Who Benefits From Minnesota’s Permanent School Fund Amendment?

When Minnesotans hear about a statewide education proposal, a natural question is:

Who actually benefits?

With the Permanent School Fund amendment, the answer is remarkably broad: public school students across Minnesota.

Minnesota’s Permanent School Fund has supported public education since statehood. Today, it provides annual funding to public school districts and charter schools throughout the state.

That means this isn't a proposal designed specifically for the Twin Cities, Greater Minnesota, large districts, or small districts.

Rural. Suburban. Urban.

Communities throughout Minnesota already benefit from the Permanent School Fund.

How does the money reach schools?

The Permanent School Fund is a statewide education trust. Each year, the Minnesota Department of Education distributes available PSF funding to public school districts and charter schools.

The amendment on the ballot this November would not change the fund's purpose. Instead, it would modernize the way the amount available for annual distribution is calculated.

The proposal is designed to increase the amount available to support today's students while maintaining the Permanent School Fund as a resource for future generations.

What could that mean for my local school district?

That's where this statewide proposal becomes local.

Every community has different priorities. Additional PSF funding could support the educational opportunities, services and programs districts provide for their students. The important point is that the amendment doesn't establish a special program available only to certain communities—the Permanent School Fund already provides annual funding across Minnesota.

And the proposal does this without raising property, income or sales taxes. It changes how annual distributions from an existing education trust are calculated.

Estimated post-amendment amounts add approximately $33 per student to the actual distribution, based on projections had the proposed formula been in place. Actual amounts will vary. 

Search for your school district here: https://voteyesmnstudents.org/

One fund. Statewide impact.

A student in a small rural district may have very different educational experiences from a student in a Twin Cities suburb or one of Minnesota's largest urban school systems.

But they share something that's been part of Minnesota public education since 1858: the Permanent School Fund.

This November, voters will decide whether to modernize how that existing $2.3+ billion education asset supports today's students while preserving it for the generations that follow.

Students First. Improve the Trust.