"Most school districts rely largely on local property taxes to fund teacher salaries and building upgrades. But school districts like Chinle that include Native American reservations, military bases or other federal compounds have fewer options for raising local taxes for education. Federal land isn't taxable, and the government holds most reservation land in trust for Native tribes, so it can't be taxed, either."
"But at Chinle Unified School District - spread across 4,200 square miles (about 6,800 square kilometers) in the heart of Navajo Nation - half of the revenue comes from a single federal program, called Impact Aid. Instead, the federal government contributes $1.6 billion a year in Impact Aid to those schools. But that money is on hold this year, with payments suspended by the shutdown, leaving schools to ax some programs and weigh how long they can go without deeper cuts."
Chinle Unified School District, covering 4,200 square miles in Navajo Nation, depends on federal Impact Aid for about half its revenue. Impact Aid provides $1.6 billion annually to roughly 1,000 districts serving nearly 8 million students, targeting districts with federal land or reservations that cannot be taxed. A federal government shutdown has suspended Impact Aid payments, forcing Chinle to suspend after-school programs that provide meals and consider deeper cuts. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program distributions were also disrupted, with courts ordering contingency funding but delays expected. Districts lacking taxable land rely heavily on federal aid for basic operations.
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