(a) Establishment by Secretary The Secretary shall establish, by regulation, separate geographical attendance areas for each Bureau-funded
school.
(b) Establishment by tribal body In any case where there is more than one Bureau-funded
school located on an Indian reservation, at the direction of the tribal governing body, the relevant
school boards of the Bureau-funded schools on the reservation may, by mutual consent, establish the relevant attendance areas for such schools, subject to the approval of the tribal governing body. Any such boundaries so established shall be accepted by the Secretary.
(c) Boundary revisions
(1) Notice On or after July 1, 2001, no geographical attendance area shall be revised or established with respect to any Bureau-funded
school unless the tribal governing body or the local
school board concerned (if so designated by the tribal governing body) has been afforded
(A) at least 6 months notice of the intention of the Bureau to revise or establish such attendance area; and
(B) the opportunity to propose alternative boundaries.
(2) Revision process
Any tribe may petition the Secretary for revision of existing attendance area boundaries. The Secretary shall accept such proposed alternative or revised boundaries unless the Secretary finds, after consultation with the affected tribe or tribes, that such revised boundaries do not reflect the needs of the Indian students to be served or do not provide adequate stability to all of the affected programs. The Secretary shall cause such revisions to be published in the Federal Register.
(3) Tribal resolution determination Nothing in this section shall deny a tribal governing body the authority, on a continuing basis, to adopt a tribal resolution allowing parents the choice of the Bureau-funded
school their children may attend, regardless of the attendance boundaries established under this section.
(d) Funding restrictions
(1) In general The Secretary shall not deny funding to a Bureau-funded
school for any eligible Indian
student attending the
school solely because that students home or domicile is outside of the geographical attendance area established for that
school under this section.
(2) Transportation No funding shall be made available without tribal authorization to enable a
school to provide transportation for any
student to or from the
school and a location outside the approved attendance area of the
school.
(e) Reservation as boundary When there is only one Bureau-funded program located on an Indian reservation
(1) the attendance area for the program shall be the boundaries (established by treaty, agreement, legislation, court decisions, or executive decisions and as accepted by the tribe) of the reservation served; and
(2) those students residing near the reservation shall also receive services from such program.
(f) Off-reservation home-living (dormitory) schools
(1) In general Notwithstanding any geographical attendance areas, attendance at off-reservation home-living (dormitory) schools shall include students requiring special emphasis programs to be implemented at each off-reservation home-living (dormitory)
school.
(2) Coordination
Such attendance shall be coordinated between education line officers, the family, and the referring and receiving programs.
