Kline pushes for funding to help Indian schools

U.S. Rep. John Kline is asking for an almost $60 million increase in funding to the Bureau of Indian Affairs in as part of a recent push to end many of the unsafe conditions in Bureau of Indian Education schools across the country.

As the chairman for the Committee on Education and the Workforce, Kline’s letter to the Committee on Appropriations requests $133.2 million for education construction in the Bureau of Indian Affairs for the next fiscal year — a $58.7 million increase from Fiscal Year 2015.

In his letter, Kline cites the Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig School on the Leech Lake Band of the Ojibwe Reservation in northwestern Minnesota as a school that is emblematic of problems in Indian schools across the nation. As described in a four-part Star Tribune opinion series in the fall, the Bug school’s list of grievances include a rodent infestation and a roof that caves during heavy snowfalls.

“The federal government has made a commitment to American Indian students and families to provide educational opportunities in a manner that preserves their culture, language, and traditions,” Kline said in a release. “Unfortunately, we are failing to meet that commitment.

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