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- Inupiat Community of the Arctic Slope
- Ketchikan Indian Community
- King Island Native Community
- Knik Tribe
- Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes
“The state-tribal education demonstration initiative is an innovative approach to improving educational opportunities and outcomes for K-12 Native students in Alaska,” said Senator Murkowski. “Empowering the five pilot Tribes to develop educational programs rooted in respect for Native culture and language is a local solution for reducing disparities and closing the achievement gap facing Native students. Tribal education compacting is yet another tool to further self-determination for tribes.”
Locally, Ketchikan Indian Community (KIC) was selected as one of five tribes to participate in the State Tribal Education Compact Demonstration Project. Established under Senate Bill 34, this will allow tribes to open new State Tribal Education Compact schools with their own curriculum, schedules, academic standards, and extracurricular activities.
Quoting a news release from KIC, as one of the initial tribes selected, KIC will be expanding upon a decade of experience developing culturally supportive curriculum and learning environments through their existing Tribal Scholars program in a partnership with the local school district.
Education for KIC’s Tribal youth is an ongoing priority for KIC’s Tribal Council. Resolution 22- 81 on State Tribal Education Compacting was unanimously adopted by the Council this past November and states, "The Tribe has prioritized education in its strategic plan to have a higher graduation rate and less of a gap in test scores, as well as better attendance rate for our Tribal members."
The KIC resolution also notes that "when we expand education beyond traditional, standard curriculum to include our heritage languages, arts, history, and subsistence lifestyle, we allow the Tribe to exercise our sovereign rights and to exercise our self-determination, to improve schools, and to increase educational attainment for all students."
Pleased by the success of KIC’s application, Education & Training Director Sonya Skan said, "This provides us the amazing opportunity of controlling the education of our Tribe’s students and making sure they receive a more culturally-supportive academic experience. Best of all, our school will be open to all local students, and that will extend the understanding of and respect for our Tribe’s traditional knowledge and values out into our community."
KIC wrote in a news release, they will receive significant grant funding over the next handful of years, during which time they plan to build a new education facility on KIC’s property next to the University of Alaska Southeast campus and adjacent to Ketchikan High School. Planning for the academic standards, curriculum, and schedules is already underway as the KIC Education team is investigating the best practices of existing indigenous schools.
The Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska (Tlingit & Haida) is also pleased to be one of the five awarded funding under the State-Tribal Education Compacting Demonstration Tribal Partners Grant program.
In December 2022, Tlingit & Haida’s Executive Council adopted a resolution to apply for the funding through the State of Alaska.
Discussions on state-tribal education compacting have been ongoing for decades in Alaska, but Alaska’s Education Challenge identified it as a strategic priority.
Under a state-tribal education compact, a tribe would have the local authority to operate and oversee K-12 schools.
Tlingit & Haida President Richard Chalyee Éesh Peterson provided public testimony to the Alaska State Legislature’s Senate Education Committee last year to support Senate Bill (SB) 34 and believes this grant award is a critical first step toward enacting the systemic change needed in Alaska.
“We’re very excited about this funding as we look to expand the Tribe’s educational ownership,” said President Peterson. “Creating the option for state-tribal education compacting recognizes that tribes should have the opportunity to create pathways for education and lead it to ensure a culturally relevant curriculum is part of everyday learning for our tribal youth.”
Tlingit & Haida currently delivers early education services through its Head Start program and Haa Yoo X’atángi Kúdi Lingít language immersion nest.
“These programs are a demonstration of our ability to deliver educational programming that is culturally relevant and place-based,” said President Peterson. “Through state-tribal education compacting, we can strengthen the current education structure.”
The grant awarded to Tlingit & Haida will fund a position to serve as a liaison with the State of Alaska’s Board of Education on the development of state-tribal education compact schools.
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