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How federal funding cuts are affecting one small school district in an Oregon community that voted heavily for Trump
Grant School District is hundreds of thousands of dollars into a project that is supposed to be reimbursed by the federal government. Now, it’s not clear the feds will pay.
www.opb.org
The school district — which Superintendent Mark Witty said has experienced significant economic hardship and declining enrollment over the years — was promised more than $682,000 for energy efficiency improvements at Grant Union Jr./Sr. High School. However, recent layoffs at the Department of Energy have jeopardized their future.
Officials recently explained in a memo for community members that the district has already incurred hundreds of thousands of dollars in costs for planning, energy audits and initial construction.
Grant’s energy efficiency project is like many federal grant programs. Local schools spend the money with the expectation they’ll be reimbursed for the costs by the federal government. Now, school leaders don’t know if that will happen — in fact, they’re pretty sure it won’t.
“Nobody said anything. Nobody has reached out to us,” Witty said. “We don’t have any information one way or another. Frankly, my gut instinct is that we’re not going to get the money.”
In the short term, long-awaited improvements may be abandoned partway through, saddling the district with long-term financial liabilities. Witty said they’ve already issued a stop order on $150,000 worth of work. The federal grant represents the first two phases and about 19% of the total cost of the $3.4 million HVAC project.
The outdated facilities may pose health and safety risks, district leaders said, and the financial strain will add to pressures the district is already feeling. More broadly, leaders are worried about “an erosion of public trust and accelerated enrollment declines.”
“Our county has taken essentially hit after hit after hit after hit from an economic standpoint,” Witty told OPB. “At some level, we’re a bit shell-shocked.”
Layoffs and cuts are hitting public schools across the state and country. Oregon’s rural districts are, in some ways, uniquely challenged by a limited tax base, declining enrollment and an inadequate state funding system.
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This isn’t a case of Oregon liberals decrying a president they didn’t elect. The school district is part of Grant County, which voted overwhelmingly — nearly 79% — for Donald Trump.
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Cronin said the federal job cuts from other agencies hit hard locally, too. She counts more than two dozen people who were cut from their jobs in Baker City.
“In a small community, that’s a very significant economic blow,” she said, “when you have 30 family-wage jobs that are suddenly gone.”
Smith noted that job losses can lead to kids leaving schools, in turn leading to a loss of funding and school services.
“Everything is connected,” she said, “in ways people don’t necessarily realize.”
Cronin was glad to hear Bentz is supportive of this year’s push for the Secure Rural Schools Act, which directs money to counties with a lot of federal land.
But Cronin’s upset that schools are facing these challenges at all, let alone in a time when education improvements are top of mind for people in power locally.
