Plumas Unified School District is in state receivership.
After years of poor financial management, delayed audits, and failure to align staffing with enrollment, the district entered receivership with a $20 million emergency state loan and a $9.5 million structural deficit that must be addressed before the 2026–2027 school year.
Stabilization is necessary. Accountability is necessary. Transparency is necessary.
But we must be clear about one thing: Students and classroom educators should not carry the consequences of administrative failure.
In rural counties like Plumas, teachers are not interchangeable line items in a spreadsheet. They are multi-grade instructors, athletic coaches, band directors, CTE leaders, and often the steady adult presence students rely on every day.
When we cut classroom educators, increase class sizes, or narrow course offerings, we are not trimming excess — we are reducing opportunity.
Community input during the district’s listening sessions has been consistent:
- Protect core student opportunities.
- Begin reductions outside the classroom.
- Review administrative and operational efficiencies first.
- Keep reductions student-centered and equitable.
That framework matters.
But here’s the bigger truth: Rural districts operate under funding systems that were not designed with rural realities in mind.
Declining enrollment hits harder when you don’t have scale.
Transportation costs are higher.
Program cuts ripple further.
And federal funding streams are often unstable or unreliable.
That’s where federal leadership matters.
As your Member of Congress, rural education will remain a top priority for me.
That means:
- Fighting to make Secure Rural Schools (SRS) permanent so districts are not left guessing year to year whether funds will materialize.
- Ensuring that when Congress appropriates funding for rural schools, those dollars are actually delivered in full and on time.
- Protecting rural school transportation funding.
- Expanding support for career technical education and dual enrollment so rural students have real workforce pathways.
- Reforming federal formulas that unintentionally disadvantage small, geographically isolated districts.
Right now, Plumas cannot rely on Secure Rural Schools funding to close its deficit because the program is inconsistent and shared across multiple agencies. That uncertainty makes long-term planning nearly impossible.
Rural communities deserve stability. If we want families to stay in places like Plumas County, and if we want local workforce pipelines, thriving small businesses, and strong civic life , we must protect instructional quality in our public schools.
Fiscal responsibility and educational equity are not opposing values. We can stabilize budgets without dismantling opportunity.
And I will continue fighting to ensure that rural schools are funded, supported, and treated as the vital community anchors they are.
Because in rural America, education isn’t a line item. It’s our future.
