Constitutional Amendment 1: Minnesota ballot measure could increase school funding
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Every Minnesota voter will see a constitutional amendment on their ballot on Election Day.
Increasing funding to school districts
Shall the Minnesota Constitution be amended to increase the funding going to all school districts from the permanent school fund, which is a fund that supports school districts without raising individual income or property taxes, effective July 1, 2027?
Minnesotans will be asked to vote “yes” or “no” on the measure. Leaving the question blank counts as a “no” vote. A majority of voters must vote “yes” for the amendment to be passed.
What is the Permanent School Fund?
Part of the way Minnesota pays for its public schools is through something called a Permanent School Fund that has been in place for nearly 170 years. The fund relies on timber and mining lease revenue from trust land that is invested by the state and then distributed to school districts.
The fund is somewhere around $2.3 billion and growing by approximately 8 percent each year. But schools only receive interest and dividends, not capital gains, which means that the more than 500 schools and districts getting payouts from the fund are seeing only 2.5 percent of the fund’s value.
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What is Constitutional Amendment 1?
A bipartisan group of lawmakers wants to change that. During the last legislative session, lawmakers agreed to put a question on the ballot that would allow schools to get full access to the funds — a 4.5 percent return on investment instead of the current 2.5 percent.
The change would not raise the tax burden in Minnesota.
If it passes, the measure would result in about $33 per pupil in extra income for students.
In Minneapolis, that would add another $900,000 to the budget. In Duluth, if the measure passes, it would mean an increase of $280,000.
Past reporting from MPR News education reporter Elizabeth Shockman contributed to this report.
