'Overturning historical trauma.' Tulalip Tribes celebrates new laws supporting Native education in Washington schools

Washington Governor Jay Inslee signed into law 21 bills surrounding tribal resources and acknowledgements at the Tulalip Resort Casino on Tuesday, including two related to Native American education programs in K-12 schools.

HB 1879 renames the state’s Since Time Immemorial curriculum on Native American history, culture, and government in honor of late Democratic state lawmaker and Tulalip Tribes member John McCoy (luliaš). McCoy sponsored a bill establishing the original curriculum, which was adopted in 2015 — a decade after McCoy first proposed legislation the for the program.

McCoy, who died last year at age 79, championed various laws related to tribal rights and sovereignty. A computer programmer by trade, McCoy also helped the Tulalip Tribes build its digital infrastructure with high-speed internet and computers.

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“I think the thing he’s done is not only building those bridges, but opening those doors for tribal leaders to come in and tell their side of the story,” said Tulalip Tribes Chairwoman Teri Gobin. “If we’re not in telling our stories, somebody else is telling it.”

McCoy, whose father had been among many children punished for speaking Indigenous languages at Native boarding schools, also advocated for the presence of tribal language education in Washington’s public schools. Inslee signed a bill Tuesday backing the creation and expansion of those programs in K-12 schools, along with literacy supports for Indigenous students.

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State Rep. Debra Lekanoff (D-Anacortes), who was present at Tuesday’s signing, said the new legislation takes a step in reversing Native American cultural erasure by the school system.

“It sets a foundation to be able to build language programs within public school systems that help bring the language back to Native American tribes and … overturn the historical trauma of how education was used to destroy who Native Americans are,” she said.

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