U.S. Senators Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) and James Lankford (R-Okla.) introduced bipartisan legislation to update decades-old data the federal government uses to distribute funds to Native American students. The data currently excludes about 500,000 Native students from accessing federal resources they could be eligible for that would help address many of the students’ unique academic and cultural needs.

Because of the lack of accurate data in how Native students are counted by the federal government, many Native students in public schools across the country eligible for federal cultural educational support through the Johnson O’Malley program have lacked access to such resources. The Bureau of Indian Affairs’ last official count of Native students took place more than two decades ago, yet it uses these numbers to determine which students get federal resources. Heitkamp and Lankford introduced bipartisan legislation to require the federal government to quickly and accurately count all eligible Native students for the program, which would allow these students who currently aren’t being counted to federal resources that will help them improve academically.

Kevin Iverson, manager of the census office at the ND Department of Commerce, says the American Indian population has the highest undercount of any demographic. “The state made a lot of effort to get everyone on the census,” said Iverson. He has heard on multiple occasions that Native Americans have a reluctance to disclose due to a distrust in government. Since census data can never be used on an individual basis, it actually hurts the general population to not count. For every person under-counted, it costs $1,000 a year according to Iverson.

“In too many forgotten corners of our country, Native young people often neglected and underserved are falling behind,” said Heitkamp. “We already know that culturally specific programs in schools, like Native language preservation courses, help put Native students on brighter paths personally and academically. But for the past two decades, federal agencies have failed to provide an accurate count of the Native students most in need and potentially eligible for these resources. As one of the fastest growing populations in the country, U.S. Census data suggests that Native students eligible for such resources have dramatically increased.”

“The Johnson-O’Malley program addresses some of the unique cultural and academic needs of Native American students, but the efficiency of its management is questionable,” said Lankford. “Congress has raised concerns about JOM’s inaccurate count of Indian students attending public schools before. It’s now time for statutorily-enforced updates to this program so that it truly helps the students it was intended to help. The JOM Modernization Act will provide a needed reformation to ensure the program effectively reaches Indian students in public schools throughout the United States.”

“The National Johnson O’Malley Association is very excited to have Senators Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) and James Lankford (R-OK) sponsor and introduce the Johnson-O’Malley Supplemental Indian Education Program Modernization Act. This legislation will provide long needed and necessary updates to the JOM program which awards supplemental assistance to tribal organizations, school districts, and other partner organizations to address the unique cultural and academic needs of Native American students,” said James Whitman, an MHA Nation enrolled member and National Johnson O’Malley Association Board Member representing North Dakota. “The most important provision of this bill will result in the first update of the number of Indian students eligible for Johnson O’Malley services and assistance in over 20 years. Obtaining this eligible student count will drive the policy, program and funding discussions needed to make JOM more effective, meaningful and beneficial for all eligible Indian children.”

Despite the stark need for such programs, the last official count in 1995 by BIA, identified 271,884 Native students eligible for such resources. Since that time, the BIA has attempted to officially verify Native students eligible to the program without success, while the National Congress of American Indians has recently indicated a large gap in access to these programs with a marked increase of more than 500,000 Native young people nationwide that could be eligible for JOM cultural resources.

Heitkamp and Lankford’s bipartisan bill would call on the U.S. Department of the Interior to update its severely outdated count of Native students in a timely manner by using existing public information from the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) to show under-served students who are potentially eligible under the program. This data is crucial for making sure Native students in public schools can access the cultural and educational investments critical to their success.