U.S. House failure jeopardizes federal funding for Wrangell schools

The failure of the U.S. House to reauthorize federal funding to assist rural communities with a lot of non-taxable federal land — such as the Tongass National Forest — presents a $550,000 challenge for the Wrangell School District and borough.

If the new Congress doesn’t fix the problem, the district could have to further draw on its reserves, or the borough could have to take from its reserves to plug the gap, or a combination of the two.

Or cut spending at the schools — the federal money represents about 10% of this year’s school district budget.

The funding program dates back to 2000, when...