Indian Affairs: Further Actions Needed to Improve Oversight and Accountability for School Safety Inspections, Report to the Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, Committee on Appropriations, House of Representatives

摘要

Indian Affairs is responsible for ensuring safe and healthy learning environments for about 41,000 Indian students at 185 BIE [Bureau of Indian Education] schools. In March 2016, GAO [Government Accountability Office] identified numerous weaknesses with BIA's [Bureau of Indian Affairs] school inspections. GAO was asked to review Interior's oversight of BIA's safety program and inspections of BIE schools. Among other issues, GAO examined the extent to which Interior has taken actions to address weaknesses with BIA's safety program, and the extent to which Indian Affairs monitors BIE school safety inspection reports and uses timeliness information to evaluate employee performance. GAO reviewed Interior's internal evaluations; a nongeneralizable sample of 50 randomly selected fiscal year 2016 BIE school inspection reports covering the nine BIA regions with inspection responsibilities for schools; BIA regional documentation of employee appraisals; and performance management practices in four BIA regions selected for geographic diversity and a range of safety inspection results. [...] GAO is making six recommendations to Interior, including to take steps to address previously identified weaknesses in BIA's safety program; establish processes to monitor the quality and timeliness of BIE school inspection reports; and use timeliness information to better assess employee performance. Interior agreed with all six recommendations and noted several actions it plans to take to address them.