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North State schools could lose funding after Republican lawmakers fail to pass rural school bill

Small and rural North State schools might face a major budget shortfall after a historic bill died in the U.S. House of Representatives last month.

The Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act dates back to the creation of the U.S. Forest Service and subsidizes school districts that have a lot of non-taxable federal forest land in their area. The act has been in place for more than 100 years. This month Republican lawmakers voted down the bill, which will impact schools in nearly every county in the North State.

Carolyn Jones, education reporter with CalMatters who is covering the story, spoke with NSPR about the impacts schools in the region could see from the loss of funding.

“California has the most at stake, California has far more federal land than any other state. I think money goes to 39 counties in California,” Jones said. “Thirty-nine of our 58 counties get rural schools money totaling more than $40 million, so there's a lot at stake in California.”

In the past, the bill has sent millions of dollars each year to schools in North State counties, including Butte, Colusa, Glenn, Lassen, Plumas, Shasta, Siskiyou, Tehama, Trinity and Yuba.

Jones said small districts are particularly at risk because they often have tight budgets.

"In most school districts, 80% to 85% of their money is fixed. Their income, there's nothing they can do about it,” Jones said. “They have to pay teachers, they have to pay the school secretary and so forth … they don't have a lot of wiggle room.”

There has been an effort to reintroduce the bill ahead of the March budget deadline, but Jones said that’s a long shot.

Alec Stutson grew up in Colorado and graduated from the University of Missouri with degrees in Radio Journalism, 20th/21st Century Literature, and a minor in Film Studies. He is a huge podcast junkie, as well as a movie nerd and musician.