Six schools in Arizona operated by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Education have been chosen for campus-wide replacement projects. To qualify, schools had to be more than 50 years old, have a “poor” facility condition rating, or house more than 75% of students in portable buildings.
Roughly 50 schools applied for replacement. Nationwide, only 10 ended up on the agency’s priority list. Six of them are located in Arizona, and seven are on the Navajo Nation. This fiscal year, $8-million will be allocated for the project.
Officials say the order of construction will be determined in the coming weeks.
READ MORE: Report: 38 Percent Of BIE Schools Lacked Safety Inspections In 2015
"All of these schools have serious life [and] safety issues and many are old and dilapidated," said Dr. Tommy Lewis, the Superintendent of the Navajo Nation Department of Diné Education. "Replacing them with new facilities will only benefit student learning."
Nearly 50,000 kids across the country, or about 10% of all Native American Indian children, attend a BIE school. System wide, 60 schools have been identified as being in “poor” condition and it’s estimated it will take at least $1.3 billion to replace them all.
This project comes as federal officials complete funding school replacements from another priority list that dates back to 2004.
Read the reporter's entire series on BIE schools and reforms.
