Grappling with a 70-per-cent drop-out rate among native students, federal Indian Affairs Minister Robert Nault is proposing a new system of aboriginal school boards.

The boards would be set up across the country but would operate under provincial jurisdictions. The proposal was warmly greeted by Alberta Learning Minister Lyle Oberg, when informed of it on Wednesday.

In an earlier meeting with The Journal editorial board, Nault said the existing patchwork of native education across Canada has failed to prepare native children for the world, often resulting in feelings of despair and entanglements with the law.

The recent attack on five white teens by a group of about 30 native teens on Edmonton's LRT may reflect the hopelessness and should be a wake-up call, Nault said. He said he supports the proposal from an advisory panel of aboriginal experts to set up aboriginal school boards similar to francophone boards.

"If we can accommodate francophones as far as education why can't we accommodate First Nations?"

Most aboriginal schools are run by reserves, resulting in duplication of costs.

"Administratively, we believe there's a lot of efficiencies in going through a more regional type."

He said about seven in 10 aboriginal students drop out of school, regardless of whether they're educated on or off reserves. "The education systems of First Nations people don't work."

It's not clear how much money, if any, the federal goverment would contribute to establishing the new board system.

For the 2000-01 fiscal year, Ottawa spent $280 million on post-secondary education and another $965 million on elementary and secondary education for all of Canada's First Nations. Capital spending projects are not included in the figures.

Nault said his advisory panel has put its recommendations in a report which he expects to release in three weeks during a return visit to Edmonton.

The boards would operate under provincial jurisdiction and meet provincial standards while reflecting native culture.

The panel has recommended phasing in the school boards over five years, allowing time to build a relationship with the province to put aboriginals on an equal educational footing with francophones.

He said aboriginal schooling has fallen victim to concerns over federal and provincial jurisdiction.

"My personal belief, and I think it's shared by the aboriginal leadership and the experts' panel, is that the provinces don't see First Nations as a legitimate partner in education," he said.

"They see them as an interest group. We need to get by that."

Even so, he said he probably has the best relationship with Alberta among all provinces.

"What I like about the Alberta government is they don't like red tape either. They like results."

Oberg described Nault's proposal as music to his ears. He said it was the first time he has heard a federal minister offering to bypass jurisdictional concerns.

"It would be a huge step forward," Oberg said.

"We need to co-operate more with the federal government and work together to come up with a solution.

"We have to throw aside bureaucracy and jurisdiction."

He said he has no difficulty with operating schools for aboriginals on or off reserve, if the details can be worked out. "On the face of it, it sounds great, but we have to see what's involved."

Alberta already oversees education of aboriginals at some off-reserve schools, notably the Amiskwaciy Academy high school, through Edmonton Public Schools, Oberg said.

The school opened last year in the former terminal at City Centre Airport.

Mel Buffalo, president of the Indian Association of Alberta, welcomed Nault's plan but said the association has advocated using a federal curriculum.

In 1972, the group which became the Assembly of First Nations proposed Indian education boards, Buffalo said. He said Jean Chretien, then Indian affairs minister, never acted on it. "It's interesting that it's coming back 30 years later."