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Leech Lake tribal school tells committee PFAS, long bus routes and funding gaps hinder student support
Summary
Dan McKeon, director of the Bug‑O‑Nay‑Ge‑Shig School, told the Minnesota State Education Finance Committee on March 18 that the tribally controlled K‑12 school serves about 200 students but is coping with PFAS‑contaminated drinking water, long bus rides, trauma‑driven needs and fragmented funding streams.
Dan McKeon, director of the Bug‑O‑Nay‑Ge‑Shig School, told the Minnesota State Education Finance Committee on March 18, 2025, that his tribal K‑12 school — located near Bena on the Leech Lake Reservation — faces a combination of infrastructure, staffing and student‑support challenges that outstrip available funding.
McKeon said the school enrolls approximately 200 students and offers strong Ojibwe language and cultural programming, including a K‑6 immersion program he identified as Negani and daily language instruction of 60 to 90 minutes. He described the school as tribally controlled and funded through a mix of federal and tribal sources, with 25 separate funding streams and a substantial share of dollars coming from the Bureau of Indian Education through the Indian Student Equalization Program (ISEP).
The school director emphasized how geography and transportation shape the operation: buses travel…
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