EAST GRAND FORKS — Just one measure will appear statewide on Minnesota ballots on Nov. 3.
It asks a simple question: Should school districts receive a larger payout from the state’s Permanent School Fund?
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“The fund is a great legacy that’s been built,” Kevin Grover, East Grand Forks Public Schools superintendent, told the Grand Forks Herald. “It can help us a little more now and still help others down the road later.”
The fund was established at statehood in 1858 as a way of supporting school districts through money generated by leases, timber harvesting and mining on state-owned land. All public, charter and tribal schools receive payouts each year.
Only a simple majority is required for the measure to pass. Leaving the question blank counts as a no vote.
The fund’s payout hovers around 2% to 2.5% of its total value. Should the measure pass, the payout could increase to 4.5% of the average fund value over a rolling three-year period.
According to the Minnesota School Boards Association, the group responsible for getting the question on the ballot, the fund has grown dramatically over the past 15, years from $675 million in 2010 to $2.3 billion this year.
Statewide, around $58 million was paid out in 2025.
Grover said EGFPS receives approximately $68 per student from the fund. If the measure passes, it would jump to $101 — an increase of $63,000. It’s a small amount compared to the district’s annual budget of $34 million.
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Also on Election Day, East Grand Forks is asking voters to approve three budget referendums , which Grover said are needed to tackle deferred maintenance issues, keep class sizes the same and avoid layoffs.
“We reduced a little over a million dollars for this upcoming year,” he said in August. “At some point, there’s just no more to trim if you want similar class sizes and the same programs. We’re going to need a little extra help.”
The first referendum proposes an operations levy of $600,000 per year over the next decade, the second one would generate $26.4 million to address deferred maintenance at multiple schools, and the third would allow the district to build a preschool addition at the New Heights Elementary. The third referendum is dependent on the first two passing.
Additionally, the district has a webpage, egf.referendumfacts.org , that allows users to input their property value to see the referendums’ property tax implications.
While the proposed Permanent School Fund payout increase would do little to address EGFPS’ major needs, it is still a way of generating revenue at no cost to taxpayers.
“Every dollar matters when things are as tight as they are now,” he said. “This would definitely help, and it's sustainable long term.”
According to the Minnesota Office of School Trust Lands, the Permanent School Fund derives its value from around 2.5 million acres of land with an additional one million acres of mineral resource interest. The state is one of several states that operate similar school land trusts.