BONNERS FERRY — The Boundary County School District could soon face financial challenges as it awaits federal Secure Rural Schools funding while potentially confronting state budget cuts due to Idaho’s financial deficit. 

BCSD Superintendent Jan Bayer told school board trustees on Dec. 15 that the district might implement a hiring freeze for permanent positions between January and through at least August, though no action has been taken. 

Congress must continually reauthorize SRS funding, which the district cannot count on. 

“It's always up in the air,” Bayer said. “As long as I can remember, we always think we're going to get it, but we don't know for sure.” 

“We got a small portion last year, under $130,000,” Bayer said. “We'd received around $250,000 the year before. Several years back, we were receiving over $700,000. We're hoping that it will at least go back to last year's levels and that they backdate that amount.” 

Idaho received $4.5 million from the fund in 2024. In 2019, that amount was over $21 million. The funds are primarily used for projects. Bayer gave a few examples of potential future projects. 

“We earmark them for facilities,” Bayer said. “We have an HVAC project at the middle school valued at about $450,000 that we would like to accomplish. Once we find the funds or write a grant, we'll do that project. Long term, we have to re-roof the high school. We need to re-roof Mt. Hall.” 

The state of Idaho faces a projected $58 million deficit for 2026. While 3% cuts have already been applied to executive agencies, K-12 budgets have not yet been affected. Bayer said cuts could occur, but nothing is final. 

“We're planning for $700,000 in cuts, so we will hopefully do most of that through attrition of employees,” Bayer said. “We're hoping we don't have to institute a reduction in force next year, because we do have unappropriated funds and contingency funds, but if cuts lasted more than a year, we would have to.” 

Bayer said the district expects more clarity sometime in March or April. 

If a teacher leaves during the school year, a replacement would be hired despite a freeze. 

“We would replace them for the remainder of the year, but we would make it clear it's just a half-year contract and that they would not be guaranteed a position at the beginning of the next year,” Bayer said. 

Funding could further decrease with the opening of the North Idaho Classical Academy in 2026, as well as limitations on enrollment in BCSD’s online school, which Bayer said could affect the district’s student numbers. 

“The state of Idaho has open enrollment, where you can attend any school,” Bayer said. “Why are they limiting that online? What's amazing is we have 380 kids in our online school, we have strong partnerships with families, we have teachers they can reach out to. If they do limit us, that would drop us by 280 kids enrolled,” Bayer said. 

Bayer emphasized the district’s fiscal responsibility. 

“We're very fiscally responsible, so I'm feeling confident. Will there be cuts? Absolutely. Will we do it through attrition? As much as we can, because that is people's livelihoods, but we're in a pretty good position,” Bayer said.