Rep. Neguse reintroduces bill to invest in rural schools on Colorado’s Western Slope
Alongside other western state legislators, U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse has introduced a bipartisan bill to reauthorize the U.S. Forest Service’s Secure Rural Schools and Self-Determination Program through 2023.
This follows Neguse helping to secure a two-year extension for the program through 2023 as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law in 2021.
First introduced in 2000, the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act was created to assist counties containing tracts of federally-owned land that are tax-exempt. The program provides payments — derived in part through timber receipts and other leasing activities within national forests — to county governments where those forests are located, including Colorado’s Western Slope.
“We often transport students from rural areas to our schools, and Secure Rural Schools funding has been paramount in helping us keep our transportation fleet up to date,” Steamboat Springs School District Superintendent Celine Wicks said in a statement. “Additionally, we plan to purchase two long-distance buses, ideal for rural travel, to round out our fleet. We applaud the legislation to reintroduce the Secure Rural Schools funding led by Congressman Joe Neguse and anticipate the three-year commitment being instated. From a financial planning perspective, a three-year commitment can allow school districts like ours to invest in long-term plans and programs to benefit students.”
In 2022, the act directed $122,136 in funding to schools across Routt County using a per-pupil allocation method.
With this federal funding from Secure Rural Schools Act, Routt County has the option to use 85% of the funds for Road and Bridge or put it toward the the county’s schools, per Colorado Revised statute. If the county retains 85% of the funding for roads, the 85% would be a deduction from the county’s payments in lieu of taxes distribution.
If the county distributes 85% of the funds to the school districts and relinquishes control so the districts can spend it on any reasonable expenses, the 85% would not be a deduction from the county’s payments.
Routt County Commissioners said that under the second scenario, there would be more money coming into the county as a whole. This year the county has the opportunity to elect which path to take in terms of how the funding should be dispersed.
With the redirection of the voter-approved nicotine tax as of July, money from the nicotine tax that previously went to rural schools will now go to preschools amid the launch of the state’s universal pre-k program.
In the first increment of the tax going to rural schools in the 2020-21 school year, Hayden collected $131,000, Steamboat collected $376,000 and South Routt collected $101,000.
The Secure Rural Schools Reauthorization Act of 2023 is endorsed by the National Association of Counties, National Forest Counties and Schools Coalition, the National Education Association, AASA The School Superintendents Association, and Association of Educational Service Agencies.