The U.S. Department of Education has begun releasing money it had threatened to withhold from schools earlier this month.
The funding being distributed is coming nearly a month late, and will go to English learning classes, teacher training and afterschool programs. In the meantime, districts have had to pay for the cost of those programs out of pocket.
"We have enough reserves to shore that up until the money actually gets here," said Rich DuVarney, Tehama County Superintendent of Schools. "If you're a district that is financially in a difficult position, that might be different. You're not really able to float those funds."
Despite the announcement that the money will be distributed, the future of many districts' budgets remains uncertain.
"We feel pretty confident in what we will be receiving from the state," DuVarney said. "From the [federal government], it's still a little up in the air. I think that we would probably know more by the end of the calendar year."
The federal government begins discussing its budget in October. That's when funding packages for schools and education programs can be added into it.
"The challenge with Secure Rural Schools [Act funding] is … it's not a large enough program to be a bill on its own. It's always trying to get into a trailer bill ... and it hasn't been able to get there this year."— Rich DuVarney, Tehama County superintendent of schools
While some funding is being given, other federal funding still hasn’t returned.
Like funding for the Secure Rural Schools Act, which was removed from last year's federal budget and never reintroduced.
Historically, Secure Rural Schools Act funding helped subsidize the budgets of school districts with a lot of federal land. That’s because federally owned land can't be developed or taxed like commercial land, which leads to less revenue for schools in the area that rely on funding from property taxes.
"The challenge with Secure Rural Schools is … it's not a large enough program to be a bill on its own," DuVarney said. "It's always trying to get into a trailer bill of some type, and it hasn't been able to get there this year."
DuVarney said educators will have a better idea of what to expect from the federal government toward the end of this year.
