Education shapes nearly everything a community cares about — jobs, leadership, health, language, and the ability to govern itself. On the Navajo Nation, education is also unusually complex, because schools here are run by several different governments at once. This lesson explains what education is for, how it is organized, who is responsible for what, and the questions worth asking candidates.
Education serves more than one purpose at the same time:
Students on and near the Nation attend a mix of school systems: state public schools (run by state districts), Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) schools (funded through the federal government), and grant or charter schools. Because these answer to different governments, families in neighboring communities can have very different schools.
The Nation is home to its own colleges. Diné College, established in 1968 at Tsaile, was the first tribally controlled college in the United States. Navajo Technical University (NTU), based in Crownpoint, offers trades, technical training, and degree programs. Students also attend universities off the Nation.
Workforce development focuses on certifications, apprenticeships, and trades that lead to immediate employment — often the fastest path connecting education to a paycheck.
The Navajo Nation sets education policy through the Department of Diné Education and the Navajo Board of Education, while day-to-day schooling is delivered by the state, federal (BIE), and tribal systems described above. In the Council, education oversight falls under the Health, Education and Human Services Committee (HEHSC). Understanding this shared responsibility is the key to knowing who to ask when something needs to change.
Accreditation is an independent review confirming that a school or college meets recognized educational standards. It matters because it affects whether credits transfer, whether degrees are respected by employers and other schools, and whether institutions qualify for certain funding. When people ask how a college should be evaluated, accreditation is one honest measuring stick.
Education on the Nation is supported by a patchwork of funding: federal dollars (including Impact Aid and BIE funding), state funding for public schools, and Navajo Nation programs. The Office of Navajo Nation Scholarship and Financial Assistance (ONNSFA) helps Diné students pay for college, and the Johnson-O’Malley program supports Native students in public schools. Knowing these sources helps citizens follow whether the money is reaching students.
Diné language and culture are part of education here, not separate from it. Immersion and language programs treat fluency and cultural knowledge as outcomes worth measuring — a reminder that on the Nation, education and identity are tied together.
How much students learn about government — and specifically about Diné government — varies from school to school, because schools here answer to different systems (state, federal/BIE, and tribal). Arizona and New Mexico require some U.S. and state civics, but instruction on how the Navajo Nation itself governs, how chapters work, or how to take part is not guaranteed in every classroom.
That gap is part of why the Diné Civic Center exists. The Civic Academy is meant to complement what schools teach — a plain-language place for any citizen, student or adult, to learn how their own government works and how to hold it accountable.
When you evaluate a candidate on education, useful questions include: What should every graduate know before leaving school? How do we connect education to real employment? How should Diné College and NTU be evaluated? And what is one hidden obstacle in education that doesn’t get talked about enough?
Working draft for editor review; expand as interviews and verified data are added.
Official sources to learn more (these links open outside the site):