What Trump’s executive orders mean for Native American students in Minnesota

NINA MOINI: Well, two recent executive orders issued by President Trump affecting education, one made in January and another in mid-March, may have profound effects on educational resources for Native American students from kindergarten through college. I'm joined by two reporters who cover Indigenous affairs. Melissa Olson is a reporter on the Native News team here at MPR News, and Allison Herrera is a reporter with APM Reports. Thank you so much for being here as well, Allison.

ALLISON HERRERA: Thank you.

NINA MOINI: So, Melissa, let me start with you. Remind us what these executive orders call for and what they could mean for Native American students across the state.

MELISSA OLSON: In late January, President Trump ordered the Education Secretary to explore how federal education funding could be used to expand school choice. You often hear that talked about in the form of education vouchers that let families use public dollars to pay for private and faith-based education. For Bureau of Indian Education schools in particular, Trump's order asks officials to look at how the schools are performing, identify nearby alternatives for students, and submit a plan for families to begin using BIE funding to attend one of those other schools as soon as next year.

The second executive order, the one to dismantle the Department of Education, may also affect many Native students across the country. According to the National Indian Education Association, half a million Native American students attend public schools throughout the United States. Brian Schatz is a Democratic senator from Hawaii who serves on the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, and he said earlier this month that the move to-- that the move is, quote, "betrayal of a sacred federal promise to provide education to Native students." With these orders, Schatz says, the federal government stands to violate its trust responsibility.

NINA MOINI: And what does he mean by that term, "a trust responsibility"?

MELISSA OLSON: Yeah. At the core of what's called the federal government's trust responsibility to tribal nations is the idea that in exchange for nearly 2 billion acres of land cessions nationwide, the federal government has an obligation to make good on treaties and legal agreements. Part of those promises include providing an education for Native American students.

NINA MOINI: And Allison, I understand you attended a listening session where tribal leaders, families, educators all talked about that first executive order, the one about increasing school choice vouchers. What did they say is really at stake for Native students?

ALLISON HERRERA: Yeah. Well, tribal leaders and educators say a voucher system could take away public dollars from public schools and put them into private schools. And that could mean BIE schools are no longer able to keep their doors open. In Minnesota, there are four BIE schools on reservations, which serve approximately 550 students. Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, White Earth Nation, Fond du Lac Band of Superior Chippewa, and Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe all operate tribally controlled schools.

And at that listening session you mentioned, people said that these BIE schools were their choice. They spoke about some of the racism and discrimination students face when they attend their local public schools. Others also voiced concern about the distance that students would have to travel to get to those private schools, those charter schools or religious schools.

And the other thing to remember is that these schools-- they're not just a school, right? These are community centers, places where people work. So you're potentially disrupting a whole ecosystem by offering up this charter, this voucher system.

NINA MOINI: And Melissa, what might these executive orders mean for Native students who don't attend these BIE schools and instead attend state schools?

MELISSA OLSON: The US Department of Education that Trump wants dismantled handles special education funding. And groups like the National Indian Education Association point out that Native students are more likely to need special education resources. Republicans say dispersing that funding could be done by other federal departments, but it's reasonable to believe the move could disrupt classroom support for students with special needs.

And then, there is a concern that changes could hit rural schools that rely on a lot of federal funding particularly hard. Almost 1/4 of Native students attend rural schools, a rate more than 2.5 times that of any other racial or ethnic group, so they could see their schools reduce services or close. The Department has also been responsible for helping to support Native language revitalization programming in public schools across the country. According to the Midwest Indigenous Immersion Network, there are more than 6,500 students enrolled in Native American language classes in Minnesota in the 2022-2023 school year.

NINA MOINI: And a lot of people are hesitant to talk about federal matters right now. What's it been like to report on this issue, Melissa?

MELISSA OLSON: It's been challenging. Reporting on this issue has also become a part of the story. The BIE, like other federal agencies, has been slow to return requests for information or to comment on these proposed changes. The BIE has held two listening sessions in mid-March to hear from tribal leaders. Those calls were listed as public.

