Daily Sitka Sentinel

U.S. House Passes Bill With Sitka Funding

By SHANNON HAUGLAND

and TOM HESSE

Sentinel Staff Writers

Sitka schools may be getting some funding relief through the federal government. 

The new bipartisan bill on compensating doctors through Medicare that passed the U.S. House of Representatives this morning has a rider that provides two more years of funding for Secure Rural Schools.

But Sitka School Board President Lon Garrison said he’s not counting on the funds until the bill gets through the Senate, and is signed by President Obama.

“It lifted my spirits a bit,” he said today from Juneau, where he is preparing for a weekend meeting with the Association of Alaska School Boards. “It’s got a ways to go. If it clears the Senate I’ll be jumping. It’s fortunately one of those issues that has broad bipartisan support.” 

The school district is facing the possibility of a $2.2 million budget shortfall if the two years of funding is not received.

Sitka’s share under the bill would be $817,000 for this fiscal year, and $776,150 for FY 2016. The city and school district generally share those funds, formerly called timber receipts.

Garrison said he won’t relax until he hears the final word, but is heartened that the bill currently has strong bipartisan support.

“At least it’s a step in the right direction,” he said. “If I were to place a bet I wouldn’t know where to place it. Who knows what Congress will do? ... If the House funds it, maybe the Senate will concur. We’ll see.”

(An AP story on the bill is on page 2 of today’s Sentinel.)

Garrison has stayed abreast of the situation as the Alaska representative of the National Forest Counties and Schools Coalition. He said he received word this week that Rep. Greg Walden of Oregon had worked with colleagues to include the funding language in a bill addressing some other subject after realizing Secure Rural Schools would not pass as a separate bill.

“They drafted language and were looking for a broadly supported bipartisan bill that would have a chance of passing,” Garrison said.

Earlier this week, President Obama said he would sign the bill as passed by the House. Secure Rural Schools funding is particularly important to the Sitka School District this year because the current budget assumes $500,000 will come from the federal program.

The amount of Secure Rural Schools funding for Sitka was $860,000 in FY 2014. The amount for Sitka in the House bill is 5 percent less for FY 2015, and the figure for FY 2016 is 5 percent less than that.

Superintendent Mary Wegner, who is in Virginia for emergency management training, told the Sentinel she is cautiously optimistic after hearing the funding bill is moving in Congress. 

“I’m very thrilled to see that a bill is moving but it’s very far from a done deal and if anybody has any interest in contacting our Alaska delegation in D.C. to advocate, that would be great,” she said. 

“It’s still not a long-term solution, but the positive note is that through some of the great voices we have in Alaska and in Sitka with Lon Garrison, we’ve been able to garner that support, so we may at least get something,” she said. 

Garrison said the bill may fare well in the Senate, but may not be taken up before the two-week spring break. In the past, the bill has been held up by the House. He said he has communicated with U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski on the issue.

“She is a pretty ardent supporter of Secure Rural Schools,” Garrison said, but more focused on forest reform than SRS to generate revenues for schools and communities. 

Garrison said he hopes that her goal for forest reform does not “hold us hostage,” and keep Sitka and other rural communities from getting funding through Secure Rural Schools. Murkowski has always warned that SRS will not continue indefinitely, and Garrison agrees that a more permanent revenue stream should be pursued. But in the meantime, he said, the funding should not be cut off.

“Secure rural schools is important for schools and communities,” he said. “Don’t cut us off, and consider the consequences and make sure there are revenue streams coming from the national forest to support schools and communities – both are needed.”