Welcome to Advocates for School Trust Lands

Posted on July 28, 2016October 28, 2016 by Rikki Wheatley

Advocates for School Trust Lands

We are an organization dedicated to providing educational leaders and legislators information on the productive use of school trust lands and funds. All states once had school trusts; and now trust only exist in 20 mostly western states. Prior to Advocates For School Trust Lands, there was no organization working on behalf of the beneficiaries of these trusts.

Advocates provides research, education, outreach, and outreach on school trust land. (Get in on the action here)

Advocates communicates with national education groups and with national and policy making groups on school trust land issues. (Make connections here)

The Advocates of School Trust Lands is an alliance providing data to educational leaders on the productive use of 45 million acres of school trust lands and 72 billion dollars in school funds. Advocates supports professionally managed trusts. (Learn more here)

Advocates is a non-profit 501 (c) 3 corporation, organized under the laws of the State of Utah in 2000. It is funded by grants from the United States Department of Education and donations from corporations and individuals, educational organizations, and those who generate the revenue for schools.

Our Vision

Productive school trusts providing for world-class schools.

Our Mission Statement

School trust lands were granted to states at the time of statehood for the sole purpose of generating revenue in perpetuity for public education. Advocates for School Trust Lands helps states honor their historic commitment to optimize revenues from school trust lands and manage their permanent funds as an ever-growing, sustainable source of education funding.

Who We Are

We are parents, educators, school board members, state land commissioners, productive land users and others working to ensure a robust endowment for the benefit of today’s schoolchildren and all future generations, as intended since the founding of our country.

Our members include representatives of the State Offices of Education, Superintendent and Principal Associations, State Boards of Education, state affiliates of the National Education Association, Parent Teacher Associations, School Administrators, School Boards Associations, and other educational and non-profit groups.

Join us by clicking here: Advocates for School Trust Lands Membership

Our Purpose

To support educational opportunities for schools from school trusts by:

Cultivating a network of western education communities.
Sharing creative solutions to the management, investment, and use of the trust lands and permanent funds.
Empowering states to effectively support prudent management of school trusts.

Our Core Values

Put the education of children first.
Conduct all business with honor and integrity.
Frame all school land issues in terms of education.
Find win-win solutions.
Respect the unique characteristics of each trust, beneficiary, and state.
Build and foster long-term relationships.

What Advocates For School Trust Lands Do

Posted on July 28, 2016October 28, 2016 by Rikki Wheatley

Collaboration Benefits

Our members’ collaborative efforts include:

improved education through increased funding from school trusts;
support by education communities for actions that benefit school lands and schools;
increased revenue from permanent school funds through professional management;
data to support trust managers; and development of public information, for each state, about the trust lands and their support for children’s education.

Join Advocates by becoming a member here: www.advocatesforschooltrustlands.org/membership/

What We Do

In addition to hosting an annual conference, researching, and networking, Advocates For School Trust Lands provides support services to members. Advocates For School Trust Lands provides presentations to state, regional and national policy makers as requested. Presentations are tailored to meet the needs of each state and organization. They include but are not limited to training, research, outreach, consulting and networking assistance. (Connect with Advocates here)

Advocates For School Trust Lands has assisted state, regional and national organizations in preparing and adopting resolutions and position statements dealing with school trust lands.

Consultation

Advocates For School Trust Lands consults with Advocates members as they consider strategies that support the trustees in their mission as prudent managers. Upon request, this can include the review of legislative and policy proposals from a beneficiary perspective.

Presentations

Advocates has met with and provided presentations to legislative leaders, subcommittees, and task forces as they have reviewed performance and considered legislative and policy changes to capture opportunities for improved prudent management of the respective trusts.

Communication

Advocates For School Trust Lands provides ongoing communication with the state trust beneficiary groups and regional/state education groups as they determine their involvement, strategies and support efforts for the trust managers. The organization attempts to provide support towards attaining each group’s goals through targeted research, proposal review, networking and consultation.

Request some of these services for your organization here: www.advocatesforschooltrustlands.org/requests/

School Trust Lands 101

Posted on July 8, 2016October 28, 2016 by Rikki Wheatley

What is a School Trust?

