UNION COUNTY — The budget outlook for public schools in Union County is set to receive a boost.

U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden’s office announced Union County will receive $746,677 in federal Secure Rural Schools funding in 2021.

SRS provides funding for rural counties and school districts to replace revenue from falling forest receipts due to a national decline in timber harvesting. The money will be part of $39.3 million in Secure Rural Schools funding, which 31 Oregon counties will receive for schools, roads, law enforcement and other essential services.

Union County Commissioner Donna Beverage said in Union County most of the money will go toward schools and roads. She said the SRS money Union County receives comes with guidelines stipulating how the county can spend the funds.

“It is very critical for our schools and roads,” Beverage said.

Union County Public Works Director Doug Wright said the SRS funding his department receives always is welcomed.

“It is a very important part of our budget,” Wright said.

He said his department relies on the funding for general operations, road projects and plowing snow.

Wallowa County will receive $1.02 million in SRS funding, and Baker County will get $801,102.

The $39.3 million the 31 Oregon counties will receive is the last the SRS’s current authorization will provide. The SRS program has been in place since 2000 and has been reauthorized many times since for rural counties nationwide.

“For the better part of two decades, SRS payments have maintained an economic lifeline for rural Oregonian counting on quality schools, dependable infrastructure and more in their communities,” Wyden said in a press release. “The ongoing challenge of dealing with COVID-19 and its economic impact makes these current payments more important than ever.”

The senator added he is working on securing another reauthorization of Secure Rural Schools. Wyden, Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, and Idaho Sens. Mike Crapo and Jim Risch, both Republicans, are making a bipartisan push to reauthorize the SRS program through September 2022, according to Wyden’s website.

“I’m gratified that this funding is headed to our state to help build on the past success of SRS, and I will continue to fight for a long-term reauthorization of this program to ensure that our families can rely on it throughout our recovery from this pandemic and in the years to come,” Merkley said in the release.

Beverage said she hopes Congress reauthorizes another extension of SRS funding. She said this would make it easier for counties to plan their budgets because they would have a better idea of how much funding they can expect if they know the SRS funding is coming through.

“Every year it is up in the air,” the commissioner said.

Beverage said each fall members of the Union County Board of Commissioners go to Washington, D.C., to lobby Congress to support Secure Rural Schools.

Commissioner Paul Anderes noted Wyden is pushing for the establishment of a permanent endowment fund that would support SRS payments without the need for reauthorizations.

In the 116th Congress, which ran from Jan. 3, 2019, to Jan. 3, 2021, Wyden introduced legislation that would have created the fund. The legislation, however, was not voted upon. Wyden has expressed interest in reintroducing the legislation in the future.

Since Wyden co-wrote the original SRS program in 2000 with then-Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, in 2000, SRS has brought about $3.4 billion to Oregon counties.