Rural counties are about to lose a centuries -old source of funding

From Carolyn JonesCalmness

This story was originally published by CalmattersS Register about their ballots.

For more than a century, Congress has been giving extra money to large sections of federal land to help pay schools, roads and other critical services. Now that the financial rescuer seems to be dead after the Congress does not include it in the budget adopted this month-the victim of the measures to reduce the cost of the Trump administration.

Thehe Safe Rural School Act They would bring at least $ 33 million to cities in California, which have land owned by the federal government, such as the US Forest Service. The money is intended to compensate for tax revenue counts that cannot collect in lands owned by federal products.

“This loss (not) nothing but catastrophic,” Liam Gogan, Head of the Council of Supervisory Authorities of Trinity County, wrote. “This is not just a shortage of funding; this is an existential crisis. Our schools will suffer irreversible damage, the response to emergencies will be paralyzed and our economy – already fragile – will be pushed along the point of recovery.”

California Counts from imperial to del Norte use funds for secure rural schools for schools and roads, but some money also goes to emergency services, fire safety and other needs. Last year, the total amount of the whole country was $ 253 million, it is hardly more than the total federal budget, but a decisive source of funding for rural communities, which have limited opportunities for increasing revenue.

“This is a non-party question, we have remembered that it will be sunk in a helmet,” says Patricia Gunderson, chief of schools for Lasen County. “But it was not a priority for Congress. It is a budget dust, a pebble in the big picture and it was simply not on their radar.”

In the fall, secure rural schools passed unanimously in the Senate, but they never received a hearing at the House and were are not included in the temporary budget He passed in December. Defenders tried again in February, with a new bill hoping to enter the most budget.

However, the bill was not included and is not likely to pass on its own, as Congress seeks to shrink federal costs against the background of President Donald Trump’s orders to reduce government bureaucracy. Reporter Doug Lamalfa, a Republican who sponsors the bill, “pursues every avenue” to cross it, his employees said. Many of the Counts in the Lamalfa region voted for Trump, but school staff said they were considering safe rural schools as a non -party issue.

Defenders also endure hope, however thin they are.

“We will continue to insist, but the time Congress to do what is appropriate for rural schools was yesterday,” said Tara Thomas, a government manager of the Government of the Association of School Winders, a National Professional Professional Group. “This is such a minor program, but it is a rescue line for the areas that rely on this funding.”

Dismissal and cuts

County financing varies depending on how much American forestry area they have. Siskiyou County, for example, received $ 4.3 million in 2023. Trinity received $ 3.5 million. Los Angeles County, home to Angeles National Forest, received $ 1.4 million. Counties usually give half of the schools to schools and half of public affairs.

“It was not a priority for the congress. It is a budget dust, a pebble in the big picture and it was simply not on their radar.”

Patricia Gunderson, Chief of Lassen County Schools

In many school districts, funding loss will mean staff cuts, programs after school, fewer excursions on the spot, delayed buildings and other adjustments. On the part of the public works, road repairs will take longer and residents will have less help, which will make their homes safe from fire.

In Trinity County, the abbreviations mean that the county will have less crews to repair their 620 miles of roads – 120 of which are gravel. In the rough, remote mountains west of Shasta Peak, this will affect residents’ ability to get to work and school, and the ability of emergency crews to reach many parts of the county 3200 square miles, said Panos Cocas, Director of County Transport.

Many of the roads are already in bad shape due to storms, mud, wild fires and erosion, he said. In the highly afforested region, it is not uncommon for fallen trees to block the roads or for whole sections of the washing road.

“People could potentially be stuck, or emergency crews will not be able to pass,” Cocas said. “This can be a very dangerous situation.”

In the counts, which are already obsessed with poverty and high unemployment, the redundancies can have a pulsation effect, especially in the light of the other abbreviations of the Trump administration, said Cisski Ed Valenzuela County. Discounts in the US Forest Service, For example, it will mean less seasonal employees, patronizing local business and fewer people to maintain a comfort for forest services -a major tourist equality in the summer, he said.

Siskiyou and other rural counties have limited money raising opportunities elsewhere. Rural schools can rarely accept bonds, as voters tend to be more conservative, retired or low-incomes. The bonds that go through do not raise much money, as the values ​​of the property are lower in general.

“It’s not like we have the money to sit there in another court,” Valenzuela said. “When we talk about making cuts … there is nowhere to cut.”

In Alpine County, where 96% of the land is owned by the state and the federal government and has only 1,100 inhabitants, secure rural schools provide about 20% of the road repair budget and a significant part of school funding.

“The longer you run the roads, the more they become,” said Nicole Williamson, a district administrative employee. “Our roads are no longer in the best condition. We are always worried about losing safe rural schools, but I was still surprised that it wasn’t going.”

The latest secure payments in rural schools in the counts will be in April.

This article was Originally Published on CalMatters and was reissued under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Noderivatives License.