8. A review of vocational education opportunities for Indian young people and adults should be undertaken at both the State and National levels. The most extensive program of vocational education possible should be available to Indians, beginning at the high school level, and should be closely tied to job availability and family mobility. Every Indian who completes high school should have an opportunity for college or additional vocational training. 9. Efforts should be accelerated with State departments of education and local school districts to help them prepare to assume increased responsibility for the education of Indian children currently enrolled in BIA schools, in accordance with the BIA's policy of movement toward the public school system. 10. The U.S. Office of Education and the BIA should stimulate local school districts to take a more active part in bringing Indian children into their schools. Such a program will require in each community, planning meetings involving Indians, their non-Indian neighbors, local school officials, and representatives of State and Federal Governments. Integrated education should be encouraged. In many cases, however, this will be impossible because of extreme physical isolation. 11. A comprehensive study of the educational needs of Indians and the effectiveness of present programs-Federal, State, and localin meeting these needs should be undertaken. 12. Ways should be explored to encourage development of junior or community colleges on or near the larger reservations to facilitate opportunities for larger numbers of Indian children to receive higher education. A central criterion in establishing such a school should be attendance by non-Indian as well as Indian children. LEGISLATION 13. The BIA authorization for titles I, II, and III of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act should be extended beyond the present expiration date of June 30, 1967, and made consistent with the timing of the balance of the act. 14. Public Law 81-815 should be amended to liberalize the provision for construction of public school facilities in areas with concentrations of Indian children. 15. Consideration should be given to transferring the JohnsonO'Malley program from the BIA to the Office of Education. This program, which provides funds for supplementary services for Indian children enrolled in public schools, bears a direct relationship to programs administered by the Office of Education. JOM assistance being provided at present consists of special services such as those under title I of Public Law 89-10, and more general assistance such 88-889 0-68-7 as that provided under Public Law 81-874 for impact areas. Closer coordination of all these programs should increase efficiency and effectiveness. Respectfully submitted, Department of the Interior: ROBERT E. VAUGHAN, Deputy Assistant Secretary. JAMES E. OFFICER, Associate Commissioner, Bureau of Indian Affairs. Bureau of Indian Affairs. Bonito, Wesley, education committee, Apache Tribe, box 864, Whiteriver, Ariz. Colmen, Joseph G., Deputy Assistant Secretary for Education, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Washington, D.C. Coombs, Madison, Deputy Assistant Commissioner for Education, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Washington, D.C. Cooper, Samuel, Tribal Council, Mescalero Apache, Mescalero, N. Mex. Deloria, Vine, Jr., executive director, National Congress of American Indians, 1452 Pennsylvania, Denver, Colo. Ducheneaux, Frank, chairman, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, Eagle Butte,【S.'Dak. George, Rosemary, Division of Compensatory Education, U.S. Office of Education, Washington, D.C. Hart, Lawrence H., chairman, Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribe, box 38, Concho, Okla. Lekanof, Flore, chairman, Alaska Federation of Native Associations, box 1152, Little Soldier, August, chairman, Fort Berthold, New Town, N. Dak. Martin, Phillip, Mississippi Choctaw Tribe, Route 7, Philadelphia, Miss. Officer, James, Associate Commissioner, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Washington, D.C. Osceola, Laura Mae, secretary treasurer, Seminole Tribe, 6073 Sterling Road, Hollywood, Fla. Otte, Arland, U.S. Office of Education, Washington, D.C. Rock, Howard, editor, Tundra Times, box 1287, Fairbanks, Alaska. 10 Thom, Melvin D., chairman, Walker River Paiute Tribe, box 118, Schurz, Nev. Walker, Tillie, executive director, United Scholarship Service, 1452 Pennsylvania, NOVEMBER 11-12, 1966 Aberle, Sophie D., coordinator of research, Psychiatric Department, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, N. Mex. Colmen, Joseph G., Deputy Assistant Secretary for Education, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Washington, D.C. Deloria, Vine, Jr., executive director, National Congress of American Indians, 1452 Pennsylvania, Denver, Colo. Denny, Benjamin, Jr., 833 Ponderosa Avenue NW., Albuquerque, N. Mex. Ducheneaux, Frank, chairman, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, Eagle Butte, S. Dak. Geboe, Charles G., director, Indian community action project, University of Gentry, Robert J., director, child development programs, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Okla. George, Rosemary, Division of Compensatory Education, U.S. Office of Education, Washington, D.C. Hensley, William L., vice chairman, Statewide Native Conference, box 33, Kotzebue, Alaska. Kelly, William H., professor of anthropology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Ariz. Lantis, Margaret, professor of anthropology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Ky. Lekanof, Flore, chairman, Alaska Federation of Native Associations, box 1152, Fairbanks, Alaska. Marburger, Carl L., Assistant Commissioner for Education, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Washington, D.C. Moore, Josiah, Papago Tribe, post office box 277, Sells, Ariz. Mylecraine, Walter, Assistant to Deputy Commissioner, U.S. Office of Education, Washington, D.C. Officer, James, Associate Commissioner, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Washington, D.C. Otte, Arland, U.S. Office of Education, Washington, D.C. Owens, Charles S., director of Indian education, State department of education, Santa Fe, N. Mex. Parmeter, Adrian T., Bureau of Research, U.S. Office of Education, Washington, Rock, Howard, editor, Tundra Times, box 1287, Fairbanks, Alaska. Snider, Glenn, professor of education, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Okla. Tilson, David, National Institutes of Health, Washington, D.C. Tyler, S. Lyman, director, bureau of Indian services, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah. Vaughan, Robert E., Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Land Management, Department of Interior, Washington, D.C. Victor, Wilma L., superintendent, Intermountain School, Brigham City, Utah. Ward, Phillip, Jr., director of instructional services, department of public instruction, Helena, Mont. Wilson, Jim, Director, Indian Branch, Office of Economic Opportunity, Washington, D.C. Yazhe, Ethel, Hunters Point School, St. Michaels, Ariz. Zintz, Miles V., professor of education, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, N. Mex. Mr. COHEN. First, Mr. Chairman, let me say that we welcome your hearings on this subject, because we know the important interest that you have in keeping governmental functions adjusted to changing conditions. Regardless of our particular views on this bill, Secretary Gardner and I feel that the subcommittee performs a vital function in reassessing from time to time the allocation of responsibilities among Government agencies which, of course, should change as the problems and the missions change. I would like to say, first, that while it is not primarily our responsibility, I do not like the thought that is in the present bill, S. 886, to redesignate the name of the Department of the Interior to the Department of Natural Resources. I do believe that in the light of the concern in the United States for the conservation and preservation of our natural resources, the use of that name rather than the Department of the Interior would have a beneficial-at least, I hope-impact on the American public in recognizing the need for conservation of our natural resources and perhaps, even, it would be a better name to call it the Department of Conservation of Natural Resources. In view of the tremendous problem we are going to have in the future with the growing population, we must give very careful consideration to the conservation of our natural resources. HEALTH ORIENTATION OF AIR POLLUTION AND SOLID WASTE PROGRAMS In my statment I presented the reasons why we believe the air pollution activities and the solid waste programs that are now in the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare should continue to remain in the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. There are two basis points that should be made. First, this is a matter of great importance to the public health of the Nation. It will become increasingly more important as time goes on. We believe this is a health function and should remain in a healthoriented agency. Secondly, at the State level, air pollution activities are largely concentrated in State health departments, and there is a normal FederalState relationship between the Public Health Service and the State health departments. We believe there would be an important change in Federal-State relationships, not merely at the Federal level, to reallocate this responsibility from our Department to another department that is not primarily health oriented. GREATER FRAGMENTATION WOULD RESULT In the Department of the Interior, which is basically concerned with the utilization of natural resources, there is a tendency toward, at least a tension if not a conflict, between the producers of coal and oil and other natural resources on the one hand, and, of course, the health function on the other. And I think it would not be, in the long run, of public interest to have these two functions administered in the same department when there is that difference in objectives. As a matter of fact, I would maintain, Senator Ribicoff, that even if the function were transferred from the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, the preservation of the public health would still have to be administered by our Department and, thus, the fragmentation of functions would probably be an even more difficult coordination problem than at the present time. BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS SHOULD NOT BE PUT IN HEW Now, with regard to the second aspect in this bill that affects our Department, there is a more difficult problem, and that is the one for the transfer of the Bureau of Indian Affairs to our Department. This is a problem which I know you have given a lot of thought to, and it has been discussed in the Federal Government for a long period of time. I have no doubt in saying that the transfer of the public health function that was formerly vested in the Bureau of Indian Affairs to the Public Health Service some years ago has resulted in a material improvement in the health of the American Indian, and I would have to say, in all honesty, that if the education function in the Bureau of Indian Affairs were transferred to the Office of Education, I think it would likewise result in an improvement in the education of the American Indian. But the question posed by the bill before you of transferring all the functions of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, including the management of tribal and individual economic enterprise, the management of forest lands, the building and operation of irrigation projects, the building and maintenance of public roads on Indian reservations, and so on, is an area that is quite foreign to our responsibilities, and we would not think it either desirable or wise at this time for those functions to be transferred. But a more important policy question is the fact that in our discussions with the representatives of the Indians, they have indicated. that they are quite opposed to the transfer of these functions to the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. Senator RIBICOFF. Education too? INDIANS FEAR CHANGE IN POLICY WOULD RESULT Mr. COHEN. Yes, sir. It is my understanding, on the basis of Secretary Gardner's meeting with various Indian groups in Kansas City in February, that while they do not take a position of the sort of being specifically against the movement of one function, they look upon any movement or change as having a long impact in changing the whole philosophy of the Federal Government's responsibility with respect to Indians. So, I would say that you have a very difficult problem in that the main constituents that you are interested in dealing with are, at least vigorously, I would say, opposed to it. It would certainly be an important factor, and requires further consultation with them before any such change in part or in whole is made. Senator RIBICOFF. I am just curious. The Indians probably admit, do they not, that having transferred health functions to the Public Health Service has helped the Indians? Do they recognize this? Mr. COHEN. I think they do, sir. Senator RIBICOFF. What would be their objection to the transfer of education? |