Rep. Stansbury, To’Hajiilee Community Celebrate as $90 Million for New School Passes the Senate
Rep. Stansbury, colleagues secured the funding to replace school after years of work by To’Hajiilee community leaders and educators
WASHINGTON—Today, U.S. Representative Melanie Stansbury (N.M.-01) and community leaders of the To’Hajiilee Chapter of the Navajo Nation announced that the FY2023 Omnibus Budget voted out of the Senate includes over $90.4 million to replace the To’Hajiilee Community School in a major victory after years of advocacy by the community.
The To’Hajiilee Community School is a Tribally-Controlled School and the only school in the community serving grades K-12. Built in 1935 on a flood plain as a U.S.-government run Indian Boarding School, the To’Hajiilee community has sought to rebuild the new Tribally-Controlled school on higher ground. The school has experienced regular flooding, sections of the facility have been deemed unsafe by inspectors, and the school has been forced to shutter classrooms and cancel instruction.
“I am truly overjoyed to have helped secure this funding after years of work by the community. This $90 million will enable To’Hajiilee to build a state-of-the-art school, rooted in the values, culture, and language of the community that will serve families for generations to come,” said Rep. Stansbury. “Persistence, leadership, and community partnerships matter. I have been honored to fight alongside To’Hajiilee Chapter and community school leadership and am grateful to Secretary Haaland, Leadership in the House and Senate, House Appropriations Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro,our Congressional delegation, BIE leadership and staff, and the many dedicated public servants who saw this injustice and have been working to correct it. As we celebrate this huge victory, we continue the fight to fund Tribal and BIE schools across the country. We have a lot of work ahead."
“As Vice President of To’Hajiilee Navajo Community, I would like to give thanks to Congresswoman, Melanie Stanbury and her Staff for advocating on behalf of To’Hajiilee Navajo Community, as well as the rest of the working Legislators in Washington, D.C., for their hard work and working diligently to approve $90.4 Million dollars for a new school for our To’Hajiilee Navajo Scholars,” said Nora J. Morris, Vice President of the Cañoncito Band of Navajos. “We all have been working alongside local government leaders and To’Hajiilee Navajo Community School Board, Inc., and meeting with the Governmental Agency and Delegation advocating for funding for our school. We will continually work together as one team to make this happen. This is the greatest news in a long time for the People of To'Hajiilee, a new school. Thank you so much on behalf of our children, as we know they will be very excited and happy, as we all prayed for our children to be safe and warm in standardized buildings. Our Children deserve a new school, and we appreciate the funding and all your help. Ahéhee'.”
“I am excited and relieved that our children, teachers, and staff will soon have a new, safe, and beautiful school to grow in for generations to come. Support for this was not overnight! We invited anyone and everyone willing to listen and visit our campus so that we could show them the rapidly deteriorating foundation, the excessive damage from multiple floodings, and the shifting walls,” said To’Hajiilee Community School Board Vice President Paulene Abeyta. “Visitors would leave our campus with overwhelming concern of the conditions they witnessed. Our Board & Administration worked tirelessly with local chapter leadership and Congresswoman Stansbury & former Congresswoman Haaland to get the support needed to make this happen. We can't thank them enough!” A lifelong To’Hajiilee Community resident, Abeyta is a mother of four children currently attending To’Hajiilee Community School and has served on the Board for six years.
“We have been looking forward to this day to hear the wonderful news about our students getting a new school. Within the past four years the local To'Hajiilee Community School Board and Administration team have been voicing our flooding and structural facility concerns. We now can say our voices have been heard,” said Willinda Castillo, To’Hajiilee Community School Chief School Administrator. “Our instructional staff will now be able to teach without worrying about flood issues. Our students will now be able to focus on their academics with no interruption of school closure due to their school getting flooded. We thank Congresswoman Stansbury and her staff for addressing BIE school construction for To'Hajiilee Community School. Ahéhee’! (Thank you.)”
“We are extremely grateful to the top management of the Interior Department. We are also grateful to our Congresswoman and staff from their untiring work on behalf of our school,” said Larry Holman, To’Hajiilee Community School Administrative Service Specialist. “We are also grateful for the support from the Senate Appropriations Committee.”
Background
Rep. Stansbury has been fighting for funding to build a new To’Hajiilee Community School since she was sworn into office in June 2021. During budget negotiations in August 2021, she led efforts to expand Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) construction funding and personally fought to ensure this $90 million for To’Hajiilee was included in the FY2023 Budget.
In April 2022, Stansbury led 27 colleagues in a bipartisan letter to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies urging the Committee to address the historic injustice of inadequate funding for BIE.
During a June 2022 House Natural Resources Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples hearing, she secured a commitment from BIE Director Tony Dearman to work directly with To’Hajiilee community leadership and the To’Hajiilee Community School Board to address the community’s needs. Rep. Stansbury formerly worked on education policy and funding issues for BIE as a staffer in the White House Office of Management and Budget.
Rep. Stansbury will continue her work in the 118th Congress to address the $4.5 billion backlog in BIE school funding, which affects over 48,000 Indigenous students across the United States. This remains one of Stansbury’s top priorities.