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State Representative Tim O'Driscoll
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-7808
For more information contact: House GOP Communications 651-296-5520
HOUSE BRIEFS
School Trust Land Bill Introduction
Greetings!
This has been a big week in moving education funding forward for the school age students of the great state of Minnesota, and Gov. Dayton delivered his State of the State address.
School Trust Lands
On Monday, Feb. 13, I introduced a bi-partisan bill (HF2244) that will separate out the school trust lands from other lands managed by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. When Minnesota, as well as other states, was granted statehood, the requirement was to set aside two sections of land in each township for the benefit of the school-age children. These lands were to be managed in such a way that they would generate financial benefit to our public school students.
Currently, there are more than 2.5 million acres of school land trust property being held in benefit for funding education in the state. Those who are supporting this management change believe that forming a separate commission would allow for more focus on managing trust lands, which would provide more benefit for our students.
Nearly 16 years ago, the state of Utah separated their state's school trust lands out from the management by their Department of Natural Resources and formed a separate management commission. During this 16 year period of time, the state of Utah's trust fund money grew from $18 million to $1.3 billion. With HF2244, the bill I have authored, we hope will provide the framework to do the same for Minnesota school students as Utah has done for theirs.
Here are a couple of media reports from earlier this week on the introduction of HF2244.
Minneapolis Star Tribune (w/ video)
http://www.startribune.com/politics/blogs/139237633.html
St. Cloud Times
http://www.sctimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2012102130050
State of the State
On Wednesday, Feb. 15, Governor Dayton delivered the 2012 State of the State address. The governor shared his vision and priorities with the legislature. I was encouraged by the governor's commitment to working with the legislature on education matters in a bi-partisan manner with his office. The school land trust matter seems like a great place for us to start.
Redistricting
Next Tuesday, the 5-judge redistricting panel will release the Legislative and Congressional redistricting maps for the state. We expect to receive these maps around 1:00 p.m. This information should be posted on the following website later that day: http://www.gis.leg.mn/html/redistricting.html
-Tim
News Items
- O'Driscoll Begins Second Term in MN House - (Posted: Jan 11 2013 4:00PM)
- MINNESOTA LEGISLATURE ANNOUNCES PASSAGE OF BILL TO MODIFY MANDATORY TIERED WATER PRICING FOR CITIES - (Posted: 2012-04-02 00:00:00)
- REPRESENTATIVE O’DRISCOLL’S LAND TRUST BILL PASSES THROUGH THE HOUSE - (Posted: 2012-03-19 00:00:00)
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