Mr. MEEDS. Thank you, Dillon. Unfortunately, the President vetoed bill on health services sometime ago, and I am going to have the >portunity to vote to override it. We will be in recess for 10 minutes. Whereupon, at 11:45 a.m., a short recess was taken until 11:55 a.m. e same day.]

Mr. MEEDS. The subcommittee will be back in session. Our next witss is Lorraine Misinszek, director, Advocates for Indian Education, orthwest Tribes. Welcome to the committee. Do you have a prepared atement?

MS. MISINSZEK. Yes; I do.

Mr. MEEDS. Would you summarize it, and it will be made part of le record.

TATEMENT OF LORRAINE MISINSZEK, DIRECTOR, ADVOCATES

FOR INDIAN EDUCATION, NORTHWEST TRIBES

MS. MISINSZEK. First of all, I am a member of the board of directors nd also program director for the Advocates for Indian Education. Our central office is in Spokane, Wash. Our board of directors repreents four States in the Northwest, Montana, Oregon, Washington, nd Wyoming.

We established the organization to respond to the many, many needs hat Indian people have expressed to us in the past. I have been peronally involved in education for many years.

We were, in the early years, promoting legislation such as title IV, nd all the many programs that we see developing and passing into

aw.

Watching from a distance, one of our greatest concerns, I guess, is he disenchantment and the frustration of the Indian people that we come in contact with in the field on the entire tribal floor concerning he Office of Indian Education problem.

It began very early in the establishment of the law. It dealt with, irst of all, how the council members themselves were selected. We felt that at the time, had serious thoughts and concerns had been expressed for Indians in education, that the membership selected would have been based primarily upon a broad spectrum of experience backgrounds from preschool all the way through adult vocational training. So, all the members on the council could have reflected, then, their knowledge and experience. As we see it, there have been problems within the council itself of attempting to reinvent the wheel, and if they had had the kind of experience that they should have, they could have drawn from this immediately, and overcome an awful lot of problems that they are presently experiencing.

The second, and probably the weakest link in the entire program in the Office of Indian Education, has been the administration. We find that the Deputy Commissioner, for example, has not filled all the very key and vital spots with permanent people. They are all in an acting capacity.

As a result of their being in an acting capacity, there is a high turnover rate. We see this as identical to the problems experienced by our little rural schools on Indian reservations in isolated areas where we had a problem with the continuity of the programs because of the high

staff turnover.

Offs of India Bivate PROTES There are many other times that have fin my testi but I think that those are woe of the raging needs. One thing! we need to do. Itt frstehe Office of Indian Elest ja to seek to stabilize in to have become very stabilized in bot ing and administrative pattems

By this I mean that funding engine to be developed according 5-year plan that was prepared me anfly by a previous 5% 7 In an Affairs stad before title IV was implemented.

There are many, many solid resources and materials that were utilized in establishing the aiministration of title IV prog feel, again, that there is almost like a feeling of treading water.! do not get anywhere unless you build up on the foundations that been laid previously.

Moving along rapidly. Advocates for Indian Education has f a great deal of support from the educational staff, which is rer. small, in the Portland area office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs

We have had an opportunity to work, both at the central offer at the local level, with them. We feel that they offer much more 5bility and continuity than any other program we have to deal It has been our direct experience that this is so.

I know that the BIA is the whipping boy for everyone, but I say that they do make a great effort. They have helped us do th that no one else would do. But there are many problems in the B of Indian Affairs. Again. I think that a lot of it has to do with ad istration and with the turnover of Commissioners, and so forth. staff at the top level.

We feel that somehow the area offices that deal most directly Indian tribes and schools in the areas need to really be examinedy closely, and to develop and to insure that within each area office the is a department of Indian education that will cover all the education activities in one department. Right now, they are scattered thro the community services, under this and under that.

If they were pulled together, and the director of education in area offices were given a position and a responsibility, and autho of being a director or assistant area director in charge of education. I think that we would be able to move ahead much more rapidly.

Now one of the problems that we see happening in the Burea Indian Affairs is the fact that we have a new director of Ind education, and he does not have a grasp. He is unable to get a on what he is administering and getting all the details.

hand

The biggest problem, the biggest obstacle, the biggest problem that he faces is the fact that his financial division is located in Albuquerque. They have become, as a matter of fact, a kingdom of their own, and they are not answerable to the central office, or really they are separate from the area offices.

I would like to see the financial division reestablished in the central office, so that a director of Indian education, a very highly competent director of Indian education in the Bureau of Indian Affairs will also be aware of where his moneys are. Then, he will have a complete control over his programs. In administration, you cannot do anything else but that. I don't know how they have existed this way.

Another thing that has hurt us most directly-and I would like to address this because your programs have had an effect on this-the new Johnson-O'Malley Act puts the funding on a per pupil basis.

Now, it has been my experience in working with State schools and in administering JOM programs in the past that your smaller schools, your poorer schools have a need for a greater amount of money in order to implement successfully educational programs.

Now, funding on a per pupil basis does not allow for that. We have small numbers, therefore, we have very small money. The larger schools that have very rich tax bases, I think that it is their obligation to their Indian students to implement and to put a lot of their other resources into these programs, and not count heavily on JohnsonO'Malley moneys or title IV moneys that are Indian dollars. This is where the advocacy role can come in.

We find, for example, in higher education institutions, as long as there is no advocacy role being played in either BIA or the Office of Indian Education, you are going to find institutions of higher education mainly non-Indian. I would say nearly all of them non-Indian, but very heavily funded by Indian identified dollars to do-I question the quality of the educational programs for Indians that they are able to develop and to operate. I think this is very unfair because they have their established agencies to which they can go for funding, and they should not go and be moved into Indian identified dollars to do these things.

