FILE- The charred remains of the Royal Oaks Mobile Manor in Medford. Most of the homes at the property were destroyed by the Almeda Fire in September 2020.
April Ehrlich / JPR News
A pair of bills has been introduced in the Oregon Legislature that would give more money to four school districts impacted by the 2020 wildfires.
Those districts were particularly impacted by the loss of families due to wildfire, including Phoenix-Talent School District, McKenzie School District, Lincoln County School District and Santiam Canyon School District.
School districts are funded partly by enrollment, so as families leave, their state funding declines.
State Rep. Pam Marsh (D-Ashland) sponsored the bills. She hopes supporting these schools will also support the communities as they recover.
“The school district’s success will reflect on the community’s success at attracting people, bringing them back, having a robust and diverse community and that’s circular, right? The community’s ability to rebuild and rebound affects the families that want to be there and be part of the school district,” she said.
One bill would give just over $6 million to the districts immediately to cover anticipated expenses this school year, and the other would give more than $38 million over the next four school years. Exactly where the funding would come from has yet to be determined.
The money would be distributed among the four districts based on their enrollment.
The legislature previously gave these districts $25 million in the 2022 legislative session, allowing them to use their 2019 enrollment numbers, before the fires, to calculate funding, rather than their current enrollment numbers.
Marsh said the districts have stabilized somewhat since 2022, but recovery is not yet complete, and more help is needed.
Many other districts in the state are also suffering from declining enrollment. But Marsh said these four have an extra burden because the loss of students happened so suddenly and the communities are still recovering from trauma.
“It’s really fallen on the school district to do that work, to take care of families, to try to heal children over a period of time. So the demands on the school districts are, I think, extraordinary, above and beyond the demands on other districts,” she said.
Phoenix-Talent Superintendent Brent Barry said enrollment numbers have not bounced back as quickly as anticipated.
In the 2018-2019 school year, Phoenix-Talent had 2,545 students enrolled, according to data from the Oregon Department of Education. In 2023-2024, it had 2,230 students enrolled.
Barry said students who lost their homes in the fire “literally lost everything overnight, and that has an impact on academics, their socio-emotional learning and behaviors,” he said.
If the funding is approved, he said the district would use it on after-school programming, summer learning, additional mental health support and career and technical education.
“Without the extension of this critical funding, these school districts will collectively have to cut their budgets millions of dollars in the upcoming school year, which will result in fewer staff and programs supporting students,” according to a document from the Coalition of Oregon School Administrators.
Next, the bills will head to the House Committee on Education.
Jane Vaughan is a reporter with Jefferson Public Radio. This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.
It is part of OPB’s broader effort to ensure that everyone in our region has access to quality journalism that informs, entertains and enriches their lives. To learn more, visit our journalism partnerships page.