Minnesota voters approve school funding amendment: What it means for students and taxpayers

MINNESOTA — Voters have approved a constitutional amendment changing how the state’s Permanent School Fund supports public education, opening the way for larger annual distributions without a new individual income- or property-tax increase.

FOX 9 reported the measure’s passage after Tuesday’s election. Official statewide returns also show a substantial majority supporting the amendment, although the November 3, 2026, election results remain unofficial.

For families, educators and taxpayers, the decision raises several practical questions: Where does the money come from? How much can schools receive? When does the change begin? And how does Minnesota balance additional classroom funding today with preserving an education resource for future generations?

Unofficial results show broad support

The Minnesota Secretary of State’s constitutional-amendment results page, updated at 12:38 p.m. on November 4, showed 2,068,086 yes votes and 666,642 no votes, with all 4,105 precincts reporting.

The state estimated that 2,837,291 voters cast ballots and listed 102,563 estimated blanks on the amendment question. The estimated yes percentage was 72.89%.

That percentage uses the estimated number of voters participating in the election, rather than only those answering the amendment question. Minnesota constitutional amendments require support from a majority of voters in the election; leaving the question blank therefore has the same practical effect as voting against it.

Readers can follow revisions on the Secretary of State’s statewide amendment results page. These figures are a dated snapshot of unofficial returns.

A long-established fund rooted in public lands

The Permanent School Fund connects Minnesota’s modern classrooms to land grants dating to statehood. The Department of Natural Resources explains that the federal government set aside land for schools when Minnesota became a state in 1858. Later grants expanded those holdings.

The original grants ultimately encompassed nearly 8.1 million acres. Much of that land was sold over time, but approximately 2.5 million acres of school trust lands remain, along with another 1 million acres of mineral rights beneath land the state no longer owns at the surface.

Those retained subsurface rights matter because selling a parcel of land does not necessarily mean giving up its mineral resources. Revenue accumulated from school trust lands became the financial foundation of a continuing fund intended to benefit public education.

The DNR’s history of school trust lands explains the relationship between those original grants, the remaining land portfolio and the Permanent School Fund.

How the trust generates money

School trust assets generate revenue through activities including mineral leases and royalties, timber management and real estate transactions. The state’s school trust revenue overview describes those income sources.

The financial assets are invested by the Minnesota State Board of Investment. According to the Office of School Trust Lands, the portfolio includes stocks, fixed-income investments and cash. Those investments serve different purposes: stocks offer opportunities for growth, while bonds and cash can contribute income, diversification and liquidity.

The office reported a fund market value of approximately $2.4 billion as of March 31, 2026, compared with $1.3 billion in 2017. That March valuation is a historical figure, not a current balance or the three-year average that will determine a future distribution.

The Office of School Trust Lands’ explanation of the trust principal provides more information about the investment structure.

Why change the distribution system?

Before this amendment, the constitutional framework limited distributions to net interest and dividends. A separate system governed how investment gains and losses affected the fund. That meant an increase in the value of investments did not automatically translate into a proportionate increase in money available to schools.

A legislatively created task force studied the issue after being established in May 2024. Its report found that the fund had grown from $675 million in 2010 to $2.3 billion in fiscal year 2025, while the existing distribution restrictions created limits and variability in school payments.

After reviewing financial modeling and practices used by other endowments, the task force recommended an annual distribution based on 4.5% of a three-year average fund value. It concluded that approach offered a better balance between predictable distributions and preserving the fund over time.

The task force’s findings are available in its report to the Legislature.

Understanding the 4.5% formula

The implementing statute sets the annual distributable amount at 4.5% of the fund’s average net asset value at the end of the preceding three fiscal years. Using three year-end valuations spreads the calculation across multiple years rather than allowing a single market snapshot to determine the payment.

For an illustration only, a three-year average of $2 billion would produce a $90 million annual distributable amount: $2 billion multiplied by 0.045. That example is not the state’s announced payout or a forecast for an individual school district.

FOX 9 described the shift as moving from roughly 2.5% to 4.5%. The legal change is more specific than a simple rate increase: it replaces the earlier interest-and-dividend approach with a calculation tied to the fund’s averaged asset value.

The formula and reporting requirements appear in Minnesota Statutes, section 11A.16.

Preserving the fund for future students

The amendment also changes the constitutional instructions governing the fund. Under the revised language, it must operate as a continuing financial resource for school districts, with management intended to protect its purchasing power and account for both present and future beneficiaries.

Detailed distribution policy is established in state law within those constitutional principles. The amendment also permits reasonable and necessary costs of managing the fund or school trust lands to be paid as provided by law.

This creates an ongoing responsibility to balance distributions with preservation. Paying more to schools now still requires attention to the resources available for students years or decades from now.

The Secretary of State’s amendment information page includes the proposed constitutional text and ballot instructions.

Which schools receive the money?

Every Minnesota public school district and charter school already receives a Permanent School Fund distribution, according to the Office of School Trust Lands. Distributions are based on student enrollment and fund income and supplement the general education aid provided by the state.

For the 2025–26 school year, the office reported $63.8 million distributed to 329 public school districts and 169 charter schools and academies. That provides a useful picture of the program’s existing reach, rather than an estimate of what the new formula will pay.

The office says these distributions can support a broad range of education services, including instructional materials, teacher salaries, curriculum, extracurricular activities and school facilities.

The state’s revenue distribution page includes payment information and a map for exploring distributions to schools.

What the result means for taxpayers and local budgets

The ballot proposal described the additional school funding as coming without raising individual income or property taxes. It changes how an existing education trust supports schools.

That does not establish what a household’s total future tax bill will be. Other state decisions and local school levies involve separate choices. Similarly, the amendment does not identify a particular program that every district must expand or a staffing decision every school board must make.

For readers evaluating local impacts, the useful questions will be how much additional revenue their district expects, when it will be available and how it fits into the district’s overall budget. The statewide result alone cannot answer those district-specific questions.

When the higher distribution takes effect

The implementing provisions take effect July 1, 2027, for aid payable in fiscal year 2028, contingent on voter adoption. The effective-date note appears in Minnesota Statutes, section 127A.32.

That schedule means the election result does not create an immediate November payment to classrooms. Schools will need to incorporate the applicable distribution estimates into their budgeting process.

The law also requires the distributable amount to be reported by August 15 to the Legislative Permanent School Fund Commission and the education commissioner. Readers looking for their own district’s share should distinguish between an illustrative statewide calculation, an official distribution calculation and a local budget estimate.

Reporting note: This original Minnesota Now article draws on FOX 9’s election report and the official election, legislative, education and school trust sources linked above. Election figures reflect the Secretary of State’s November 4, 2026, 12:38 p.m. update and remain unofficial.