Endowment lands fund public schools

More than $1 billion to public schools and institutions since 1951

In 2022, the Idaho Department of Lands and the Idaho Endowment Fund Investment Board provided Idaho public schools with more than $55  million from the trust.  The money comes from timber sales and leases on endowment lands and earnings from invested funds. 

Logs for Learning: See how much public schools in your area have benefited from endowment funds.

Learn more about endowment fund distributions here. 

FOREST FACT: From 2013- 2022, Idaho’s public K-12 schools have received $419 million from Idaho’s state endowment lands. 

FOREST FACT: In 2021,  Idaho’s Department of Lands planted 1,951,800 seedlings on 5,238 acres

History of Endowment Lands in Idaho

As it was deliberating the Idaho Admissions Act in 1889, the United States Congress displayed uncommon wisdom by granting Idaho approximately 3,600,000 acres of land for the sole purpose of funding specified beneficiaries. The Idaho Constitution includes a mandate that the lands will be managed “…in such manner as will secure the maximum long-term financial return to the institution to which [it is] granted.”

Chief among the beneficiaries of endowment funds are Idaho public schools, which received two sections of every township in the state (1/18 of the total land base). Beneficiaries of the other funds include the University of Idaho, State hospitals for the mentally ill, Lewis-Clark State College, State veterans homes, Idaho State University, the Capitol Commission, Idaho School for the Deaf and Blind, and Idaho’s juvenile corrections system and prison system.

The Endowment Fund Investment Board is charged with managing the invested revenues from the endowment lands.

Links

Review the 2021 Idaho Department of Lands Annual Report

Review the 2019-2020 Idaho Department of Lands Endowment Fund distribution plus a list of 2019 Idaho school recipients and amounts.