Innovation, data fixes fuel Native American graduation gains at federally funded schools - By Savannah Peters, Associated Press
During his senior year of high school on the Puyallup Reservation, Gerald Dillon traded much of his academic coursework for career training. When he walked into the second grade classroom where he worked as a teaching assistant, students would rush from their seats for a fist bump or a hug.
The 18-year-old, who once found classes boring and put in only enough effort to pass, found renewed purpose to come to school everyday.
"It motivates me. I like making connections with the kids, I like helping them," Dillon said.
It began in his junior year when he enrolled in career training courses. Soon, Dillon said, his grades improved. He graduated in June from Chief Leschi Schools in Washington and is now considering going to college for a teaching degree.
Administrators at the school say a shift in focus to technical training and career readiness is paying off, with more students not only staying in school but graduating on time.
Those gains are emblematic of progress across the U.S. Bureau of Indian Education, which oversees 183 primary and secondary schools serving over 40,000 students. In 2015, just over half of high schoolers at BIE schools graduated within four years. That number soared to a record high of 79% by 2025.
Some BIE educators attribute that surge to local innovations. Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Billy Kirkland says they reflect the Trump administration's commitment to Native American students, including efforts to strengthen teacher training. In addition, the way graduation rates are reported across BIE schools was changed to address flawed data collection that previously depressed the numbers.
But concerns loom that changes reshaping the BIE under the Trump administration — including the planned dismantling of the U.S. Department of Education and continued fallout from cuts instituted by DOGE — could undermine progress and prevent struggling schools from improving.
Reporting standards net more accurate data
The surge in graduation rates reflects, in part, more accurate reporting rather than a sudden leap in student academic improvement, according to agency officials.
For years, school administrators across the system used flawed methods to track graduation rates, often counting students who had transferred to other schools as dropouts.
"We had to come to a consensus and set an accountability framework for our schools," said Carmelia Becenti, the agency's chief academic officer.
Beginning in 2018, BIE began standardizing data collection methods. In the years since, Becenti said, the data has painted a more accurate and encouraging picture.
An AP analysis of BIE data found that graduation rates across the system are up 55% since new reporting standards began rolling out, with nine of its secondary schools reporting 100% growth or higher.
New approaches help students connect
Less than one-third of BIE schools are operated by the agency itself. The rest are run by tribes and receive federal funding. At some of those, educators say data collection is only part of the story.
Don Brummett, superintendent of Chief Leschi Schools, said his staff has been working to correct a "disconnect" between the high school's previous laser focus on getting students ready for college and many students' goals of finding a job upon graduation.
"We devalued the trades. That was a mistake," Brummett said.
The school launched its career and technical curriculum in 2020 with funding from the Puyallup Tribal Council. Since then, Brummett has seen students who might otherwise have dropped out instead enter health sciences, education and fisheries management and find new motivation to stay in school.
Dillon, the recent graduate, said hands-on job training was a better match for his learning style.
"It was kind of the first time I felt excited to go to school," said Dillon, reflecting on his time helping second graders practice reading skills and learn the life cycle of a frog.
Between 2019 and 2025, Chief Leschi Schools reported four-year graduation rates rose from 53% to 87%.
A focus on trades is just one of the ways tribal-controlled BIE schools have innovated to keep students on track. At Choctaw Central High School, a BIE school operated by the Mississippi Band of Choctaw, administrators said a COVID-era experiment in virtual learning contributed to a surge in graduation rates from roughly 70% to 93%.
"For certain kids that have more responsibilities at home, kids that need to work, we saw that (virtual learning) gave them a flexible schedule and an opportunity to earn their diploma," said principal Alaric Keams.
When pandemic lockdowns lifted, the district maintained a virtual learning option for all high schoolers.
But not all tribal governments have the resources to pay for these kinds of programs or take over management of BIE schools.
Peter Lengkeek, chairman of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe in South Dakota, says the BIE-operated high school serving his community is chronically understaffed and crumbling under a backlog of deferred maintenance, including a gymnasium with sinking walls and a rodent infestation. It has reported graduating fewer than 60% of students on time in recent years.
"If we were able to, we would step in and try to remedy a lot of these things," said Lengkeek. "We have to rely on the government to fulfill its treaty promise."