At the start of one of those calls, the BIE announced the call was closed to journalists, and several journalists were dropped off the call. The BIE would have had to post a notice to close those meetings, which they had not done. The BIE quickly realized their error, but I think it points to the challenges, some of the challenges in covering the effects of federal cuts for tribal nations.

Tribal leaders have told me they don't feel they have the political capital to publicly comment on these proposed cuts for the purposes of news reporting, for our reporting. They feel they could be targeted by the Trump administration and could lose out on funding. And when tribal leaders don't feel they can comment, there's a real void in information. And that only exacerbates issues of invisibility for tribal nations and Native American students.

NINA MOINI: Allison, what else did you hear from tribal leaders on that call that she mentioned?

ALLISON HERRERA: Yeah, well, every tribal leader, educator, parent, and person who were on that March 14 call were really angry and really upset about the executive order, and angry about what they viewed as a lack of good-faith tribal consultation. I want to play a clip from Vivian Montoya-Watuema.

She's the principal of a tribally run school on the Navajo Nation reservation, about an hour and a half from Albuquerque, and that school's population is 99% Navajo. She told BIE officials that the call-- on the call that the government's responsibility mandates proper consultation with tribal nations. Here's the clip.

VIVIAN MONTOYA-WATUEMA: There have been no specific details provided about what funds might be affected, how those funds will be administered to facilitate school choice, or any information necessary for Indian country to effectively evaluate and provide comment on the administration's plans. It is not the burden of tribal communities to provide information to the United States about available mechanisms to implement a school choice initiative that we did not ask for. Thus, I do not consider this consultation to meet the government's statutory obligations.

NINA MOINI: And Allison, what effect do the potential cuts have on the relationship between the federal government and the tribes?

ALLISON HERRERA: Well, people, I've spoken to-- tribal leaders, people who work for these federal agencies, like the Bureau of Indian Affairs-- have told me that these cuts and layoffs and executive orders are really reshaping the federal trust responsibility-- that one that Melissa talked about earlier. And one example is the closing of BIA agencies around the country, which amount to about 30% of the locations where people receive services there. Other tribal leaders I've spoken to have felt really blindsided by the administration, the speed by which the new administration is making these changes, and have said they're not being consulted-- they're not consulting with them and not following the law when it comes to consultation with tribes before decisions take place.

NINA MOINI: And how has that been different, Allison, than how the previous administrations operated?

ALLISON HERRERA: Well, the difference between Deb Haaland and Doug Burgum, even-- that's the new Secretary of the Interior-- even though he's only been the Secretary for a couple of months, couldn't be more different. Under Haaland, the Interior undertook a very important and massive effort to investigate federal boarding schools the Department was responsible for, which were designed to break apart Native families and communities. There was an apology for that boarding school system and a willingness to engage more with tribal nations.

Under Burgum, in some ways, it's too early to tell. But he did mention that-- he did mention tribally run schools in one of his first addresses as Secretary, and he did say that he wanted them to improve.

NINA MOINI: So, Melissa, with all of this in mind and all of these moving parts and concerns, how does this lack of information truly affect tribal nations?

MELISSA OLSON: Yeah, tribal nations need reporting that explain to our Native and non-Native listeners-- really, everybody needs reporting that explains to audiences how these cuts, layoffs, and closures have the potential to disrupt tribal sovereignty and affect Native people's well-being. Most tribal constitutions do not guarantee freedom of the press, meaning what tribal press writes about for their citizens can be subject to censorship, if something is deemed unfavorable or maybe puts people out there in a way they didn't intend to.

So when a journalist is shut out of a meeting, we can't get confirmation that a clinic is closing or that an agency is reducing their staff. It creates an environment for misinformation and spreading fear among tribal citizens and communities.

NINA MOINI: Well, Allison and Melissa, I appreciate you both coming by to share your reporting, and thank you for continuing to do your diligence in your work. I really appreciate it.

ALLISON HERRERA: Thank you.

MELISSA OLSON: You're welcome, Nina. Thanks.

NINA MOINI: Melissa Olson is a reporter on the Native News team, and Allison Herrera is a reporter with the APM Reports team.