Montana Public Radio | By Austin Amestoy
Published July 27, 2023 at 7:39 AM MDT
Montana tribes are closer to gaining more authority in a state program designed to preserve Indigenous languages.
The state Office of Public Instruction last week released draft revisions to the Montana Indian Language Preservation program, which was created a decade ago to provide funding to help tribes stem the tide of language loss.
The proposed revisions implement a bipartisan law sponsored by Democratic Rep. Jonathan Windy Boy of Box Elder passed during this year’s legislative session. Windy Boy says the changes include new curricula and increased tribal involvement in Native language instruction across all Montana schools.
“I wanted the tribe to have a seat at the table,” Windy Boy told MTPR.
The Legislature also made the program part of the state’s ongoing budget, meaning lawmakers will no longer have to advocate for the program to continue every two years.
Nine Indigenous languages are spoken within Montana, at least three of which were critically endangered as of 2019, according to the Montana Budget and Policy Center and the United Nations.
View the proposed changes. Feedback can be emailed to milppubliccomment@mt.gov.
An Aug. 11 public meeting is scheduled to take place at 10 a.m. in the Montana Room on the second floor of 1300 11th Ave in Helena, or online here. Public comment on the proposed rules ends a week later.
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