Lawmaker questions whether Native education funding formula underserves Navajo students

At about 31,000, Navajo students make up roughly 70% of students from tribal nations in New Mexico who are in the state’s public schools. But less than 20% of money allocated to tribes from the Indian education fund this year was set aside for the Navajo Nation.

One lawmaker questioned whether that’s fair during a Legislative Education Study Committee meeting Thursday in Raton.

State lawmakers gave the fund a significant boost during the 2025 legislative session – a $20 million recurring appropriation, plus $30 million to be spent between fiscal years 2026 and 2028. The fund was established over two decades ago by the state’s Indian Education Act, which is meant to ensure Native American students receive an equitable and culturally relevant education.

A total of $23.4 million was awarded to tribes this fiscal year, along with $5.8 million to districts that serve a high percentage of Native students.

Most of that money has been used for salaries, including for education directors, language teachers, and tutors, Public Education Department Assistant Secretary of Indian Education KatieAnn Juanico (Acoma Pueblo) told the committee.

For instance, in Santa Ana Pueblo, the funding is paying for liaisons who analyze students’ grades and attendance and tutors who help close learning gaps. Every one of the dozens of students in the program have seen improvements in math or reading, said Edward Gurrola, the Pueblo’s education director.

Each tribe received a flat amount of about $851,000, which represents 80% of total funding available. The other 20% is determined by the number of students from each tribe who are enrolled in public schools.

Committee Chair Sen. Bill Soules, D-Las Cruces, suggested those percentages should be flipped, in part to account for the large number of Navajo students.

“If we’re really concerned about improving the quality of education among our Pueblos, tribes, and nations, we need to put more of the effort where more of the students are, because they all have concerns and issues,” Soules said.

Juanico said she would take that feedback to the PED cabinet secretary.

“If we look at the functions that happen within Pueblos, tribes, and nations, they vary across tribes,” she said. “We have some communities … where they have a stable tribal education department that are offering all the things that we talked about, and then we have some examples where the tribal education department is needing to build capacity, and maybe they’re not offering programs, and so in that scenario the funding might not be directly associated to and reaching all those students.”

The Navajo Nation hasn’t been able to access its share yet because an intergovernmental agreement hasn’t been finalized, and the tribe’s process for approving that kind of agreement can take months, Juanico said. She added they’re “nearly there.”

Under a recent PED administrative change, tribes no longer have to apply for the funding, and unspent money doesn’t revert to the state. Instead, intergovernmental agreements are required.

This story was originally published on New Mexico In Depth and is republished here with permission.