Feds look to reclaim funding granted rural schools under sequester
Hundreds of rural school districts across the U.S. – including many in northern California – face the unhappy prospect of returning to the federal government millions of dollars in aid already delivered but reclaimed under the requirements of sequestration.
Secure Rural Schools and Communities Act, which dates back to the Theodore Roosevelt administration, was most recently reauthorized last year to provide $328 million in support of schools, road services and other government programs in rural counties located in 41 states.
But officials at the U.S. Forest Service, which oversees the program, notified participating local agencies that the funding is subject to the sequestration and are demanding repayment of $17.9 million based on the portion of funds that has been disbursed to states.
As a result, 31 members of the House of Representatives – including Congressman Tom McClintock, R-Rocklin, – sent a letter to Tom Vilsack, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Jeffrey Zients, acting director of the president’s Office of Management and Budget, asking that the order be rescinded.
“It retroactively takes funds that are already being used for rural schools, emergency services, infrastructure, and