Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will join Secretary of Interior Sally Jewell to visit Beatrice Rafferty School in Perry, Maine on Monday, August 18 to discuss ongoing educational reform initiatives to ensure students attending Bureau of Indian Education (BIE)-funded schools receive a high quality education delivered by tribal nations.
Duncan and Jewell will tour the school to see first-hand the need for additional funding and will meet with school officials, teachers, and students to better understand the shared challenges in delivering educational services.
Beatrice Rafferty School is on the Passamaquoddy Trial Reservation of Pleasant Point and serves approximately 140 students, mostly American Indians. The K-8 school is partially funded by the BIE and operated by the Tribe under contract.
In 2013, Jewell and Duncan convened an American Indian Education Study Group to assess systemic issues within BIE-funded schools – one of the lowest performing set of schools in the country – and to propose a comprehensive plan for reform to ensure all students attending BIE-funded schools receive high quality education.