Associate Deputy Director Bureau Operated Schools
The Associate Deputy Director for Bureau-Operated Schools oversees federally operated schools within the BIE system. This office ensures BIE schools adhere to federal education standards while providing culturally relevant, high-quality education. It supports school administrators and staff with resources, training, and operational guidance to foster academic excellence and holistic development for Indigenous students.
Hankie Ortiz has served as the Associate Deputy Director of Bureau Operated Schools since 2018. She is an enrolled member of the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma and is also Caddo and Comanche from Oklahoma. In her current role, she is responsible for all schools operated by the BIE outside of the Navajo Nation, including four off-reservation residential schools (4-12), two on-reservation residential schools (K-12), a dormitory, and 17-day schools without a residential component. Ms. Ortiz works with the schools through four Education Resource Centers (ERCs): Albuquerque ERC, Belcourt ERC, Phoenix ERC, and Pine Ridge ERC.
Before her current position, she served six years as the Deputy Bureau Director-Indian Services for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. In that position, she was responsible for all headquarters activities associated with supporting tribal people and tribal governments, including five BIA Divisions: transportation, Human Services, Self-Determination, Tribal Government Services, and Workforce Development. Her first Senior Executive position was Director of the Office of Tribal Self-Governance for the Indian Health Service in Rockville, Maryland, where she served for six years. Before that, she worked as an attorney in the Office of the General Counsel in the Department of Health and Human Services for 10 years in Region IX San Francisco and the headquarters office in Rockville, advising and representing the Indian Health Service on legal issues. Before beginning her federal career, she worked as an attorney, practicing Federal Indian law in Federal Court and as a prosecutor and a public defender in tribal court. Ms. Ortiz holds a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Montana, Alexander Blewett III School of Law in Missoula (1995) and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from the University of Oklahoma in Norman (1991).
