Idaho
Idaho will receive Secure Rural Schools funding boost
Idaho colleges will obtain a lift in federal {dollars} from a program designed to assist timber communities.
In all, Idaho will obtain $23.4 million in Safe Rural Colleges funds, Idaho’s congressional delegation and State Treasurer Julie Ellsworth introduced final week. That’s a rise from $20.4 million the earlier yr.
By regulation, counties obtain 70% of the Safe Rural Colleges cash, and colleges obtain 30%. Meaning Idaho colleges stand to obtain about $7 million from this yr’s funds, a rise of roughly $900,000.
The Safe Rural Colleges program is designed to offset the lack of timber revenues from federal forests. The cash largely goes to communities and colleges in Central Idaho and the Panhandle.
Idaho’s Safe Rural Colleges funds will rank third within the nation, trailing solely California and Oregon.
The Safe Rural Colleges program was established in 2000, however funding has been unsure for a number of years. This yr’s funding comes by way of an omnibus federal spending invoice handed in March.
Idaho’s Republican lawmakers, joined by Democratic colleagues from Oregon, have pushed for a number of years for a everlasting funding resolution, equivalent to a Safe Rural Colleges endowment.