For more than two decades, the Secure Rural Schools program has provided funding to rural counties where there are large tracts of federal land — and therefore, a smaller tax base.
The program usually gets renewed every couple of years. It expired in September last year and its last payment is set for this April.
Congressmen from Oregon and Idaho introduced a bill last week that would reauthorize the program. They included Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Sens. Mike Crapo and Jim Risch of Idaho.
Wyden says continually renewing the program every couple of years is a rollercoaster for rural counties.
“What our bipartisan coalition is trying to do is use money to in effect grow an endowment to have money that would be available to rural counties on a more predictable basis,” Wyden says.
Wyden introduced a bill in 2019 that would do just that, but it hasn’t made it past the Senate.
Federal lands make up 52% of Oregon’s total acreage. It ranks fifth among states with the most federal lands, behind Nevada (80%), Utah (63%), Idaho (62%), and Alaska (61%).
