SAFFORD — After cutting funding for rural school districts last year, Congress not only funded the schools this year, it agreed to pay last year’s amount as well.
During its most recent meeting, the Graham County Board of Supervisors unanimously agreed on how to split the money between the county’s school districts.
The money will be divided on an 80/20 basis — 80 percent based on student population and 20 percent based on the amount of public lands in the district.
“Bonita will get an increase and Pima will get an increase, and it looks to me like everyone else will get a decrease,” Supervisor John Howard said. “There’s always winners and losers. They’re not big increases but they do go back and I think it’s about the fairest way we can possibly do this.”
The county has $325,894.18 for 2025 to distribute to the schools after the county took $45,000 as required to maintain roads for school bus routes.
The funds will be distributed as follows:
- Bonita (45.47 percent of district is public lands) — $17,415.85
- Dan Hinton (0 percent of district is public lands) — $1,423.31
- Fort Thomas (3.05 percent of district is public lands) — $29,592.92
- Pima (34.13 percent of district is public lands) — $57,720.72
- Safford (3.12 percent of district is public lands) — $129,219.02
- Solomon (0 percent of district is public lands) — $7,494.68
- Thatcher (14.24 percent of district is public lands) — $83,027.69
The funds are distributed by the federal government to counties with a large amount of public lands that cannot be taxed for schools.
About $400,000 will be coming to Graham County in April for 2026. The board will be asked again how to distribute the funds once the payment has been received.
