This is a statewide vote, and there’s only one constitutional amendment on the ballot despite the number. Here’s the question as it appears:
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT 1
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?
You can vote yes or no. Non-votes will be counted as a no. This needs a simple majority to pass, but it needs a simple majority of all voters.
The permanent school fund was created when Minnesota became a state; it was originally 8.6 million acres of land (that I assume were stolen from the Dakota and Anishinaabe). Over time, a lot of the land in the southern part of the state has been sold off. The fund includes 2.5 million acres of land, 1 million acres in mineral rights, and a very large pile of money ($2.4 billion) in a whole lot of investments, managed by the State Board of Investments. Right now, constitutionally, the dividends of the fund can be distributed to schools, but capital gains can’t. The legislature would like to be able to distribute a small percentage of the capital gains, as well.
To be clear, they are not proposing to spend the fund down to zero. What they want to do is basically what every college with an endowment does: manage the investments, distribute the dividends, and distribute some of the money, so that the fund is available to support students today as well as in a decade.
There are several websites that are in favor of this amendment, two of which you can find here and here. I couldn’t find an organized “vote no” effort. The two sites kind of focus on the “more money for schools without raising taxes!” argument, which, fair, I guess! But here are the reasons to support the amendment that I found most compelling:
- The legislature appointed a committee (of utterly wonkish, thoroughly obscure investment experts, as far as I could tell from googling them) to discuss whether to make this change. This was their recommendation.
- This really is what private universities with endowments do. The amount they’re proposing to spend is very conservative. They’re not going to spend this fund dry. They’re not going to even come close to spending this fund dry. This fund went from $1.3 billion to $2.4 billion in the last nine years; they can, in fact, spend some of this money right now on the kids we’re currently educating as a state.
- This passed the MN House unanimously.
I am going to vote yes and I hope this passes. Remember: not voting is the same as voting “no.”
This seems like a good year to fundraise for a trans nonprofit, so I’m fundraising this year for TIGERRS. I don’t have a Patreon, and a fundraiser lets me see in a tangible way that people value my work, which is really helpful as a motivator. (This project is a lot of work.) I raised $7,230 during primary season so I’ve raised the goal.
I also have a new book out! Obstetrix is about an obstetrician who gets kidnapped by a cult because they want someone on hand to deliver their babies; it’s a story about enduring, surviving, and not giving up. You can buy it anywhere fine books are sold, and I’ve been doing my best to keep Uncle Hugo’s, Moon Palace, and Dreamhaven Books in signed copies.
