In March 2025, three federally recognized Tribal Nations (Pueblo of Isleta, Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, and Cheyenne Arapaho Tribes) and five Native students (Ella Bowen, Kaiya Brown, Danielle Ledesma, Victor Organista, and Aiyanna Tanyan) sued the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) and others for its failure to consult with Tribes prior to BIE’s reorganization/restructure and reduction of staff at BIE’s central and regional offices, as well as at two BIE-operated post-secondary institutions, Haskell Indian Nations University and Southwest Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI), among other actions. In August 2026, those claims were amended after the federal government once again failed to consult with Tribal Nations on two sets of key agency actions directly impacting the education of Native American students. Those agency actions would move programs, funding, and services that support Tribes and Tribal members out of the Department of Education and into the Departments of Labor and Interior.
The BIE funds and operates a federal education system in partial fulfillment of its trust responsibility with Tribal Nations, established through treaty rights. Key to upholding those rights is Tribal consultation, which is mandated by law.
BACKGROUND:
The United States federal government assumed a trust responsibility to Tribal Nations through treaties and land cessions that includes providing for the education of Native Americans. As a result, the federal government has responsibility for the operation and financial support of the Bureau of Indian Affairs funded school system that includes schools like Haskell and SIPI, which are both tremendously important to students in Indian Country. Haskell has been serving Native American students since 1884. What began as an assimilation-era boarding school is now a nationally recognized and accredited university. SIPI is similarly important to students in Indian Country. Founded in 1971 as a vocational training center to provide education and training to Native Americans from various Tribes across the United States, SIPI’s educational focus is on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, and places a strong emphasis on preserving and celebrating Native American cultures and traditions.
On February 11, 2025, President Trump initiated large-scale reductions in federal staffing via Executive Orders. In response to Trump’s directives, BIE terminated a significant number of its employees. While the terminations undermined BIE-operated schools across the nation, they devastated operations at Haskell and SIPI. BIE failed to consult with Tribal Nations prior to these sweeping cuts, in clear violation of the law.
The effects of these cuts were catastrophic. In February 2025, Haskell University lost more than a quarter of its staff. Thirty-four Haskell courses lost their instructors. The welcome back pow-wow was postponed. The Student Success Center was closed. Financial aid was delayed, with some students still not receiving aid as of March. All but three custodial staff were laid off, resulting in restrooms with overflowing trash cans and no paper products, as well as unclean cafeterias and dining areas.
SIPI was similarly impacted by these sweeping cuts. SIPI lost almost a quarter of its staff. Power outages went unresolved for many hours due to lack of maintenance staff, sometimes causing classes to be cancelled. While water from taps is brown and unsafe, repairs have been postponed indefinitely due to the cuts. Midterm exams did not have faculty to administer them.
BIE eventually rehired some staff, but conditions at Haskell and SIPI failed to meaningfully improve.
Then, in September 2025, the Department of Education executed inter-agency agreements with the Department of the Interior and the Department of Labor. These agreements moved programs, services, and funding supporting Tribes and Tribal members from the Department of Education to the Department of Interior and the Department of Labor, despite the fact that neither Interior nor Labor lack any expertise in the programs, services, or their management, let alone the resources to execute them effectively. These agreements were executed without notifying or consulting Tribal Nations, despite clear legal obligations to do so.
“We have a say in how BIE operates the education provided our children in fulfillment of our treaty rights. We will fight to protect the education they deserve and fight to protect the staff that serve them,” said Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation Chairman Joseph Rupnick
“Tribal Nations and the federal government should be working together to best serve our Native students. Instead, the administration is randomly, without preparation and in violation of their federal trust responsibility, taking away teachers and staff from already-underserved facilities. Our students deserve better,” said Pueblo of Isleta Governor Eugene Jiron.
“Despite having a treaty obligation to provide educational opportunities to Tribal students, the federal government has long failed to offer adequate services. Just when the Bureau of Indian Education was taking steps to fix the situation, these cuts undermined all those efforts. These institutions are precious to our communities, we won’t sit by and watch them fail,” said Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes Lieutenant Governor Hershel Gorham.
CASE UPDATES:
On March 7, 2025, NARF attorneys representing three federally recognized Tribal Nations (Pueblo of Isleta, Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, and Cheyenne Arapaho Tribes) and five Native students (Ella Bowen, Kaiya Brown, Danielle Ledesma, Victor Organista, and Aiyanna Tanyan) filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colombia against the Department of Interior and Office of Indian Affairs, challenging staff reductions at the BIE and BIE-run schools. The lawsuit claims, among other things, that BIE failed to consult with Tribes prior to the reorganization/restructure and reduction of staff at BIE’s central and regional offices, as well as at 2 BIE-operated post-secondary institutions, Haskell Indian Nations University (Haskell) and Southwest Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI).
On August 27, 2026 three Tribal Nations (Pueblo of Isleta, Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, and Cheyenne Arapaho Tribes) along with Native students (Ella Bowen, Kaiya Brown, and Danielle Ledesma) amended challenges against the United States Secretary of Interior, Doug Burgum, the United States Department of the Interior, Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs, Wiliam Kirkland, Director, Bureau of Indian Education, Tony Dearman, the Bureau of Indian Education, and the United States Department of Education for unlawfully failing to consult with Tribal Nations on two sets of key agency actions directly impacting the education of Native American students.
“These are real issues affecting real students and schools, with a pattern and practice by the federal government of failing to consult or inadequately consulting Tribal Nations despite their clear legal obligations to do so,” said NARF Staff Attorney Matthew Marinelli. “We intend to hold BIA accountable for its failures in meeting their obligations in supporting the education of Native students.”
The agreements move programs, services, and funding supporting Tribes and Tribal members from the Department of Education to the Departments of Interior and the Department of Labor, even though those agencies lack any expertise in the programs, services, or their management, let alone the resources to execute them effectively.
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