Rural Washington schools struggle with drop in logging dollars

Nestled in the foothills of the North Cascades, where logging has long fueled the economy, the Mount Baker School District is facing a budget deficit exceeding $1 million, which local officials say is tied to declining timber sales on state lands.

Three years ago, the rural district entered into what’s known as “binding conditions,” an arrangement where the state now oversees its day-to-day financial operations. Since then, it’s cut around 30 employees and increased class sizes.

“Our main reason that we went in binding conditions was a precipitous drop in timber revenue, a loss of about a million dollars a year from what our revenue had been,” said Russ Pfeiffer-Hoyt, school board president. “It’s been a lot of work and a lot of pain.”

The district’s timber revenue predicament is not unique among rural school districts. And it highlights rising tension around how the state is managing its public forests at a time when Lands Commissioner Dave Upthegrove has limited logging of some older tracts of trees.

https://washingtonstatestandard.com/2026/04/06/rural-washington-schools-struggle-with-drop-in-logging-dollars/