KLAMATH COUNTY, Ore. – The Klamath County School District (KCSD) is one of 82 districts across Oregon that will be reimbursed for underpayments made by the state department of education.
According to KCSD, the reimbursements come after the education department used federal forest funds to offset State School Fund allocations.
More than a year after the school district’s Board of Directors called on Governor Tina Kotek and other state leaders, KCSD will be receiving $2.5 million which is the equivalent to three years of back payments from the Oregon Department of Education.
In a statement sent Wednesday, KCSD says, “the state intends to make payments to districts before Oct. 1, 2025, contingent on legislative appropriations.”
The underpayments were made between 2018 and 2020 to which KCSD says the education department cited a discrepancy between state and federal law as a reason for the oversight.
Furthermore the district says the, “issue was identified and fixed, and in April 2022, Secure Rural School Act money from the National Forest Payment to States program was removed from the state’s definition of ‘local revenue.’ The federal Act had been amended in 2018, adding a provision that none of the forest funds could be used to offset a state funding source for schools or educational purpose.”
Klamath Falls City Schools is also owed backpay which totals approximately $1.1 million.
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