Perez urges renewal of rural schools program

U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Skamania, is once again calling for the renewal of a 25-year-old timber revenue program as small school districts in Southwest Washington slash their budgets for the 2025-26 school year.

During a February press conference at Mount Pleasant School in rural Washougal, the second-term congresswoman implored representatives to vote on the U.S. Forest Service’s Secure Rural Schools and Self-Determination Act of 2000, saying that the program needed to be renewed by Jan. 31 to avoid impacting rural counties that rely on the federal revenues.