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Senate committee recommends confirmation of Aaron Vanderland as School Trust Lands director
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Summary
The Minnesota Senate Education Policy Committee on April 30 recommended Aaron Vanderland for confirmation as School Trust Lands director after he described management of 2.5 million trust acres, recent changes to mineral revenue handling and the permanent school fund’s current distributions.
Aaron Vanderland, identified in testimony as the state’s School Trust Lands director, told the Minnesota Senate Education Policy Committee on April 30 that the office advises the executive and legislative branches on managing 2.5 million acres of trust lands that fund public education.
Vanderland said the permanent school fund is worth about $2.3 billion in financial assets, with a cash basis just over $1 billion, and that this year’s distribution to school districts was about $58 million. “The basis for all of that growth in those investments is from mineral royalties,” he said, adding that roughly 80% of recent cash inflows are mineral royalties.
Vanderland described policy changes he helped implement, including altering how a minerals management account is swept so funds are deposited more frequently rather than held under a prior cap. In testimony he referred to a minerals management account cap of $3,000,000 and cited his statutory job description as “1 27 a 3 53” in the record.
On potential future changes, Vanderland said two constitutional amendments now before the legislature would, if approved by voters, increase annual distributions to school districts by about 40%.
After questioning from committee members about whether trust distributions are additive to other school funding, Vanderland said the current distribution is an add‑on and described a prior law change roughly 15–20 years ago that altered the mechanics of distribution.
Senator Kunish moved that the committee recommend the Senate confirm Vanderland as School Trust Lands director. The committee approved the recommendation by voice vote; no roll‑call tally was recorded in the hearing minutes.
The committee’s recording of the exchange includes Vanderland’s account of management practices and figures; committee members did not record a separate analysis or written score of trust revenues in this hearing. The chair’s motion carried by voice vote and the committee closed that portion of the agenda.
