TPS Indian Education Office Projects Decreasing Number Of Teachers Next Year

The Indian Education program at Tulsa Public Schools expects to lose some of its certified teachers in the next fiscal year.

Superintendent Deborah Gist was clear Tuesday night when she said no decisions have been made about cuts at the Indian Education program.

Right now, TPS has seven Indian Education resource advisors. Each is a certified teacher who does things like run Native American clubs, lead cultural activities and teach Native American literature, among other things.

"Sometimes this is their only opportunity to see a person that looks like them in their school districts,” Oklahoma Council for Indian Education President-Elect Alison Black said.

But the number of advisors could drop to three next fiscal year, according to the Indian Education office.

At a school board meeting Tuesday, advisors said they received letters saying they were being reorganized due to the budget crisis.

"What I can tell you is that no decisions have been made,” Superintendent Gist said.

"The students are going to suffer,” Teresa Parker said.

Teresa Parker is one of the resource advisors, and serves as a representative for the Tulsa Classroom Teachers Association.

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"The way it was explained to us was that the tribes are aware, everyone's aware that this is happening, and this is how it's just gonna be,” Parker said. “But when we reached out to the tribes they said no, we did not know that this was gonna be happening."

Muscogee (Creek) Nation Principal Chief David Hill sent a letter to TPS, expressing his concern.

He argued the Indian Education Program is federally funded through two grants and said, "it is unclear why positions within the Program are being eliminated."

But the Indian Education office said it looked at its own budget and based on the number of students who help the district qualify for federal funding, the office is projecting it will only be able to afford three advisors next year. 

The office said the number of students who help qualify for funding has dropped during the last seven years.

In a statement released at the end of the business day Wednesday, TPS said in part, “The proposed changes to Indian Education are not intended to reduce expenses but to enhance supports as we see a reduction in federal grant funding (Title VI) due to declining students with eligible 506 forms.”

"We absolutely are completely dedicated to services to our students and of course that includes our Native students,” Gist said.

The district also explained the proposed changes in the statement: “The current team structure includes seven district-based 10-month academic advisors and four site-based teacher assistants. The proposed changes to the team structure would – if approved by our Board – shift those roles to three year-round secondary student specialists and eight site-based elementary teacher assistants.”

TPS said it expects to share more information about reductions during a special board meeting in mid-February.

The following is a full statement from TPS:

“Our Indian Education program provides critical supports and services to more than 3,000 Native American students representing 65 tribes. We are deeply committed to implementing culturally sustaining curricula, providing after-school tutoring, and affirming and celebrating our students’ Native American heritage and identities. We will ensure that every Native American student achieves college and career readiness through an increased emphasis on heritage education, targeted and individualized academic supports for elementary students, and more intensive assistance with our Native American students at the high school level. These are integral services to our Native American families – and even as we navigate continued fiscal challenges – we will continue to invest in and strengthen our Indian Education programming. Simply put: regardless of any potential staffing changes, Native American students at Tulsa Public Schools will continue to receive robust academic and cultural supports. Our culturally sustaining programming would not be possible without the continued support of the communities we serve. Community voices play an integral role in both guiding and implementing the programming that we provide to our Native American students and families. We engage in regular tribal consultations, work with the US Office of Indian Education, and have close working partnerships with two parent committees.

In the fall of 2019, Tulsa Public Schools launched a comprehensive community engagement effort to help the district redesign its budget for the 2020-2021 school year and beyond. This effort was in response to an anticipated structural deficit of $20 million in general operating funds, and initial recommendations for the redesigned budget were presented to the Board of Education in early January 2020. At the same time, as a continuation of our efforts to fully align district office team structures to best meet the needs of schools, the district’s senior leadership team worked to identify opportunities where changes to staffing structures could improve services to schools and families. One of the teams identified for staffing changes is our Indian Education Office. While those proposed changes create general fund cost-savings in some areas, our focus is on improving services to children and families. The proposed changes to Indian Education are not intended to reduce expenses but to enhance supports as we see a reduction in federal grant funding (Title VI) due to declining students with eligible 506 forms.

With the proposed changes to Indian Education, we have an exciting opportunity to decrease district-office based positions and increase site-based supports for Native American students. The current team structure includes seven district-based 10-month academic advisors and four site-based teacher assistants. The proposed changes to the team structure would – if approved by our Board – shift those roles to three year-round secondary student specialists and eight site-based elementary teacher assistants. We know that students can lose up to 40% of their school-year learning during the summer months, so these student specialist positions will play a key role in expanding access to summer learning and enrichment opportunities for our Native American students. We have seen strong results from our site-based support model, and we look forward to the possibility of expanding site-based services to our eight elementary schools with our largest Native American student populations. As with any team reorganization that includes the deletion and creation of certain positions, any of our team members who are qualified for and interested in these roles are welcomed and encouraged to apply.

We are grateful for the community’s clear and strong interest in our program, and we are confident that the potential changes to our Indian Education team will make a meaningful difference in expanding access to support services for the Native American students in our care.”