The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe has wanted to educate their children within their own community, within their own schools, for decades. The “Growing Ute Futures” Education Master Plan is helping make that vision a reality.

The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe is one of three federally recognized tribes of the Ute Nation—the Tribe is a sovereign nation; all its land is held in trust by the US government. The Reservation is about 900 square miles in southwestern Colorado and northwestern New Mexico, with Tribal headquarters in Towaoc, Colorado. Currently, the Tribe has about 2,000 residents but it lacks adequate schools. Children have long been bused about 30 minutes outside the Reservation to Cortez, Colorado.

The Tribe began to establish its own education base when it started the Kwiyagat Community Academy (KCA), the first Native American charter school on a Native American reservation in Colorado. It now plans to expand from the current modular K-2 facility to the point where all children in the community can receive their education in Towoac, including learning about their culture and the Ute Mountain Ute language.

The Education Master Plan is the culmination of a 10-month planning process that included extensive engagement with community members, educators, elders and stakeholders to establish a vision, program and conceptual site design for an educational campus on the Reservation. It will guide the development of the campus during the coming decades and serve as a blueprint for growth of on-Reservation education and improvements that serve the whole community.

The KCA facility has been operating K-2 classes and will expand by adding one grade at a time until it reaches K-5. The Master Plan looks even beyond that to a broader campus, including a middle school, high school, technical programs for young adults, a modern public library, potential space for Ute history archives, spaces for indigenous knowledge sharing, after-school and literacy programs, and lifelong education opportunities. 

The goal is to support Tribal youth and families in advancing themselves on and off the reservation, and in supporting social and emotional well-being. The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe believes that this project can transform Indigenous education and that it is vital to the long-term success of their children’s education. It will provide state-of-the-art facilities, the latest technology, access to high-quality programming, environments that promote wellness—and it will strengthen their community for many generations.