Bureau of Indian Education: Greater Progress Needed to Address Remaining Challenges in Supporting and Overseeing Schools

GAO has identified and reported on numerous problems since 2013 at the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE), within the Department of the Interior (Interior). During this period, GAO issued 24 reports and testimonies and made 38 recommendations to BIE related to the agency’s support and oversight of schools. Key problem areas with BIE’s support and oversight have been school spending, special education, school safety and construction, distance learning, and administrative support for schools. For example, in 2024 GAO found that nearly half of COVID-19 spending made with purchase cards at BIE schools involved transactions at elevated risk for fraud or misuse, but BIE did not provide evidence that it had investigated any of these purchases. GAO’s repeated findings of problems in key areas have indicated a pattern of systemic management weaknesses at BIE that limit its support and oversight of schools.