American Indian and Alaska Native students enrolled in public schools have consistently performed below other students on national tests. The Bureau of Indian Education’s Johnson-O’Malley program provides these students with academic support and enrichment activities, such as Native language classes.
The Department of the Interior's (Interior) Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) does not have key information to manage the Johnson-O'Malley (JOM) program which provides supplemental education services to meet the specialized and unique needs of American Indian and Alaska Native students. For example, BIE does not maintain a complete and accurate list of all its JOM contractors, who provide services including targeted academic supports, Native language classes, and cultural activities. In May 2019, BIE began to identify all the contractors, but officials acknowledged that their list is still incomplete, and GAO found problems with the list, such as duplicate entries. Federal internal control standards state that an agency should have relevant, reliable information to run its operations. Maintaining a complete list of contractors would improve BIE's administration of the JOM program.
BIE does not provide any training for JOM contractors. For example, BIE does not provide training to contractors on how to effectively manage their JOM programs or meet program requirements. By providing training for contractors, BIE could ensure that contractors understand the program and are equipped to provide services to meet the educational needs of their students.
In addition, BIE has not clearly defined the roles and responsibilities or identified the staff needed to effectively administer the JOM program (see figure). For example, when BIE closed a field office in California, staff were not identified to administer the office's contracts, including helping contractors renew their contracts when they expired. Also, BIE has not identified a role for Interior's attorneys in reviewing the contracts and some contractors have types of contracts for which they are not eligible. Further, BIE has not identified staff to conduct consistent program oversight, which is important to mitigating the risk of misuse and abuse of JOM funds. Until all JOM roles and responsibilities have been defined and identified, challenges may persist.
The Bureau needs to improve how it manages the program by:
- having key information such as an accurate list of contractors providing services
- providing training for contractors
- clearly defining and identifying staff roles and responsibilities, including who is responsible for conducting oversight
GAO made
5 recommendations to improve management
- The Director of the Bureau of Indian Education should develop a systematic process for identifying JOM contractors and maintaining an accurate and complete list of contractors and other relevant information about contractors, such as the amount of JOM funds they receive and their current points of contact.
- The Director of the Bureau of Indian Education, in coordination with the Bureau of Indian Affairs as needed, should establish a process to track and monitor the timeliness of JOM disbursements to non-tribal contractors, including identifying a target date for disbursing funds to these contractors.
- The Director of the Bureau of Indian Education should develop a timeline to assess the usefulness of the information they are collecting from JOM contractors and update JOM information collection forms, including converting them to an electronic format to reduce the burden on contractors to complete them.
- The Director of the Bureau of Indian Education should develop and provide training to contractors on administering the JOM program.
- The Director of the Bureau of Indian Education should clearly define the roles and responsibilities and identify the staff necessary for conducting critical JOM functions, including administering contracts, reviewing the appropriateness of contract types, and overseeing those contractors that are subject to BIE oversight.
(Source: GAO)