§2002 National Criteria for Home-living Situations

Summary

The Secretary must work with the Secretary of Education, tribes, Indian organizations, and Bureau-funded schools to redo national standards for home-living (dormitory) situations. The updated rules must cover things like heating, lighting, cooling, adult-to-child ratios, counselor needs (including off-reservation dorms), therapy programs, space, and privacy. Bureau-run schools must follow the standards, and the rules act as minimum requirements for contract or grant schools. Any future changes must follow the process in section 2017. The Secretary must put the new standards into effect as soon as they are finished. The Secretary must also give Congress’s committees, the tribes, the affected schools, and the Federal Register a plan to bring every Bureau-funded dormitory school up to the new standards. The plan must show each school’s current and future needs, how each school measures up, cost estimates for each school and for all schools together, and timetables for meeting the standards. A tribal governing body or its local school board may waive standards if they are not right for their students, but must send the Director alternative standards within 60 days. The Director will adopt those alternatives unless rejected for good cause in writing. No school open on or before July 1, 1999 may be closed, moved, merged, or have major programs cut because it does not meet the standards.