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- By Native News Online Staff
The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) is calling on the U.S. Department of Education to immediately halt its planned transfer of Native-focused education programs to other federal agencies until meaningful Tribal consultation occurs.
The Department announced the move Nov. 18, 2025, during NCAI’s 82nd Annual Convention & Marketplace in Seattle, where Tribal leaders, educators, and students were gathered to discuss ways to protect these programs. NCAI said the decision was made without Tribal input, despite more than eight months available for government-to-government consultation.
“These programs are critical to the education and future of our children,” said NCAI President Mark Macarro. “Decisions about Native education should not be made without Native Nations at the table.”
The programs affected include Title VI, Native language education, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian education, Tribal college programs, and Impact Aid. NCAI said dismantling or transferring them without Tribal consent violates federal trust and treaty responsibilities.
During the convention last week, NCAI passed two resolutions opposing the transfers without Tribal consultation and demanding that, if programs are moved, all qualified staff and funding accompany them. The organization also called on the Departments of Education, Interior, and Labor to conduct formal consultation and urged Congress to hold oversight hearings on the process.
NCAI said it is ready to work with the Trump administration and Congress to ensure that changes strengthen Native education, uphold Tribal sovereignty, and provide stable, well-resourced programs for future generations.
Read NCAI's complete statement:
The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) strongly requests the Department of Education (ED) immediately hold meaningful Tribal consultation on its transfer of the administration of programs across Elementary and Secondary Education as well as Postsecondary Education to agencies outside of ED. This decision by ED, done without input from Tribes, weighs heavily on the future of our next generation, as NCAI underscored in our March 2025 statement on proposed transfers of Tribal-serving education programs.
The Administration has had more than eight months to engage in meaningful, government-to-government consultation with Tribal Nations before taking final action. Rather than fulfill its trust and treaty obligations to the Native learners of this country, ED announced the dismantling and transfer of Native education programs on November 18, 2025 — during NCAI’s 82nd Annual Convention & Marketplace — at the very moment when Tribal leaders, Native educators, youth, and stakeholders had gathered to discuss these issues and, together, passed two resolutions reaffirming the need to protect Native education programs and honor Tribal consultation. Moving forward with these inter-agency agreements without prior, robust consultation not only disregards the federal trust and treaty responsibility, it sidelines the very governments most impacted by changes to Title VI, Native language, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian education, Tribal college programs, and Impact Aid.
“We gathered in Seattle for NCAI’s 82nd Annual Convention & Marketplace to strengthen Tribal sovereignty, protect our children’s futures, and speak with one voice on issues just like this,” said NCAI President Mark Macarro. “Instead, while Tribal leaders, educators, and students were meeting in good faith and passing resolutions to safeguard Native education, key programs were dismantled and reassigned without the meaningful, government-to-government consultation we have been calling for since March. Our message is simple: do not make decisions about Native education without Native Nations at the table. We expect the Departments of Education, Interior, and Labor to pause implementation and immediately engage in formal consultation with Tribal leaders to ensure these changes strengthen — not weaken — services to our children and communities.”
Last week, NCAI passed two resolutions related to the ED actions, SEA-25-024 Requiring Tribal Consent in All Matters Related to the Education of American Indian and Alaska Native Students and Changes to the Department of Education and SEA-25-093 Protection of Native Serving Programs by Ensuring Robust Staffing Levels for all Indian Education Programs. Through these resolutions, NCAI opposes “the dismantlement or winding down of the U.S. Department of
Education and the signing of Inter-Agency Transfers without Tribal Consultation and Tribal consent,” demands Tribal consultation happen before any programs are transferred, and if programs are transferred, that ED detail all current staff with the expertise of administering the programs and funding transferred to the recipient agencies.
NCAI calls on the Departments of Education, the Interior, and Labor to immediately conduct formal Tribal leader – driven consultation on all aspects of these transfers — including Interior’s capacity to absorb additional responsibilities — before further implementation proceeds. NCAI further calls on Congress to immediately schedule oversight hearings on the ED action, focusing on the lack of Tribal involvement in the decision-making process and the impact of any proposed transfer of funding and programs on Native learners.
Together with Tribal Nations, Native educators, families, and students, NCAI stands ready to work with the Administration and Congress to design solutions that truly honor Tribal sovereignty and strengthen — not undermine — Native education. Our children deserve more than unilateral decisions made without their Nations at the table; they deserve stable, well-resourced programs that reflect their languages, cultures, and inherent rights. NCAI will continue to press for full transparency, robust consultation, and concrete action to ensure that every change in federal education policy moves us closer to educational equity, Native self-determination, and brighter futures for the next seven generations.
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