Tribal leaders push back against education changes
From the dismantling of the federal Department of Education to DOGE reductions that swept out longtime staffers, as well as repeated threats of deep funding cuts, tribal leaders fear the progress that has been made could be undermined.
In November 2025, the Department of Education began handing off oversight of dozens of programs that serve Native students to BIE.
At a tribal consultation session in February in Washington, D.C., dozens of tribal leaders spoke in opposition, saying the transition could overwhelm the already understaffed and stretched BIE with additional responsibilities. Several accused the department of ignoring its legal responsibility to seek their input before moving forward.
"We are here too late," said Herschel Gorham, lieutenant governor of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes. "The ink was dry on the agreements before the tribes were ever notified. That should never, ever happen."
Jason Dropik, executive director of the National Indian Education Association, said turmoil at the agency's Washington office trickles down to schools, pointing to a Trump administration executive order that aimed to turn the BIE into a school choice system but was scaled back after an outcry from tribes.
"That caused some delays and disruptions to services," Dropik said. "When drastic changes go into motion without tribal consultation, there can be unintended consequences for our students."
Lengkeek worries the BIE could be consumed by political upheaval while schools like the one serving his community continue to underperform.
"This system holds the future of our nations in its hands," Lengkeek said. "We need stability. We need increased funding. We need infrastructure."
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This story is published through the Global Indigenous Reporting Network at The Associated Press.
New Mexico Gov’s office argues universal childcare lawsuit is ‘imaginary constitutional crisis’ - Joshua Bowling, Source New Mexico
Lawyers for New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and the state Early Childhood Education and Care Department on Thursday argued that a Republican lawsuit before the state Supreme Court over the state’s universal childcare program is “less a legal challenge than a political lament.”
Three Republicans — former gubernatorial candidate Duke Rodriguez, former state House of Representatives candidate Zac Anaya and state Sen. Steve Lanier (R-Aztec) — in April filed a lawsuit alleging that Lujan Grisham violated the “separation of powers” in state government by implementing the universal childcare program without the Legislature’s approval. Lawyers for the administration countered that the Legislature had long given the Early Childhood Education and Care Department approval to expand which families are eligible for childcare assistance.
The trio lost their case in district court in June, when a judge ruled that the case was moot, in large part because the Legislature earlier this year passed a law establishing a framework for the program. Soon after, they appealed to the New Mexico Supreme Court. The court docket shows that no hearings have yet been scheduled.
After the June ruling, Lujan Grisham’s chief general counsel Holly Agajanian told Source NM that Rodriguez’s suit was a “political disagreement wrapped in a constitutional argument.” In a Supreme Court filing from Thursday, she argued along those same lines.
She wrote that the state established a childcare program more than 30 years ago, in 1992, and offered assistance through grant funding to families who made up to 85% of the state’s median income. In 2007, Agajanian wrote, the state expanded eligibility and provided state funding for doing so.
The Republicans’ argument that the governor implemented this program last year without legislative approval, she wrote, is “an imaginary constitutional crisis.” She requested that the Supreme Court toss the lawsuit.
In an email to Source NM, Lujan Grisham spokesperson Leah March wrote that the governor “remains assured that ECECD had the authority to roll out the program in 2025. The state court agreed that the lawsuit had no merit, and we are confident that the Supreme Court will, too.”
Rodriguez, the Republican who unsuccessfully sought the party’s nomination for governor in June, told Source NM he disagrees with the state’s position that universal childcare marked the latest step in increasing childcare assistance eligibility. If that was the case, he asked, why did the Legislature pass a law this year aimed directly at universal childcare?
“I think they tried to mask their response with a lot of history and gobbledygook of various funding levels with various changing of eligibility,” he said Friday. “Playing with eligibility, a few percentage points here and there, is not the same as a complete overhaul of childcare.”
Nearly 8,000 claims pending for Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak Fire funds - Olivier Uyttebrouck, Albuquerque Journal
Nearly 8,000 people and businesses with pending Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak Fire damage claims are running out of time — even though Congress already appropriated the funds to pay them.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, said last month it has so far distributed $3.51 billion from the $5.45 billion appropriated by Congress to compensate New Mexicans for the largest wildfire in the state’s history.
