AASA Sends Letter to Senate on 2026 Farm Bill

Yesterday, AASA joined the Association of School Business Officials, International (ASBO) and the National Rural Education Association (NREA) in a letter to the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Forestry and Nutrition outlining our priorities for the 2026 Senate Farm Bill.

Specifically, we urged the Senate to include two provisions in their bill:

1. A delay until 2030 of the cost shift of SNAP benefits to states that were established in the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act. Without a delay, on October 1, 2027, states will have to cover a portion of their SNAP benefits based on their payment error rate (see estimated cost by state here.) As the cost shifts to states take effect, states will face no good options, as they will either cut funding from other critical investments or reduce their SNAP program, further limiting eligibility. In the worst-case scenarios, states may pull the funding directly from their K-12 budgets or completely withdraw from SNAP, terminating the program for everyone eligible in the state. Current law allows states with a Payment Error Rate above 13.33 percent in FY 2025 or FY 2026 to delay benefit cost sharing until FY 2030. Applying the cost shift start date to all states would avoid uneven treatment and give states more time to prepare for a drastic increase in costs.

1. A reauthorization of the Secure Rural Schools Program (SRS) through FY2031, mirroring the Farm, Food, and National Security Act (H.R. 7567)—the House version of the Farm Bill that passed the House last month. SRS provides essential funding to counties and schools that are near National Forest Lands and, consequently, unable to generate property tax revenue. The program serves 741 counties across 41 states and Puerto Rico, reaching more than 4,400 school districts. If Congress does not reauthorize SRS before its expiration, the program reverts to a revenue sharing model and the reliant counties lose much of the funding they need to continue standard operations. Despite bipartisan support for the program, Congress has struggled to reauthorize the program in a timely manner that signals to the impacted communities that they can count on this funding. By including a reauthorization in this bill, Congress can provide important stability and predictability to impacted districts. We appreciate the House’s inclusion of SRS in their bill and urge the Senate to follow suit.

Read the full letter here.