{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.heitkamp.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=1e28d0d3-01c0-4c7a-b663-c8017cd0522c", "Heitkamp Brings Together Native American Education Leaders, Pushes for Improvements for Native Students", "2014-04-23", "2014", "2014-04", "Democrat", "House", "ND", "Heidi Heitkamp", "H001069", "www.heitkamp.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Senators Bill to Create a Commission on Native Children Would Help Address Education Disparities among Native Youth\r\nBISMARCK, N.D. U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp, a member of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, todaybrought together students, education leaders, and social workers to speak about howher bill to create a Commission on Native Childrenaims to help Native kids get the opportunities they need to succeed.\r\nFar too often, Native children face higher hurdles as the national graduation rate for Native high school students hovers around 50 percent compared to more than 75 percent for white students. During a roundtable discussionat United Tribes Technical College, Heitkamp discussed with participants how herbillwouldwork toimprove educational opportunities and performance for Native students and help bridge academic achievement gaps between Native and non-Native students.\r\nNative children areoften already behind the eight ball by the time they start kindergarten, said Heitkamp. Those arent odds any parent wants to hear. Today, we talked about how we can change this course, and how the steps that schools like UTTC are taking to help put students on the right path from early education all the way through college are making great strides.My Commission on Native Childrenaims to take another step bycreatinga roadmap for how we can make sure kids stay enthusiastic about learning and give tribal governments a stronger voice in the education of Native children to reduce dropout rates and close the achievement gap.By working together, we can give Native students the futures they deserve  thats something all North Dakotans should want to invest in.\r\nLast month, the U.S. Department of Educations Office of Civil Rights issued documents finding that Native students are disproportionately expelled, suspended, and held back.The statistics about the education challenges Native children face are stark:\r\n\r\n\r\n \r\nWhile other groups have been closing educational achievement gaps, these gaps have been widening for Native students, causing them to fall further and further behind their white peers. In North Dakota, there is a 31-point gap in both high school students graduating on time and 8thgrade math proficiency between Native and white students.\r\n \r\nHeitkampsbipartisan bill to create a Commission on Native Childrenwould look atthesechallenges facing Native students and seek to find ways to address them so Native children have every opportunity to succeed. The U.S. Secretary of Education would be part of the 11-member Commission. Additionally, the Commission would make recommendations to improve school attendance, performance, and graduation rates for Native children across all grade levels.\r\nEarlier this month, theSenate Indian Affairs Committee held a hearing on Heitkamps legislation. U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan  a former chair of the Committee and founder and chairman of the Center for Native American Youth at the Aspen Institute  testified at the hearingat the request of Heitkamp, on the importance of her bill.\r\nHeitkampalso backed legislation topreserve and protect Native American languages and culturethrough education programs in Indian Country. The bill would establish a grant program to support Native language immersion instruction programs, which have been shown to improve academic performance and attendance, and equip Native youth with the tools they need to be successful into the future.\r\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.heitkamp.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=1e28d0d3-01c0-4c7a-b663-c8017cd0522c"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9550070390105247, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}