The purpose of the Indian Education Act is to:

1. A. ensure equitable and culturally relevant learning environments, educational opportunities and culturally relevant instructional materials for American Indian students enrolled in public schools;
2. B. ensure maintenance of native languages;
3. C. provide for the study, development and implementation of educational systems that positively affect the educational success of American Indian students;
4. D. ensure that the department of education [public education department] partners with tribes to increase tribal involvement and control over schools and the education of students located in tribal communities;
5. E. encourage cooperation among the educational leadership of Arizona, Utah, New Mexico and the Navajo Nation to address the unique issues of educating students in Navajo communities that arise due to the location of the Navajo Nation in those states;
6. F. provide the means for a formal government-to-government relationship between the state and New Mexico tribes and the development of relationships with the education division of the bureau of Indian affairs and other entities that serve American Indian students;
7. G. provide the means for a relationship between the state and urban American Indian community members to participate in initiatives and educational decisions related to American Indian students residing in urban areas;
8. H. ensure that parents; tribal departments of education; community-based organizations; the department of education [public education department]; universities; and tribal, state and local policymakers work together to find ways to improve educational opportunities for American Indian students;
9. I. ensure that tribes are notified of all curricula development for their approval and support;
10. J. encourage an agreement regarding the alignment of the bureau of Indian affairs and state assessment programs so that comparable information is provided to parents and tribes; and
11. K. encourage and foster parental involvement in the education of Indian students.

History: Laws 2003, ch. 151, § 2.

ANNOTATIONS

Bracketed material. — The bracketed material was inserted by the compiler and is not part of the law. Laws 2004, ch. 25, § 27, provided that all references to the superintendent of public instruction shall be deemed references to the secretary of public education and all references to the former state board of education or state department of education shall be deemed references to the public education department. See 9-24-15 NMSA 1978.

The New Mexico public education department may distribute funds from the Indian education fund to tribally controlled and bureau of Indian education schools within the state. — The legislature has instructed that the Indian education fund must be used in support of the Indian Education Act's (Act) purposes, some of which include ensuring equitable and culturally relevant learning environments, educational opportunities and culturally relevant instructional materials for American Indian students enrolled in public schools, providing for the study, development and implementation of educational systems that positively affect the educational success of American Indian students, providing the means for a formal government-to-government relationship between the state and New Mexico tribes and the development of relationships with the education division of the bureau of Indian affairs and other entities that serve American Indian students, and establishing collaborative efforts among numerous entities to work together to find ways to improve educational opportunities for American Indian students, and therefore, because of the collaborative nature of the Act as well as the Act's numerous purposes, the public education department's (PED) distribution of money from the Indian education fund to tribally controlled schools within pueblos, tribes, and nations as well as to bureau of Indian education (BIE) schools within the state is a permissible use of the funds. Moreover, no state constitutional provision prohibits the PED from distributing money from the Indian education fund to tribal and BIE schools in New Mexico where the state receives concrete and measurable benefits in exchange for the funds and receives assistance in meeting its directives and objectives under the Act. 2024 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 24-14.