In December 2025, the president signed the Secure Rural Schools Reauthorization Act of 2025 (P.L. 119-58) to authorize Secure Rural Schools (SRS) payments for fiscal years (FYs) 2024-2026. This action followed a lapse in the authorization of SRS payments in FY 2024—the first since FY 2016. As a result of the lapse, eligible states and counties initially received only the much smaller 25% revenue-sharing payment under the National Forest Payments to States program for FY 2024, leading to a 70% reduction in funding compared to FY 2023 (see Issue Brief 25-12).
The Forest Service has since announced final payments for FY 2024 and FY 2025. The FY 2024 revenue-sharing payments were revised to account for the retroactive SRS authorization. This brief describes the SRS program and summarizes recent payments.