Citing lack of results from the state and federal governments, the Navajo Nation is taking more control of the education of Navajo children.

The Navajo Nation Council passed the Sovereignty in Education Act this year and it was signed into law by President Joe Shirley Jr. The law creates a Navajo Department of Education in order to develop a tribal curriculum and tribal standards for all schools within reservation boundaries, including those operated by the states of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

"The states and the BIA are not doing it," Leland Leonard, the tribe's education director, told The Deseret Morning News. "This is an initiative of exercising our sovereignty, our inherited right to reform the educational system on the Navajo Nation."

In Utah, only about 71 percent of Indian students graduated from high school.

Get the Story:
Navajos turn sights on schools (The Deseret Morning News 11/15)

Relevant Links:
Navajo Nation - http://www.navajo.org

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BIA, state agree on No Child Left Behind standards (10/05)
BIA ordered to pay for self-determination contract (09/26)
Navajo Nation moves to take control of schools (09/06)
BIA to hold consultation sessions on education (08/26)
More protests as Navajo Nation Council holds session (07/20)