Tuolumne Supervisors Argue For Secure Rural Schools Act Reauthorization
Sonora, CA — The Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors voted this week to send a letter to the US House of Representatives in support of the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act.
It was first signed into law in 2000 to provide financial stability for rural counties with large acreages of federal lands, as a way to offset revenue declines related to a shrinking timber industry. The Senate has voted to reauthorize the funding, but it is held up in the US House of Representatives. District Two Supervisor Ryan Campbell weighed in at the meeting, stating, “It seems almost routine, every year, that this funding is delayed. Right now, it is stalled in the House of Representatives. I just cannot for the life of me understand why this is continually used as a political football at the federal level.”
In recent years, the County of Tuolumne has received about $500,000 per year in Secure Rural Schools Act funding, with similar money going to local public schools.
The letter sent by the board of supervisors to House Speaker Mike Johnson and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries states, “SRS is a vital source of funding for forested communities, providing crucial resources for road and infrastructure maintenance as well as enabling rural schools to keep their doors open and provide otherwise economically infeasible programs to students. Counties that once thrived on timber receipts, including our county, now depend on the promise Congress made through SRS to replace those lost revenues to support necessary programs for their residents.”
The letter continues, “The delay or lack of SRS payments will also damage California’s ability to fight catastrophic wildfires on federally managed lands. This funding has historically supported the maintenance of thousands of miles of forest roads. These roads provide access for fire prevention crews to thin and manage forest lands and fire suppression crews to fight fires once they ignite. The need to maintain these roads is greater than ever as the risk of wildfire becomes increasingly imminent across California.”
