Weekly Column: Making Progress On Extending The Secure Rural Schools Program

In many rural counties in Idaho, the loss of resource revenue sharing from vast tracts of federally owned land inhibits counties’ ability to support local schools or fund basic emergency services—including search and rescue.  The U.S. Senate’s recent, unanimous passage of legislation to reauthorize the Secure Rural Schools program is a critical first step in meeting the federal government’s responsibility to rural communities home to tax-exempt public lands.

S. 356, the Secure Rural Schools Reauthorization Act of 2025, was one of the first pieces of legislation I introduced in this Congress because the federal government is responsible for the impact of federal land ownership on local Idaho communities, and it must meet this responsibility.  S. 356 would extend Secure Rural Schools and Self Determination Act (SRS) payments through Fiscal Year 2026. 

The SRS program is rooted in century-old federal land management policy.  The recognition of the effects of a lost tax base due to the large presence of federal lands in the West led to the 1908 enactment of legislation requiring the U.S. Forest Service to share 25 percent of its receipts with states for “public schools and public roads of the county or counties in which the forest reserve is situated.”  The SRS program was enacted nearly a century later to offset the loss of the local share of timber sales revenue due to a drastic decline in timber harvests.

Nearly 80 percent of Idaho’s counties receive SRS payments because of the large amount of National Forest System land in Idaho.  Without SRS, many counties in Idaho and across the country will fall short of the financial means to provide for these integral community functions for local residents and visitors alike. 

Now that the Senate has passed the legislation, the U.S. House of Representatives needs to pass it as soon as possible so that it can be signed into law to avoid a gap in funding for rural counties that rely on the program for much-needed services.  Last November, the Senate unanimously passed legislation I championed to extend the SRS program.  It did not receive a vote in the House before the end of the last Congress. 

As I continue to advocate for extending the SRS program, I also remain committed to finding a viable long-term solution that provides more certainty to rural communities.  Possible solutions include strengthening revenue sharing with local governments by increasing timber harvests and restoration work on federally-managed lands.  In the meantime, I urge the House to move expeditiously on this legislation to ensure the federal government meets its responsibilities to rural counties.

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