Utah News Dispatch
Utah schools will get a record $134 million in 2026 trust lands money, a 20% bump
A teacher at Whittier Elementary School in Salt Lake City teaches English to her class after state officials held a news conference at the school on Sept. 2, 2025. (Katie McKellar/Utah News Dispatch)
State school trust lands officials announced this week that Utah public schools will get a record $134 million distribution from trust land investments in the 2026-2027 school year.
That marks a 20% bump from last year’s previous record of $111.3 million.
The increased distribution from the state’s longstanding trust lands system “reflects strong financial performance from trust land management” and the Permanent State School Fund’s investment portfolio, the Utah Land Trusts Protections & Advocacy Office said in a news release Monday.
The jump also reflects the first year of additional money after Utah voters in 2024 approved a constitutional amendment, Amendment B, which increased how much can be distributed each year from the Permanent State School Fund, an endowment created at statehood to support public schools. Amendment B increased the limit of the annual distributions from 4% to 5% of the fund.
Utah officials celebrate back to school with a record $111.3M from land investments
Had voters not passed Amendment B, schools this year would have received about $118 million during the 2026-2027 school year — meaning the 1 percentage point higher distribution cap allowed $16 million more to be distributed to schools this year.
“This marks a significant milestone for Utah’s Trust System and the growing impact on all trust beneficiaries,” Kim Christy, director of the Land Trusts Protection and Advocacy Office, said in a prepared statement. “The Trust Lands Administration and (the Utah School & Institutional Trust Funds Office) are doing great things to uphold trust principles and sustain maximum performance of the trust assets.”
Utah Treasurer Marlo Oaks, who chairs the Utah School & Institutional Trust Funds Office board, also issued a statement applauding the record-breaking distribution.
“Utah students benefit from a trust system that delivers strong results and protects both current and future beneficiaries,” Oaks said. “Careful land management and prudent investment decisions strengthen schools today and preserve the fund for generations to come.”
School trust funds are generated from trust lands that were granted to Utah at statehood to support public education and other state institutions. The vast majority of the funds benefit school children, but other trust beneficiaries including higher education and other designated state institutions will also receive higher allocations.
The revenue is generated from leases, sales and development of trust lands then deposited into the Permanent State School Fund. Since 1994, Utah’s combined permanent funds have grown from $50 million to $4.1 billion, according to trust lands officials.
How much will schools get?
Yearly distributions from the School LAND Trust program are made to every public school in the state based on a per-pupil formula. State trust lands officials said individual schools will be notified later this week about their specific allocations.
However, on Monday state trust lands officials offered a sneak peak by sharing a breakdown of what school districts in Salt Lake County will receive:
- Jordan School District will get $10.5 million
- Granite School District will get $10.2 million
- Canyons School District will get $6 million
- Salt Lake City School District will get $3.5 million
- Murray School District will get $1.3 million
The Salt Lake County school district allocations total $31.5 million. The remaining $102.5 million of this year’s $134 million allocation will be distributed to other public schools across the state based on student population.
The funds, according to state trust lands officials, “support academic intervention and innovation, help reduce class size, expand access to technology, and enhance professional development.”
SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Decisions on how each school will use the money are made by local school community council members and land trust councils. Every school has a council that determines its greatest academic need, subject to approval by the school’s local school board.
“Utah’s School LAND Trust distributions are the best form of local control,” Rep. Tracy Miller, R-South Jordan. “Parents, teachers, and principals work together to decide how to best use these funds to improve student learning and meet the unique needs of every community.”
How does Utah’s school land trust system work?
Four agencies make up Utah’s School and Institutional Trust System.
The Trust Lands Administration manages about 3.3 million acres of trust lands in Utah, granted by Congress at statehood in 1896 with the requirement that revenue earned from the sale or lease of the land be placed into permanent endowment for public schools. The revenue is generated from activities like energy development, real estate and grazing.
The School LAND Trust program, housed in the State Board of Education, distributes annual investment earnings directly to local K-12 schools and empowers communities to decide how best to meet their needs through land trust councils that decide how to spend the money.
The Utah School & Institutional Trust Funds Office is made up of an independent team of investors tasked with investing the revenue in the Permanent State School Fund to grow the endowment. And the Utah Land Trusts Protection & Advocacy Office is tasked with monitoring trust lands management to ensure returns are maximized while ensuring the fund’s beneficiaries’ interests are protected and represented.
