WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Senate unanimously passed the bill to reauthorize a program that has provided billions to schools, roads and other services in rural Oregon and Idaho.
The U.S. Forest Service’s “Secure Rural Schools and Self-Determination Program,” was initially crafted in 2000 to help offset the loss of timber revenue in rural counties. The program expired at the end of 2023, but the recently passed “Secure Rural Schools Reauthorization Act of 2025” would reauthorize the funding for more than 4,000 school districts and 700 counties across the country through the 2026 fiscal year.
The bill’s lead sponsors include U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, both Oregon Democrats, and U.S. Sens. Jim Risch and Mike Crapo, both Idaho Republicans.
“This is a significant, encouraging and urgently needed step for Oregonians living and working in counties that have depended for decades on these federal investments for local schools, roads, law enforcement and more,” Wyden said in a press release. Wyden co-authored the initial bipartisan legislation in 2000.
Oregon received $4 billion in funding from the program in the last 24 years. In 2024, 30 counties received nearly $74 million. In southern Oregon, Klamath County School District alone received between $800,000 and $1 million in recent years from the program.
The sponsors introduced the legislation in 2024, where it unanimously passed the Senate but did not receive a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives before the end of the congressional session.
This year, bill sponsors are urging the U.S. House to reauthorize the program. Without its passage in the House, rural counties in Oregon, Idaho and across the country will fall short of funds that support local services.
“Idaho counties rely on (Secure Rural Schools) funding for schools, road maintenance, and other essential services,” Risch said in the release. “Until we can bring historic timber revenue back to these areas, this program must be reauthorized. The federal government made a promise to rural communities, and I’m proud to see the Senate follow through.”
This story first appeared on Oregon Capital Chronicle.
