The shutdown is hurting schools whose budgets are mostly federal money

By ANNIE MA Associated Press Coaching Writer In Chinle Arizona financial distress caused by the authorities shutdown has led to the suspension of after-school programs including a few that students rely on for meals Related Articles Massachusetts is prepared for National Guard deployment AG Andrea Campbell says Trump heads to Miami to speak about his economic agenda on the anniversary of his balloting win Supreme Court weighs Trump tariffs in a trillion-dollar test of executive power Establishment shutdown becomes the longest on record as fallout spreads nationwide Trump nominates tech space traveler Jared Isaacman again to serve as NASA administrator Federal money makes up only a small part of the majority school budgets in the U S But at Chinle Unified School District spread across square miles in the heart of Navajo Nation half of the revenue comes from a single federal initiative called Impact Aid The bulk school districts rely largely on local property taxes to fund facilitator salaries and building upgrades But school districts like Chinle that include Native American reservations military bases or other federal compounds have fewer options for raising local taxes for schooling Federal land isn t taxable and the authorities holds most of reservation land in trust for Native tribes so it can t be taxed either Instead the federal regime contributes billion a year in Impact Aid to those schools But that money is on hold this year with payments suspended by the shutdown leaving schools to ax selected programs and weigh how long they can go without deeper cuts The kids maybe are going home and not eating because these are the only three meals they may get in a day disclosed Quincy Natay Chinle s superintendent All of those programs are on hold and we re looking at What programs can we eliminate Food aid for families has also been disrupted by the shutdown Two federal judges ordered the Trump administration to use contingency funding to pay out Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Initiative benefits but the regime warned it could take weeks or longer to restart partial payments Most of of the federal money going to school systems arrives before the start of the school year Impact Aid however typically is delivered annually beginning in October The grants go to about districts which together have nearly million students enrolled Arizona receives more money from the campaign than any other state in part because of its military bases and expansive tribal land Various districts that rely on the operation try to carry a deep cash reserve because of uncertainty over the timing and amount of the payments but certain already are feeling the pinch At Chinle the million in Impact Aid goes toward instructor salaries full-day kindergarten and other costs Beyond the after-school programs Natay has paused a number of construction projects If payments don t restart Natay announced within a scarce months the district would need to borrow money to make payroll Teaching Department workers who would typically field questions about funding have been furloughed and their jobs are slated for elimination compounding the sense of uncertainty Several of our districts are scaling back noted Cherise Imai executive director of the National Association of Federally Impacted Schools They re going into their reserves or whatever other funding they can use to meet payroll In a letter to the Training Department several Democratic Congress members from Arizona urged the department to reverse layoffs that hit staff working on the Impact Aid operation We are deeply troubled by these layoffs and their foreseen to cause irreparable harm in schools across our state they wrote A federal judge last week blocked indefinitely all layoffs made by President Donald Trump s administration during the shutdown At Lackland Independent School District outside San Antonio Impact Aid makes up about half the budget compensating for the presence of Lackland Air Force Base Superintendent Burnie Roper revealed the longer the shutdown lasts the more uncertainty schools face Lackland Independent School District Superintendent Dr Burnie Roper checks on a learner while walking around the campus Monday Nov in San Antonio AP Photo Kin Man Hui We just hope that Congress can figure it out Roper declared A Montana school system in an area with little taxable property Rocky Boy School District has a large reserve fund But big unexpected costs can briskly drain the balance Superintendent Voyd St Pierre declared If I were to have a boiler go out in the middle of winter well that s ostensibly a fix St Pierre commented Impact Aid helps fill the budget gaps he stated We don t have any other funds We don t have any other state funds It s very complicated for us to go to a bank to get a loan in terms of the taxable valuation or collateral we could provide Districts must reapply for Impact Aid every year which is allocated based on a complex formula with factors such as percentage of federal property and participant headcount A small portion of the activity is allocated through competitive grants which the Mentoring Department oversees Particular districts become newly eligible for funding each year or have new staff who haven t handled the operation before Districts typically would go to Teaching Department staff when they have questions but the executive shutdown has left them unsure where to turn reported Anne O Brien a spokeswoman for the National Association of Federally Impacted Schools There s no one at the department to answer those questions O Brien disclosed If the Trump administration eliminates Impact Aid staff permanently she announced it is unclear who would answer those questions in the future The Associated Press instruction coverage receives financial advocacy from multiple private foundations AP is solely responsible for all content Find AP s standards for working with philanthropies a list of supporters and funded coverage areas 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