There shall be an Office of Indian Education (referred to in this section as “the Office”) in the Department of Education.

The Director shall—

(1) Appointment and reporting The Office shall be under the direction of the Director, who shall be appointed by the Secretary and who shall report directly to the Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education.

The Director shall—

(A) be responsible for administering part A of title VI of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 [20 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.];

(B) be involved in, and be primarily responsible for, the development of all policies affecting Indian children and adults under programs administered by the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education;

(C) coordinate the development of policy and practice for all programs in the Department relating to Indian persons; and

(D) assist the Assistant Secretary of the Office of Educational Research and Improvement in identifying research priorities related to the education of Indian persons.

The Secretary shall give a preference to Indian persons in all personnel actions in the Office.

(1) In general The Secretary shall give a preference to Indian persons in all personnel actions in the Office.

(2) Implementation Such preference shall be implemented in the same fashion as the preference given to any veteran under section 45 of title 25.

(Pub. L. 96–88, title II, § 215, as added Pub. L. 103–382, title III, § 372(2), Oct. 20, 1994, 108 Stat. 3977; amended Pub. L. 114–95, title IX, § 9215(v), Dec. 10, 2015, 129 Stat. 2171.)