bureau of Indian Education that in-18
cludes a description of how student perform-19
ance will be measured in charter schools pursu-20
ant to assessments that are required of other 21
schools and pursuant to any other assessments 22
mutually agreeable to the Bureau of Indian 23
Education, Tribe(s) served, and the charter 24
school; and 25
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(N) may serve students in early childhood 1
education programs. 2
(2) D
EVELOPER.—The term ‘‘developer’’ means 3
an individual or group of individuals (including a 4
public, private, or Tribal nonprofit organization), 5
which may include teachers, administrators and 6
other school staff, parents, or other members of the 7
local community in which a charter school project 8
will be carried out. 9
SEC. 5. GAO STUDY. 10
Not later than 3 years after the date of enactment 11
of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States 12
shall— 13
(1) conduct a review of the implementation of 14
the programs established by this Act during the pre-15
ceding 3-year period, including any factors impact-16
ing increased participation in education savings ac-17
count programs established pursuant to the amend-18
ments made by this Act; 19
(2) submit a report describing the results of the 20
review under paragraph (1) to— 21
(A) the Committee on Indian Affairs of the 22
Senate; and 23
(B) the Subcommittee on Indian, Insular 24
and Alaska Native Affairs of the Committee on 25
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Natural Resources of the House of Representa-1
tives; and 2
(3) make the report described in paragraph (2) 3
publicly available. 4
SEC. 6. SEVERABILITY. 5
If any provision of this Act, or an amendment made 6
by this Act, or the application of such provision or amend-7
ment to any person or circumstance, is held to be invalid, 8
the remainder of this Act, or an amendment made by this 9
Act, or the application of such provision to other persons 10
or circumstances, shall not be affected. 11
Æ
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