Washington’s trust lands exist to fund our public schools | Opinion
School districts across Washington depend on revenue from state trust lands to fund capital improvements, maintain facilities and support student programs that are not fully covered by the state’s basic education formula. When harvest levels are reduced or planned timber sales are paused, districts can lose significant anticipated revenues that are tied directly to classrooms, safe facilities and community partnerships that state allocations alone do not provide.
State trust lands exist for a reason. Washington’s Constitution and laws require that they be managed to generate revenue for defined beneficiaries, including public schools, counties, fire districts and other junior taxing districts. The Department of Natural Resources manages these forests not only to protect environmental values, but also to uphold its fiduciary responsibility to the schools and communities that depend on timber revenue. That responsibility is not optional, but is a duty owed by the state.
Eatonville School District is a defined beneficiary of state trust lands. We rely on timber revenue to address critical facility needs that the state does not fully fund. These dollars are flexible, locally connected and foundational to responsible financial planning in rural communities like ours, where property tax bases are limited and every funding source matters.
After two failed bond attempts, our voters came together in 2024 to pass a capital levy to improve our nearly 100-year-old stadium, which did not meet accessibility or safety standards. Our community supported that effort because they believed in the project and trusted the financing plan. That plan included revenue from a specific timber sale on state trust lands.
When that sale was arbitrarily paused, it created significant uncertainty for our district and our community. The pause was not based on a change in voter approval or a failure in local planning. It was the result of broader policy decisions that placed school districts like ours in limbo. Although the sale was ultimately approved, the disruption underscored how vulnerable school districts are when planned harvests are delayed without clear standards, transparency or predictability.
Under state finance restrictions, school districts cannot use local tax dollars to pay interest on financed levies. That means timber revenue is not merely helpful. It is essential. When districts build trust land revenue into their financial plans in good faith, they must be able to rely on consistent management and predictable harvest levels.
Eatonville is not alone. In rural communities across Washington, trust land revenue helps bridge funding gaps that state formulas do not cover. In areas where much of the land is publicly owned and not taxable at full market value, these revenues play an outsized role in sustaining schools and other essential services. Communities rely on this revenue for libraries, hospitals, road maintenance, and emergency response. When harvest levels decline or sales are delayed, the impact ripples outward into our communities.
This is not an argument against environmental stewardship. Washington’s forestry standards are among the strongest in the nation. Sustainable harvest has long balanced forest health, wildlife habitat, clean water, recreation and revenue generation. Working forests can support environmental values and community stability at the same time.
Trust lands are called trust lands for a reason. That trust carries a responsibility to manage these lands carefully, transparently, and in a way that honors their promised purpose.
When districts plan responsibly, communicate openly with voters and fulfill their commitments, we are doing our part. We ask state leaders to do the same by managing our state trust lands as the law requires and for the benefit of the beneficiaries they were created to serve.
Ronda Litzenberger is school board director of the Eatonville School District and chair of the Washington State School Directors’ Association’s Small Schools Committee.