Wrangell could receive at least $1.6 million in federal aid if the House and the president accept a Senate-passed bill that would restore the Secure Rural Schools program for two years.

The U.S. Senate voted unanimously on June 18 to resume the program, which since 2000 had sent millions of dollars to small Alaska schools each year until the House failed to approve a Senate bill to reauthorize the program last December.

This year’s Senate effort would reauthorize the program, covering last year and this year’s payments, Joe Plesha, spokesman for Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, said on June 25.

The payments to Wrangell had been running at least $800,000 a year, designated for spending on schools and roads. The borough has relied on its reserves to cover the loss of federal money, but it has pinched the budget and required cutbacks in other spending.

Continuing the program next year and beyond would require another reauthorization bill, Plesha said in an email.

Congress created the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act in 2000 as a way to help logging towns cope with the loss of revenue caused by a slowdown in timber harvests on federal land.

In 2023, it directed more than $250 million to more than 700 communities nationwide and over $12.6 million to more than a dozen Alaska boroughs and unincorporated areas in the Tongass and Chugach national forests.

But in 2024, a reauthorization bill stalled in the House of Representatives and the program ended. In the wake of that failure, some rural schools in Alaska, particularly in Southeast, have suffered significant budget cuts.

Yakutat received more than $6,500 per student. Ketchikan lost about $1.2 million when the program ended.

In past years, Wrangell has used the federal money for the school district operating budget, capital improvement projects at the schools and to pay off bond debt on improvements to the buildings.

This spring, the Alaska Legislature voted by a 56-4 margin to approve a resolution that called on Congress to renew the program.

Rep. Jeremy Bynum, who represents Ketchikan, Wrangell and Metlakatla, sponsored the legislative resolution.

The votes against the resolution came from conservative Republicans who generally oppose federal spending.

“If you’re a city manager building a budget or a school administrator looking at new hires, you need financial certainty. That’s why renewing the Secure Rural Schools program before funding lapses has been one of my top priorities in this Congress, and today was a crucial step in that process,” Murkowski said in a written statement.

“I hope my colleagues in the House will quickly pass this legislation to provide stability for Alaska’s schools and local governments.”

Last year wasn’t the first time the law expired without congressional action. Payments lapsed in federal fiscal year 2016, then resumed in 2017 after Congress eventually reauthorized the program.

The Alaska Beacon contributed reporting for this story.