The Osage Nation is shutting down Daposka Ahnkodapi, its K-8 Osage language immersion school in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, just eight days before the 2026-2027 school year was set to begin. Roughly 70 students who attend the school are now without classrooms after Principal Chief Joe Tillman's administration folded the closure into a broader declaration of financial emergency. Teachers say they had no warning the shutdown was coming.
Parents, teachers and Osage Nation Congress members gathered at the Osage Nation Welcome Center in Pawhuska on Wednesday to confront the decision, according to News 9. Tillman was meeting with parents about the closure but was unavailable for an interview with the outlet, the Osage Nation said. Among those searching for answers was parent Joshua Smith, who said, "I've got to look my little girls in the face and say you don't get to see your friends next week—it's really devastating."
A $38 Million Deficit Behind the Decision
The closure traces back to a state of emergency Tillman's administration declared on Wednesday, after tribal executive departments submitted nearly $98 million in budget requests against an estimated $60 million in revenue for fiscal year 2027, according to Osage Nation. Part of that gap, the tribe says, comes from an $11 million annual funding cliff created by the expiration of federal COVID-19 relief through the CARES Act and the American Rescue Plan. Running Daposka Ahnkodapi alone cost more than $3 million a year, or roughly $32,000 per student, paid entirely out of tribal funds.
Closing the school alongside the Osage Nation Visitors Center and the Harvest Land food pantry is projected to free up about $5 million in budget relief for fiscal year 2027, the tribe says. The Visitors Center, which opened in Pawhuska in 2018, had requested nearly $1 million in tribal funding for the coming year while generating minimal revenue of its own, and it's scheduled to close Saturday. Harvest Land, built during the pandemic with CARES Act and ARPA grants to expand local food sovereignty and meat-processing capacity, will wind down by December 31 as that federal funding runs out.
Osage Nation Congress Pushes Back
Not everyone in tribal government agrees the money wasn't there. Eli Potts, an Osage Nation congressman and chair of the tribe's Education Committee, disputed the administration's claim that funding was unavailable for the school, saying funds do exist to keep it open. Potts said Congress members were not notified before the closure was announced, and he is now organizing a public meeting to discuss the decision, per News 9.
Critics have also raised concerns about the cultural cost of shuttering an accredited immersion program, as well as the process behind the decision, according to Tulsa World. The newspaper reports the executive branch acted without prior legislative notification or approval, deepening tension between the tribe's executive and legislative branches over how the closure was handled.
Families Say the Loss Goes Beyond the Classroom
For families, the impact is immediate. Smith relocated his family so his children could receive an education rooted in Osage language and culture, and he's now searching for another school for them, News 9 reports.
Tina Burruss-Townley taught middle school at Daposka Ahnkodapi, and her daughter also works at the school; her granddaughter is enrolled there as well, according to the outlet's report. Burruss-Townley said the closure threatens the perpetuation of Osage culture and language, and that its effects reach far beyond the people the school employs.
A Decade of Language Revitalization Comes to an End
Daposka Ahnkodapi opened in 2015 as one of the first tribally controlled Osage language immersion programs in the country, and it received official private school accreditation from the Oklahoma State Department of Education in May 2021, according to Osage Nation.
With classes canceled, Tillman's administration has notified Pawhuska Public Schools to coordinate emergency enrollment for the displaced Osage elementary and middle school students, the tribe says. The closure is one of the first major executive actions from Tillman, who took office in July after winning the June general election.
Other Cuts Loom, but a Marquee Deal Stays Intact
Even as the tribe cuts costs elsewhere, one high-profile partnership remains untouched: Oklahoma State University confirmed Wednesday that its deal to display Osage Nation patches across all OSU varsity athletic uniforms for the 2026-2027 season is unaffected by the closures, Tulsa World reports. Hoodline previously tracked a similar patch deal involving Ohio State, part of a wider trend of universities striking sponsorship agreements with tribal nations.
