OPINION: Vasquez scores win for rural schools

As county manager for Cibola County, I am responsible for ensuring that limited public dollars are used wisely to meet the most basic needs of our residents. Among those needs, none is more fundamental than maintaining safe, reliable roads. For Cibola County and other rural counties across New Mexico, continued funding through the Secure Rural Schools (SRS) program is essential to meeting that responsibility.

Cibola County contains a significant amount of federally owned land. While these public lands are an important part of our identity and economy, they also limit our ability to generate revenue through traditional property taxes. SRS funding was established to help counties like ours offset that imbalance, and over time it has become a critical component of our road and infrastructure funding.

For years, programs like SRS helped close that gap. But when the program lapsed, we were left to fend for ourselves, and the consequences were real. Budgets tightened. Long-planned road repairs were shelved. We faced tough decisions about how to sustain the services people depend on every day.

I’ve seen the impact of those shortfalls up close. I’ve also seen how hard it is to plan for the future when Congress allows programs like this to remain uncertain year after year. That’s what made the recent bipartisan reauthorization, with retroactive and multiyear funding, so critical. It gives counties like Cibola not just help, but the certainty they need to plan and provide essential services.

Our road system covers vast geographic distances with a relatively small population to support it. Many of our roads are unpaved and subject to severe weather conditions, erosion, flooding, and heavy use by agricultural operations, school buses, emergency vehicles and those accessing federal lands. Without SRS funding, the county would struggle to maintain even basic service levels across this network.

School transportation is another key consideration. Many of our students travel long distances daily on county-maintained roads. Consistent maintenance supported by SRS funds helps ensure those routes remain safe and dependable throughout the year, including during monsoon season and winter weather.

The continuation of Secure Rural Schools funding is not a request for additional support — it is a recognition of the unique challenges faced by counties with large amounts of federal land and limited revenue options. For Cibola County, SRS funding helps ensure public safety, supports education, strengthens our economy and maintains the infrastructure our residents depend on every day.

Equally important is the predictability SRS funding provides. County governments must adopt balanced budgets and plan responsibly. When SRS funding is uncertain or delayed, counties are forced to defer maintenance, reduce services or redirect funds from other essential areas. Predictable funding allows us to plan, prioritize and manage taxpayer dollars more effectively.

The recent reauthorization of the Secure Rural Schools program by Congress provides crucial funding to support government services, including education, public safety and transportation, in rural counties.

I want to personally thank U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez, D-N.M., for his leadership in getting this done. From the moment he took office, he understood what this funding meant to counties like mine. I’ve spoken with him and his staff directly, and I can tell you, this isn’t a photo-op issue for him. He showed up. He listened. And he pushed hard to make sure rural voices weren’t drowned out in Washington.

When programs like Secure Rural Schools lapse, the burden doesn’t fall on Washington bureaucrats. It falls on teachers, firefighters and working families here in New Mexico.

We still have work to do. In the long term, we need sustainable funding formulas that don’t require reauthorization fights every few years.

This is a win for rural New Mexico, and I’m grateful to Congressman Vasquez for helping make it happen.

Kate Fletcher is the Cibola County manager.