School trusts were created by the U.S. Congress at statehood. Congress granted 137 million acres in trust to support schools. The statehood act along with the state constitution create a sacred compact between the federal government and each state. States assumed the responsibility to manage the lands to support public education. Each school trust consists of two parts: lands and permanent school funds.

Trust Lands

School trust lands include lands that were granted by Congress to states at the time of their statehood, the mineral rights associated with those surface acres, lands acquired by exchanging school trust lands, and lands purchased with funds generated from a state’s school trust. How states manage school trust lands depends on the state. Some common uses of trust lands include oil and gas production, wind farms, grazing, agriculture, timber, solar farms, rights-of-way, and commercial, industrial and residential development.

Permanent School Funds

Permanent school funds are made up of the revenue generated from school trust lands. The main purpose of permanent school funds is to ensure that future generations of schoolchildren receive benefit from school trust lands in perpetuity. Throughout history, school trust lands have faced many challenges that have diminished their ability to fulfill their purpose: providing funding to public schools. Even today, the significant funding stream for the nation’s public schoolchildren that comes from school trust lands is threatened.

The permanent funds are generally managed by the State Treasurer, a professional investment board, or the Land Board.

Land Uses

Revenue from trust lands are placed in permanent funds. Trust lands generate revenue by selling the land surface or minerals. In addition, money is earned from grazing, agriculture, timber, mining, commercial development, and right-of-way grants. Revenue sources from the land that flow into the permanent fund vary from state to state. Every state places revenue from land sales in the permanent fund.

Funding Education

In some states all the revenue flows to the fund, growing the fund and investment revenue larger each year. In others, it is only revenue from resources that are non-renewable that are deposited into the fund and renewable resources are distributed directly to schools.

Once the profits are placed in the trust land account it will be held for an indefinite time for the schools. Each school has a community council that consists of the administration, parents, and teachers. This committee determines how the school will use the trust land fund for the benefit of the students.

History

At one time, every state had a land grant and/or a school fund held in a trust for public education. The General Land Ordinance of 1785 set aside one square mile in each thirty-six square mile township (almost three percent of a state’s total land area) “for the benefit of public schools.” As western states entered the Union, the grants expanded to two square miles per township (about 5.5% of a state’s total land area). When Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico entered the Union, they were each granted four sections per township (over 11% of each state’s total land area), because their land was so arid. (Learn more about the states here)

National Comparisons of School Trust Lands

Posted on July 7, 2016October 28, 2016 by Rikki Wheatley

State Trust Lands

Currently twenty states participate with the Advocates for School Trust Lands organization. Each of these states retains a trust for public schools. Each state trust is different, beginning with the original land grants, the geographical location, and the land’s resources. The trusts continue to change because of changes in management structure, political support, state statutes, evolving land management opportunities, and the involvement of the beneficiaries.

Methods of Generating Income.

School trusts vary significantly from state to state for a variety of reasons. The original land grants were different from state to state; some states received two or fours sections in each 36 square mile township instead of one and the resources available on the surface and under the granted lands also vary widely.

Currently, some states make the majority of their revenue from forestry, while others generate most of their annual revenue from oil and gas under the surface. Every state generates revenue from grazing, but the percentage of the overall trust land revenue made from grazing varies substantially from state to state. For example, Arizona currently generates the largest percent of annual revenue from land sold at auction for development.

Trust Management

In addition, the method of managing the trust lands varies between states. Some states elect the land commissioner in a state wide election. In other states, the commissioner is appointed by a board or by the governor.

The permanent funds associated with trust lands are also managed differently. In some states, the money is managed within the land office. In Texas, the responsibility lies within the state board of education. In most states, the state treasurer invests the fund, sometimes with and sometimes without an advisory committee. (learn more about School Trusts here)

Funding Education

The flow of funding from the land to schools is unique for every state. A few states save all that is earned minus the expenses of land management. Schools then receive the annual interest and dividends made on the fund. Others distribute the “renewable resource revenue” directly to schools in addition to interest and dividends from the permanent fund.

National Comparisons

The comparisons shown here are provided as a point to begin discussion. Recognizing that every trust is different, every state has something others can learn from. Over the years, land commissioners have continually learned and implemented new ideas from their sister states, improving what they already do well.

State of the States

To learn more about school trust lands in your state, see our States page (here) for more information.