	Indian Affairs Does Not Have Complete and Accurate Information on School Safety and Health

We found that Indian Affairs does not have complete and accurate  information on safety and health conditions at all BIE schools because of  key weaknesses in its inspection program. We found that 69  out of 180 BIE school locations were not inspected in fiscal year 2015, an  increase from 55 locations in fiscal year 2012 (see fig. Without conducting annual inspections at all school  locations, Indian Affairs does not have complete information on the  frequency and severity of safety and health deficiencies at all BIE school  locations and cannot ensure these facilities are safe for students and staff  and currently meet safety and health requirements. Concerned about the lack of completeness of the inspection, school  officials said they arranged with the Indian Health Service (IHS) within the  Department of Health and Human Services to inspect their facilities. To support the collection of complete and accurate safety and health  information on the condition of BIE school facilities nationally, we  recommended that Interior (1) ensure all BIE schools are annually  inspected for safety and health, as required by its policy, and that  inspection information is complete and accurate and (2) revise its  inspection guidance and tools, require that regional safety inspectors use  them, and monitor safety inspectors’ use of procedures and tools across  regions to ensure they are consistently adopted. For example,  we reviewed inspection documents for two schools and found numerous  examples of serious “repeat” deficiencies—those that were identified in  the prior year’s inspection and should have been corrected soon  afterward but were not. One school’s report identified 12 repeat  deficiencies that were assigned Interior’s highest risk assessment  category, which represents an immediate threat to students’ and staff  safety and health and require correction within a day. For example, at one school, 7 of the school’s  11 boilers failed inspection in 2015 due to various high-risk deficiencies,  including elevated levels of carbon monoxide and a natural gas leak (see  fig. Indian Affairs and school officials could not  provide an explanation for why repairs took significantly longer than  Indian Affairs’ required time frames. Additionally, Indian Affairs has not  taken needed steps to build the capacity of school staff to abate safety  and health deficiencies, such as by offering basic training for staff in how  to maintain and conduct repairs to school facilities. Several officials at Indian Affairs’ safety office and BIA  regional offices acknowledged they do not have a plan to build schools’  capacity to address safety and health deficiencies. Absent such a plan,  schools will continue to face difficulties in addressing unsafe and  unhealthy conditions in school buildings. As a result, Indian  Affairs cannot effectively determine the magnitude and severity of safety  and health deficiencies at schools and is thus unable to prioritize  deficiencies that pose the greatest danger to students and staff. Further,  Indian Affairs has not developed a plan to build schools’ capacity to  promptly address deficiencies or consistently monitored whether schools  have established required safety committees.
Why GAO Did This Study

This testimony summarizes the information contained in GAO's March 2016 report, entitled Indian Affairs: Key Actions Needed to Ensure Safety and Health at Indian School Facilities , GAO-16-313 .

What GAO Found

The Department of the Interior's (Interior) Office of the Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs (Indian Affairs) lacks sound information on safety and health conditions of all Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) school facilities. Specifically, GAO found that Indian Affairs' national information on safety and health deficiencies at schools is not complete and accurate because of key weaknesses in its inspection program, which prevented GAO from conducting a broader analysis of schools' safety and health conditions. Indian Affairs' policy requires its regional safety inspectors to conduct inspections of all BIE schools annually to identify facility deficiencies that may pose a threat to the safety and health of students and staff. However, GAO found that 69 out of 180 BIE school locations were not inspected in fiscal year 2015, an increase from 55 locations in fiscal year 2012. Agency officials told GAO that vacancies among regional staff contributed to this trend. As a result, Indian Affairs lacks complete information on the frequency and severity of health and safety deficiencies at BIE schools nationwide and cannot be certain all school facilities are currently meeting safety requirements.
Number of Bureau of Indian Education School Locations That Were Inspected for Safety and Health, Fiscal Years 2012-2015
Indian Affairs is responsible for assisting schools on safety issues, but it is not taking needed steps to support schools in addressing safety and health deficiencies. While national information is not available, officials at several schools GAO visited said they faced significant difficulties addressing deficiencies identified in annual safety and health and boiler inspections. Inspection documents for two schools GAO visited showed numerous high-risk safety and health deficiencies—such as missing fire extinguishers—that were identified in the prior year's inspection report, but had not been addressed. At another school, four aging boilers in a dormitory failed inspection due to elevated levels of carbon monoxide, which can cause poisoning where there is exposure, and a natural gas leak, which can pose an explosion hazard. Interior's policy in this case calls for action within days of the inspection to protect students and staff, but the school continued to use the dormitory, and repairs were not made for about 8 months. Indian Affairs and school officials across several regions said that limited staff capacity, among other factors, impedes schools' ability to address safety deficiencies. Interior issued an order in 2014 that emphasizes building tribes' capacity to operate schools. However, it has not developed a plan to build BIE school staff capacity to promptly address deficiencies. Without Indian Affairs' support of BIE schools to address these deficiencies, unsafe conditions at schools will persist and may endanger students and staff.