Utah public schools will receive a record-breaking $106 million from state trust lands for the 2024-2025 school year. That sum significantly pads school funding from taxpayer dollars.
The state trust land distribution totaled $112 million for the next year, which will be distributed among 12 beneficiaries, like public schools, hospitals, universities and other state agencies. Utah’s public schools get 96% of the distribution.
“We couldn’t be happier about sending $106 million to kids in our public schools,” Michelle McConkie, Utah Trust Lands Administration (TLA) director, told The Salt Lake Tribune. “We’re required to make money from lands designated at statehood specifically to support public education and other state institutions, and we don’t use taxpayer dollars to do it.”
“The money schools receive from Trust Lands is above and beyond the funding schools receive from the state, too,” McConkie continued. “So individual schools can decide what their schools need the most, and we help provide the money to do it. Everyone at TLA feels honored to be a part of it.”
The Utah Trust Lands Administration (formerly known as the School and Institutional Trust Land Administration, or SITLA) is the state’s second-largest landholder behind the federal government. The agency generates revenue by mining, leasing and selling 3.3 million surface acres and 4.5 million mineral acres across the state.
In January, public schools will learn how much funding they will be allocated for the 2024-2025 school year. Schools submit plans for how they will use the money for approval before receiving the funds.
Utah’s public schools can use their annual state trust land distributions for a wide range of purposes, like buying new books, updating educational technology and hiring supplemental staff to assist teachers in the classroom.
The remaining $6 million of next year’s state trust land distribution will go toward funding state and miner’s hospitals, state juvenile justice programs and other public institutions.
What else has the Utah Trust Lands Administration been up to?
Lately, the Utah Trust Lands Administration has pushed to remove 7,000 acres of its lands from within the small southeastern Utah town of Bluff as part of its statutory mandate to raise money for public schools.
The state agency is also working to yield its land holdings within Bears Ears National Monument to the federal government in exchange for valuable parcels across the state. The state would gain over 167,000 acres of land and mineral rights if Congress passes the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration Exchange Act of 2023.
The Trust Lands Administration is also involved in ongoing litigation with the Ute Indian Tribe over the auction of Tabby Mountain in 2018. The tribe says that the state agency worked with other agencies to reject the tribe’s bid of $47 million.
The Utah Trust Lands Administration manages its land to generate as much funding as possible for public education. The proceeds from state trust lands are deposited into permanent endowments for each of the 12 beneficiaries. The School and Institutional Trust Funds Office, a separate agency, invests those funds.
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