Mr. Raffenburg goes to Washington
With expiration of federal funding slightly more than a week away -- on Sunday, Sept. 30 -- Jim Raffenburg, chairman of the Josephine County Board of Commissioners, lobbied in the nation’s capital last week to extend funding.
Said Raffenburg, “The monies provided by the Secure Rural Schools Act, which amount to $15 million a year, help provide necessary local services, such as law enforcement, criminal prosecution, search and rescue, and public health in Josephine County.
“My goal,” he said, “was to impress on Members of Congress, not just our representatives and senators from Oregon, but from around the country, the importance of a multiyear reauthorization.”
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He was among more than 150 school board members, school superintendents, county commissioners and other local leaders from 18 states around the country, who rallied last week in Washington, D.C.
They called on Congress to pass a multiyear reauthorization of the Secure Rural Schools and Communities Determination Act of 2000 (P.L. 106-393).
“Without reauthorization of the act, many rural communities and school districts will once again face a huge fiscal crisis that will result in drastic cuts to school budgets and necessary government services and, in some cases, bankruptcy,” said Bob Douglas, president of the National Forest Counties & Schools Coalition.
It is an organization representing 1,500 local, state and national organizations around the country.
“Last year,” said Douglas, “many rural school districts and county governments had to prepare two budgets and some even had to go as far as sending lay-off notices to employees. This disaster was averted at the last minute when Congress passed a one-year reauthorization.
“Congress needs to get creative to find long-term funding for a multiyear reauthorization of this important legislation, as communities simply cannot go through this again, year after year, without causing real harm.”
When Congress created the USDA Forest Service in the previous century, one of the side-effects was that it denied many rural communities a significant portion of their potential tax base that they used to fund public services. To solve this problem, Congress mandated that 25 percent of all revenue generated from the national forests would be shared with the counties where those monies were generated.
This historic compact is one of the first revenue-sharing projects approved by Congress. However, beginning in the 1980s, the amount generated by these forests began to decline – dropping more than 85 percent between 1986 and 2005. This created a financial crisis for many rural forest communities around the country.
In Josephine County, this has dropped 98 percent.
During 2000, Congress passed the Secure Rural Schools and Communities Determination Act to provide a safety net for these communities. During the past seven years, the Secure Rural Schools Act has been a vital safety net for 800 rural counties and 4,400 rural school districts.
It has helped these communities remain viable entities by providing billions of critical dollars to support rural education, search and rescue organizations, road maintenance and the development of community fire plans along with other vital government services. However, the Act expires at the end of this fiscal year, with final payments to be disbursed beginning in October.
“Many Members of Congress like to talk about the importance of education,” added James B. French, the superintendent of schools for Trinity County in California, and the incoming president of the coalition.
“This is an opportunity for the new majority to match its rhetoric with action,” he said. “As an educator, I see this as an issue of equity; providing rural students with the same opportunity to learn as their suburban and urban compatriots.”
Approximately 60 percent of the land in Josephine County, Oregon is federal forest and O&C land. The $15 million our county receives each year makes up a significant portion of our discretionary budget.
During the life of the legislation, the act has provided more than $2 billion to rural communities and school districts since 2001.
The National Forest Counties & Schools Coalition is an organization representing 1,500 local, state and national organizations around the country. The coalition is headquartered in Red Bluff, Calif.
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