By Stephen Smoot
A part of the budget of the school systems of Pendleton, Pocahontas, Randolph, Grant, Tucker, and other counties with significant national forest lands continues to wait as budget battles consume the United States Congress.
“An amount equal to the annual average of 25 percent of all amounts received for the applicable fiscal year and each of the preceding 6 fiscal years from each national forest shall be paid at the end thereof by the Secretary of the Treasury to the State or Territory in which said reserve is situated, to be expended as the State or Territorial legislature may prescribe for the benefit of the public schools and public roads of the county or counties in which the forest reserve is situated.”
This language, passed as part of the U. S. Congress’s “Act of May 23, 1908,” served as the start of what is today called the Secure Rural Schools fund. In 1930 and 1976, this was amended until 2000 when the Secure Rural Schools Act was passed, which provides the formula followed today.
Starting in February of this year, J. P. Mowery, Pendleton County Schools’ financial officer and treasurer, urged the Pendleton County Board of Education and other officials to “keep your eye on” developments concerning Secure Rural Schools funding.
At the time, Mowery stated that Pendleton County had at one time received $120,000 from the fund, but the distribution dropped in recent years by $50,000. Mowery said at the time that “$70,000 is still $70,000” even though it represents a small percentage of the more than $2 million budget.
Counties or parishes receive funding if they have tax exempt national forest lands in their jurisdiction. In years of reauthorization, the state receives the funds, then disburses. Most local governments receiving the funds use them for roads or schools with the state determining the ratio.
Secure Rural Schools funding amounts come from a formula which, according to the United States Forest Service, has eight steps. The fifth shows why Pendleton County’s share dipped in recent years. It says that one must “divide the per capita personal income in each county by the median per capita personal income in all eligible counties, and then square the result.”
The United States Forest Service offers trainings on how to interpret the bewildering formula.
Reauthorization has waited since 2023 for attention. With the fund authorization set to expire, the House of Representatives introduced H. R. 1383. As the bill languished during the spring. Mowery and other area schools officials went to Capitol Hill to make the case for passage.
Representative Carol Miller signed on as a cosponsor and the House passed the legislation, moving it over to the United States Senate for consideration. There, both United States senators from West Virginia, Shelley Moore Capito and Jim Justice, signed on as cosponsors. Mowery informed the board in March that the senators will work to promote its passage.
Late last year, the United States Senate did pass reauthorization, but the House of Representatives did not hold a vote before the end of that year’s session. This killed last year’s version of the reauthorization.
The bill has bipartisan support from states with significant national forest lands throughout the nation.
Mowery has remained cautiously optimistic about the bill passing this session, but has urged the board of education and superintendent to not count on reauthorization as a done deal.
He stated in March that the measure “may need a vehicle to get it passed,” meaning that it may need to be attached to a more broadly vital measure that the national interest requires.