It happened this year, I understand. There were two colleges, Harvard and Penn State, or somewhere, that got in the neighborhood of $250,000 each. I have to question this, because I don't think there are any Indians from the Northwest attending either one of those two schools. I feel that it is most unfair.

I commend them for their efforts in Indian education, but I would also urge that they go to the regular agencies for funding of these types of programs.

Finally, always, the bugaboo of the charges made against Indian people that they are always freeloaders, that they are always at the public trough, so to speak, asking for money, I would like the Bureau of Indian Affairs to establish tax studies on reservations and on reservation land.

I think that these tax studies would show that for every dollar generated from that Indian resource. from a tax payroll, it generates to $10 in service-related kinds of businesses, both on and off the reservation.

I think that you will find that the moneys generated by businesses, by land, and by Indian people themselves more than pay their share

of the school support that ultimately comes back through the State to the local school district.

So, when we talk about tax bases, I think that we are kind of in error in thinking that just because Indian land does not pay a property tax, that Indians do not pay taxes. I think we pay almost twice the amount of taxes of any other group in this country. Yet, we are always being accused of not paying taxes.

Therefore, I feel that this advocacy role of both the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Office of Indian Education in dealing with public schools, and State offices of education, they ought to stress the idea that Indians are entitled to what comes to them, more than entitled to what comes to them, through the regular sources, funding sources, and that there is a need for the special programs; and the special program moneys identified not be infringed upon by other institutions that have their own places, their own sources of funding. Mr. MEEDS. Did you want to save some time for this lady?

STATEMENT OF MAXINE EDMO, MEMBER, ADVOCATES FOR INDIAN EDUCATION, AND PARENT COMMITTEE FOR DISTRICT 55

Ms. EDMO. I am a member of the Tribal Committee and also a member of the Parent Committee under JOM for district 55. I am also a board member of the Advocates for Indian Education.

Recently, Idaho received a 55-percent decrease in JOM moneys, and I disagree with the formula that was used by the BIA to come up with this. I do feel that instead of decreasing the amount of money, and basing it on the per pupil. I think that they should reverse the formula and go the other way, allowing more money for those States that do not have enough money like Idaho.

I do appreciate the efforts on the part of the Congress in this. It still has to go on the Senate side. There are a lot of problem areas in JOM, and I would like to say that certain things in the Federal law in regard to special moneys for Indian students, I do feel that they should also mainly go to the needs of the Indian students.

Many of the students in our area have bilingual problems. Yet, we do not receive bilingual money through title VII. We have tried for 2 years now to get title VII moneys, but I don't know what the problem is. We have not received it.

In the same way, I do feel that the established sources for Indian programs like BIA and Indian Health, I think that they should be continued with an increase in funding.

We have also applied for funding for an alcoholism grant under NIAA, and we were not funded. We were told that we have the worst statistics in the country, why didn't we apply. We did, and we were turned down.

I do feel that it should go back to Indian Health Service. I am getting a litle away from education, but I do feel that it has an effect. Mr. MEEDS. Perhaps I can alleviate your fear a little bit. The House Appropriations Committee in attempting to alleviate the change that has taken place with JOM, put a proviso in that you could not get less than 75 percent of the moneys that you had last year. So this is what we call a hold harmless. It is a partial hold harmless, 25 percent, but it is a hold harmless that will last for 2 years. During that period of time, you are supposed to work into the new program.

I hate to hear you say that you dislike the regulations. They are really the "Red Regs," they were prepared by Indian people. One of the first things the BIA ever did that reflects what Indians generally wanted.

Ms. EDMO. This is another thing that we were told by the BIA, when we did meet with the Commissioner, that we had a chance for an input. This is one of the problems that we have. These meetings are usually held in the East, and Indian tribes from the West do not have the money to come out here.

Mr. MEEDS. I think that this meeting was held in Albuquerque.

All right, we will now hear from this charming lady of the Menominees. Will you take 3 minutes, and summarize your testimony?

STATEMENT OF FRANCES D. LeMAY, MENOMINEE PARENT, KESHENA, WIS.

Mrs. LEMAY. I was having my statement typed, and the typist came in and asked: "What is your title?" First of all, I am a Menominee parent.

Mr. MEEDS. That is a pretty important title.

Mrs. LEMAY. I have had 2 children by chance of my own, and 48 by choice. These were foster children. So, I am very interested.

This is one of the reasons for my concern about Indian education. We have been a member of the Indian Coalition of Indian Controlled School Boards from the beginning. I think that this is kind of why I am here with my concern.

First of all, we formed a Menominee County Education Committee in 1971. The reason for this was to open a community school for the children who could not achieve in the district schools.

The school is still open for students, and it is all voluntary. I would like to say that we have had three students from our community school attending college. We have adults who are working for their GED's in this community school.

Mr. MEEDS. This is a school which was opened for students who were not functioning properly in the public system?

Mrs. LEMAY. Right; this is the way that the whole coalition started. So, we still have a Menominee education committee, which is incorporated. Since the Johnson-O'Malley funds have come through, the Menominee Restoration Committee has appointed another education committee, and they, in turn, posted a notice for a meeting to elect parents to a parent advisory committee.

A meeting was held, and 21 people attended, and of the 21, none were eligible to serve on this parent advisory committee. So they were nominated to the committee.

Several days later, we were informed that the whole committee was illegal. So, since then the Menominee Restoration Committee contracting services have hired two people from district 8. One is Quentin Andrews. His title is director of tribal education programs, and he is non-Indian. Later, the same committee hired Dr. Welty, a nonIndian, from district 8. His title is school coordinator, education department.

He applied for the job of JOM director. What really concerns me is that I know two native American people who applied for this direc