Good news for school, county funding nightmare

The U.S. Senate on Tuesday approved a four-year extension of funding, which if approved by the House, will greatly benefit Boundary County School District and Boundary County Road and Bridge Department.

Combined, the two local entities’ traditional allocation of $1.27 million in funding could be increased by 75 percent, for a total of $2.1 million.

The school district’s $377,000 allocation would be increased to $659,000. The county’s road and bridge department would be increased from $900,000 to $1.57 million.

“I was very, very pleased,” said county commissioner Dan Dinning. “That would be a wonderful help to us.”

“It’s good news,” added school superintendent Dr. Don Bartling. “It’s absolutely thrilling for myself, the school board and our businessman manager because as of several months ago, it appeared dead in the water.”

Craig said the bill passed by the Senate today is a four-year extension of the Secure Rural Schools act combined with the Payment In Lieu of Taxes program for counties losing much of their tax base due to large amounts of federal lands.

Under a new formula negotiated by Sen. Larry Craig and others for the program known as “county payments,” Idaho rural schools will receive $42 million annually over the next four years, a 75 percent increase compared to the $24 million annual payments authorized in the initial legislation in 2000.

The original Craig/Wyden Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000 established a six-year payment formula for counties that receive revenue sharing payments for U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management lands.

The formula, based on timber receipts, provided a dedicated funding stream for rural schools which cannot collect property taxes — the schools’ primary source of funding — from federal forests and range lands.

After Congress failed to immediately renew the original Craig/Wyden authorization when it expired in September 2006, Craig succeeded in convincing the Congress to approve a one-year extension.  He again pushed the Senate to okay another one-year extension earlier this year, but the House of Representatives did not agree.