Senator Michael Bennet, D-Colo, has co-sponsored legislation that extends the U.S. Forest Service’s Secure Rural Schools and Self-Determination Program through the 2020 fiscal year.
The program supports public schools, public roads, forest health projects, emergency services and other essential county services for more than 775 counties across the country.
Rural counties that contain tax-exempt public lands historically have relied on a share of timber receipts from these lands to fund education and county services. As timber harvest revenues have fallen, the program helps to bridge the funding gap for rural counties across the country.
In Summit County, the Secure Rural Schools program brought in $816,432 for Summit schools in 2018, the second-highest beneficiary from the program statewide, behind Grand County.
Bennet’s co-sponsorship in the Senate follows Rep. Joe Neguse’s, D-Boulder, introduction of the Secure Rural Schools Extension Act in the House.
The bill text is available here.