That leaves an available fund balance of nearly $1.5 billion to pay the remaining 7,974 pending claims sought by individuals and businesses under the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire Assistance Act, a FEMA official reported in federal court records.
The dwindling money available has created urgency for claimants still waiting for payment, said Antonia Roybal-Mack, an attorney representing dozens of claimants in multiple federal lawsuits.
Some of the claimants still waiting for payment include businesses and nonprofits, such as the United World College in Montezuma and Price’s Home Furnishings in Las Vegas, she said.
“I think the critical juncture we’re in right now is we have got to find a workable path forward to move the money into the claimants’ hands as quickly as possible,” Roybal-Mack said.
The pending claims include some of the largest claimants, including at least 100 businesses, Roybal-Mack said.
Claimants’ attorneys are seeking an injunction in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque to expedite payments of remaining claims, she said. A mediation hearing is scheduled Tuesday before U.S. District Judge James O. Browning.
FEMA records show that 7,974 claims remained pending as of June 24, accounting for 22% of all claims filed. Of those, 1,212 claims totaling $1.04 billion were “in review” by the claims office.
Of the 24,392 payments made by FEMA, 23,379 payments totaling $2.64 billion had been paid to individuals or households. An additional $635 million has been paid to businesses.
The 2022 Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak Fire began with a prescribed burn and a separate pile burn, both set by the U.S. Forest Service. The two fires merged into the largest fire in state history, blackening 341,735 acres in northern New Mexico.
Congress quickly passed the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire Assistance Act and appropriated $3.95 billion for people affected by the fires, which was increased by $1.5 billion in November 2024, raising the total available to $5.45 billion.
Nancy Casper, acting interim director of the FEMA claims office in New Mexico, filed a declaration in federal court saying the fund contained an available balance of $1.497 billion to pay claims.
Casper said she filed the declaration to dispel “petitioners’ allegations that the Claims Office will run out of money in July 2026.”
The available figures suggest that FEMA’s administrative costs have consumed at least hundreds of millions of the funds appropriated by Congress. Roybal-Mack contends that the longer the claims process continues, the more funds will be spent on administrative costs.
Messages left for FEMA seeking comment were not immediately returned.
FEMA said in a June 24 statement that the agency has streamlined the claims process to prioritize individuals and families who were in the areas most affected by the fire.
“From the start, FEMA has worked with urgency to ensure eligible survivors receive the assistance they need as quickly as possible,” Casper said in the statement published on the FEMA website. “Working closely with our state and local partners, we have streamlined processes, expanded access to claims services and remained focused on helping families recover and communities rebuild.”
New Mexico AG to investigate ‘alleged fraudulent’ letters supporting Project Jupiter data center - Joshua Bowling, Source New Mexico
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez opened an investigation Thursday into allegations that written public comments supporting a pending air quality permit application for Project Jupiter, the Oracle and OpenAI data center campus under construction in Doña Ana County, were “fraudulently” submitted under residents’ names without their knowledge or consent.
Source NM reported last week that residents in three New Mexico cities said their names and email addresses were used to write public comment letters supporting the development’s air quality permit application after they were approached by canvassers wearing Project Jupiter T-shirts. Since then, several elected officials have said their names and email addresses were similarly used on letters they never wrote.
One state lawmaker, Rep. Cristina Parajón (D-Albuquerque), previously told Source NM that the supportive letter was made using her official legislative email address. She said she believes the action constitutes impersonating a government official.
The public comment period for Project Jupiter’s air quality permit application, which was filed by developer Yucca Growth Infrastructure, ended Monday.
In a letter sent to New Mexico Environment Department Secretary James Kenney Thursday morning, New Mexico Department of Justice Chief of Civil Affairs Billy Jimenez wrote that his office has received several complaints about the pro-Project Jupiter letters.
“We have reason to believe that an unknown, but potentially substantial number of the comments were fraudulently submitted without the consent or knowledge of the individuals named,” Jimenez wrote. “Given the seriousness of these complaints, our office has opened an investigation. Protecting the integrity of the permitting process is essential to maintaining public trust, especially considering the scale of the project Yucca Growth is pursuing.”
