With student enrollment numbers still struggling to recover after the devastating 2020 Almeda Fire, Phoenix-Talent District officials are hopeful for some financial relief via a pair of Oregon House bills geared to provide financial relief for wildfire-impacted school districts in the state.
Oregon House Bill 3149 and House Bill 3165 would provide both short-and-long term funding for programs that would support school districts still grappling with the aftereffects of the 2020 Labor Day fires.
Both bills are sponsored by state Rep. Pam, Marsh, D-Ashland, and state Sen. Jeff Golden, D-Ashland, along with other lawmakers.
Students displaced from communities, in many cases, have either moved on to other districts or face increased costs and stressors as a result of displacement from their communities and home school districts.
House Bill 3165 would allocate $5.5 million in funding for the current school year while House Bill 3149 proposes an additional $38 million over the next four school years.
The pair of bills builds on existing support from House Bill 2046, authored by Marsh and carried to the state Senate floor by Golden. It was approved by legislators in 2022 to give $25 million in funding for four wildfire affected districts: Phoenix-Talent, Lincoln County, Santiam Canyon and McKenzie.
House Bill 4026 allows school districts to be funded based on 2019, pre-fire enrollment numbers.
In Phoenix-Talent schools, district officials say enrollment is still down by some 350 students since the Almeda Fire, which burned more than 3,000 acres and destroyed or damaged over 2,500 homes between Ashland and Phoenix.
Funding wildfire-impacted schools via current enrollment numbers would bring drastic reductions to school funding during a time when the community is still struggling to recover, said Phoenix-Talent District Superintendent Brent Barry. In addition to not losing needed staffing and programs, Barry said programs to support students are crucial.
“We have over 700 kids lose all their possessions overnight and are still living in transition,” he said.
“We have data on the students that we have that were impacted by the fire directly, by losing everything, and it shows that they’re further behind than their peers in academics and social emotional learning, and so it takes extra time and extra support. … so after-school programming, summer programming and mental health support to help to help provide those interventions for those kids to keep up.”
Nearing the five-year anniversary of the Almeda Fire, Barry said the district is hopeful for housing development to increase and for the community’s families to continue to return.
“I see apartments and everything that’s going up in Medford… and I think, ‘Gosh, why can’t I get a couple of those here in our community,” he added.
“It’s a kind of a double whammy for us as we’re still plugging along. … We feel like we’ve been fiscally responsible, but our kids need a lot,” the superintendent said. “If we don’t have this funding, it’ll be a challenge.”
Marsh said she was committed to supporting communities still recovering from the 2020 fires.
“Keeping the Phoenix-Talent School District and the other three wildfire districts whole is a huge priority for me.” Marsh said.
“Our schools are central to the community’s recovery. Phoenix-Talent is doing incredible work to heal students, families and staff who still carry the trauma of the 2020 fire. We need to provide adequate funding to enable the district to continue without the distraction and pain of budget cuts.”