ELIGIBILITY AND EXPANSION OF BUREAU FUNDED SCHOOLS.

SEC. 5101. ELIGIBILITY AND EXPANSION OF BUREAU FUNDED SCHOOLS. Section 1121 of the Education Amendments of 1978 (25 U.S.C. 2001) is amended— (1) by striking out “Indian controlled contract schools (hereinafter referred to as ‘contract schools’)” in subsection (a) and inserting in lieu thereof “contract schools”, and (2) by adding at the end thereof the following new subsection: “(k)(1)(A) The Secretary shall only consider the factors described in subparagraphs (B) and (C) in reviewing— “(i) applications from any tribe for the awarding of a contract or grant for a school that has not previously received funds from the Bureau, “(ii) applications from any tribe or Bureau school board for— “(I) a school which has not previously been operated or funded by the Bureau, or “(II) the expansion of any program currently funded by the Bureau which would increase the amount of funds received by the Indian tribe or school board under section 1128. The Secretary shall give consideration to all of such factors, but none of such applications may be denied based primarily upon the geographic proximity of public education. “(B) The Secretary shall consider the following factors relating to the program that is the subject of an application described in subparagraph (A): “(i) the adequacy of facilities or the potential to obtain or provide adequate facilities; “(ii) geographic and demographic factors in the affected areas; “(iii) adequacy of the applicant’s program plans or, in the case of a Bureau operated program, of projected needs analysis done either by a tribe or by Bureau personnel; “(iv) geographic proximity of comparable public education; and “(v) the stated needs of all affected parties, including (but not limited to) students, families, tribal governments at both the central and local levels, and school organizations. “(C) The Secretary shall consider with respect to applications described in subparagraph (A) the following factors relating to all 102 STAT. 366the educational services available at the time the application is considered: “(i) geographic and demographic factors in the affected areas; “(ii) adequacy and comparability of programs already available; “(iii) consistency of available programs with tribal educational codes or tribal legislation on education; and “(iv) the history and success of these services for the proposed population to be served, as determined from all factors and not just standardized examination performance. “(2)(A) The Secretary shall make a determination of whether to approve any application described in paragraph (1)(A) by no later than the date that is 180 days after the day on which such application is submitted to the Secretary. “(B) If the Secretary fails to make the determination described in subparagraph (A) with respect to an application by the date described in subparagraph (A), the application shall be treated as having been approved by the Secretary. “(3)(A) Any application described in paragraph (1)(A) may be submitted to the Secretary only if— “(i) the application has been approved by the tribal governing body of the students served by (or to be served by) the school or program that is the subject of the application, and “(ii) written evidence of such approval is submitted with the application. “(B) Each application described in paragraph (1)(A)— “(i) shall provide information concerning each of the factors described in paragraph (1)(B), and “(ii) may provide information concerning the factors described in paragraph (1)(C). “(4) Whenever the Secretary makes a determination to deny approval of any application described in paragraph (1)(A), the Secretary shall— “(A) state the objections in writing to the applicant by no later than the date that is 180 days after the day on which the application is submitted to the Secretary, “(B) provide assistance to the applicant to overcome stated objections, and “(C) provide the applicant a hearing, under the same rules and regulations pertaining to the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act, and an opportunity to appeal the objections raised by the Secretary. “(5)(A) Except as otherwise provided in this paragraph, the action which is the subject of any application described in paragraph (1)(A) that is approved by the Secretary shall become effective with the commencement of the academic year succeeding the fiscal year in which the application is approved, or at an earlier date determined by the Secretary. “(B) If an application is treated as having been approved by the Secretary by reason of paragraph (2)(B), the action that is the subject of the application shall become effective on the date that is 18 months after the date on which the application is submitted to the Secretary, or at an earlier date determined by the Secretary. “(6)(A) Any application for expansion of the grade levels offered by a tribally controlled school which has been submitted to the Secretary prior to the date of enactment of this Act shall be reviewed under the regulations and guidelines in effect on the date 102 STAT. 367on which such application was submitted, unless the applicant elects to have the provisions of this subsection apply to the review of such application. “(B) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, if the school board of the Bureau funded schools at the Pueblo of Zia and the Tama Settlement vote within the 2-year period beginning on the date of enactment of the Indian Education Amendments of 1988 to expand each of the schools to include kindergarten through grade 8, the schools shall be so expanded at the beginning of the next school year occurring after the vote.”.