Jimenez requested that NMED officials share any information they have regarding the matter and cooperate fully with the attorney general’s investigation.
“Our goal is to quickly determine the validity of these complaints and ensure that any necessary corrective actions are taken,” he wrote. “The Department should carefully review and scrutinize the public comments being submitted in this permit matter in light of these issues.”
In an email to Source NM, state Environment Department spokesperson Drew Goretzka said that the department will “work alongside” the NMDOJ’s investigation and takes seriously “any suggestion that the public process for Project Jupiter was manipulated.”
“NMED is reviewing the public comments submitted and believes many were submitted fraudulently,” Goretzka wrote. “Depending on what the review and investigation show, NMED is prepared to work with NMDOJ to pursue appropriate civil or criminal action against those responsible. NMED is committed to the integrity of the public comment process and requires public comments be submitted honestly and in good faith.”
The New Mexico Department of Justice encourages residents whose names have appeared on public comment letters without their consent to contact the department through its online complaint portal or by phone at 505-490-4060.
In a statement, Torrez said it’s paramount to ensure that “every voice is authentic” in the public participation process.
“If individuals or organizations attempted to manipulate the public comment process through fraudulent submissions, we will investigate those actions thoroughly and hold responsible parties accountable,” he said.
In a statement to Source NM Thursday afternoon, an Oracle spokesperson wrote that the company supports Torrez’s investigation and is “ready to work with his office to ensure the integrity of the public comment process.”
“We review every comment where authenticity is questioned and will continue to actively investigate each instance that is raised,” the spokesperson wrote. “It is in everyone’s best interest to ensure that only legitimate public input is part of the public record. Any improper conduct should be addressed, but it should not overshadow or undermine the thousands of residents who have participated honestly and in accordance with the public comment process.”
Canadian company announces it has ‘abandoned’ push to mine gold at New Mexico lizard, dark sky haven - Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
New Mexico environmentalist groups this week celebrated the continued preservation of an obscure corner of western Hidalgo County, following a Canadian company’s announcement that it no longer seeks to develop its gold and silver mining claims on public lands otherwise known for their abundance of lizards and dark skies.
A subsidiary of Almadex America, a Canadian company that recently staked more than 130 gold and silver claims in the Antelope Pass area, had announced in April that it had received rock-chip samples for the area and would be conducting further tests to define “drill targets” later this year.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management had set that area aside as a Research Natural Area, a designation that bans mineral and oil extraction and limits vehicle access to protect “biological and research values of the land.”
Members from several conservation groups at the time told Source NM that the testing could disrupt fragile species, such as Night-blooming cereus cactus, or the genetically distinct population of the Dixon’s whiptail lizard, one of 17 species in the area. Groups also noted that exploration and mining might also threaten the area’s dark skies, which are crucial for stargazing and astrophotography, as well as disrupt hunters, hikers and campers using the area.
At the end of June, Almadex announced that “certain factors” had prompted the company to no longer pursue the mining effort it dubbed the “Big Sky” project.
“This early-stage exploration project no longer meets the Company’s criteria for further exploration and investment, and will be abandoned,” company leaders wrote in a June 30 news release.
The company did not respond to Source NM’s request Friday to elaborate on its decision, and BLM records do not make it clear whether Almadex ever filed for exploratory or other initial permits that would have outlined its efforts to determine how much gold and silver may be recoverable from the area. Koenig told Source NM that they urged the BLM to require the company to provide a detailed operations plan before considering any such permit.
BLM Public Affairs Specialist Allison Sandoval on Friday did not respond to Source NM’s request for more information on that process, but did send a statement that the agency is “aware that Almadex is no longer pursuing the Big Sky Project.”.
Conservation groups New Mexico Wild and Dark Sky New Mexico described Almadex’s abandonment of the project as proof that their pushback against the proposal — in the form of a 1,600-signature petition and multiple well-attended public meetings — succeeded.
“I think the community feels super proud,” Luke Koenig, New Mexico Wild’s Gila grassroots organizer, told Source NM on Friday. “When a company wants to come in and put a mine in place, which is totally inappropriate, oftentimes people feel resigned to the fact that there’s nothing you can do about it. Well, this shows that there is something that you can do about it.”
