A financial crisis is looming in rural school districts across the country that many people have never heard of, say local officials.
Communities in 700-plus counties and 41 U.S. states with federally protected forest lands are exempt from property taxes, a primary revenue source for local school districts.
In 1908, Congress required logging companies, ranchers, and other businesses that made money on resources removed from federally protected lands to give back a share of their revenues to counties for local school operations and municipal road projects, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service.
Over the years, the American timber industry faced declining revenues amid factors such as the digital age and subsequent efforts for paperless workplaces, the protection of threatened species, wildfires, and preservation measures in the interest of tourism….