Republican and Democratic members of the Minnesota Legislature have reached agreement for the management of state school trust lands, according to information provided by the legislative staff.
The final bill has now been approved by a joint conference committee and has received final passage in the House.
House File 2244 and Senate File 1889 would create a Legislative Permanent School Fund commission and a governor-appointed director of school trust lands position to oversee, manage, and administer school trust lands. The director position would be administratively housed within the Department of Administration and would assume responsibilities currently handled by Department of Natural Resources staff.
The director and a staff of no more than five would work with the Department of Natural Resources commissioner on the management and administration of school trust lands. The bill was first introduced in the House by Rep. Tim O’Driscoll, R-Sartell.
“This is a great bill for the kids,” said O’Driscoll in a statement. “I am happy that we have been able to put our differences aside to do what’s right for the students and schools in Minnesota.”
The measure was touted by supporters as having unprecedented bipartisan support in the Legislature, garnering a final vote of 110-21 in the House. It will now head to the Senate where Sen. Benjamin Kruse, R-Brooklyn Park, is the chief author of the bill.
“Minnesota’s school trust lands need to be maximized in order to better support our school children," said Kruse. "We have worked hard to reach consensus and pass a conference committee report that we can all stand behind. This legislation, which has garnered bipartisan support at every step in the legislative process, creates efficiency and transparency in government that ultimately benefit Minnesota’s students. I am optimistic that the final bill will receive Gov. Dayton’s signature.”
The bill stems from the long-time efforts of DFL Rep. Denise Dittrich, who is also a supporter of the bill.
"These lands belong to the school children of Minnesota and we have every obligation to manage these lands properly to ensure that our children and their schools receive as much money from them as possible," said Dittrich. "This bill is real, bipartisan reform aimed at improving management and oversight. It's been a long road to reform school trust lands, but this bill finally gets the job done."
Like other states, when Minnesota was granted statehood, one section of land in each township was required to be set aside for the benefit of the school-age children. These lands were to be managed in such a way that they would generate financial benefit to our public school students. Minnesota chose to set aside two sections of land in each township. Upon acceptance of this land grant, a permanent school trust fund was created. This fund generates interest and dividends which are distributed each year to every school district in the State.
Currently, there are more than 2.5 million acres — 855,000 of which are located in Koochiching County — of school land trust property being held in benefit for funding education in the state. These lands currently fall under the management of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Proponents of the bill say that shifting management to these separate bodies with the sole purpose of maximizing the income of these lands could have an almost immediate impact on the available revenue for public school children.
