Four years ago, Montana students and tribal nations sued the Office of Public Instruction for lackluster enforcement of the constitutionally-required Indian Education for All program.
Alex Rate is the legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Montana — one of the groups that represented the plaintiffs. He said between 2019 and 2020, the budget for the program was roughly $7 million. But only about half of that was actually accounted for.
“We were seeing school library books that were being purchased with Indian education money that had absolutely nothing to do with Indigenous culture and identity.”
Montana is the only state with a requirement for Native American education written into its Constitution. But since it was introduced in 1972, there have been problems tracking its instruction.
Now, four years after the lawsuit was introduced, the OPI has agreed to settle with the plaintiffs. The proposal says Indian Education for All will be required for K-12 accreditation. It also formalizes the inclusion of tribal nations when making the curriculum.
Superintendent of Public Instruction Susie Hedalen said in a statement that she was pleased they reached an agreement and will continue to make sure “every Montana student receives authentic instruction on our state’s tribal nations.”
Cammie DuPois-Pablo is one of the plaintiffs in the suit, and a member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. She said she was disappointed with the ambiguity and infrequency of Native education in her children's public schools.
“My little guys are going to start kindergarten this year. And so I'm hopeful that as they go through the education system, IEFA will be carried out the way it was intended to and that they will have a better chance at learning and understanding our history.”
A hearing on final approval of the settlement is scheduled for December.
