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JWP Schools urges voters to review Minnesota permanent school fund amendment; shows likely district impact
Summary
JWP Schools staff explained a proposed constitutional amendment that would move distribution rules for the permanent school fund into statute and adopt a 4.5% averaged draw; presenters illustrated that the change could raise district distributions (JWP estimate: an illustrative $17,000 more) and urged residents to mark the ballot question yes or no intentionally.
Wendy Dyker, business manager for JWP Schools, and Jeremy Erlue, superintendent, presented to the Janesville City Council about a proposed Minnesota constitutional amendment concerning the Permanent School Fund.
Dyker summarized the fund’s history and mechanics: the trust was established in 1858, is largely managed through land parcel revenues overseen by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and invested by the State Investment Board, and currently yields an annual distribution to the Minnesota Department of Education. She described a May 2024 task force that recommended removing distribution instructions from the constitution and placing them into statute, plus a new calculation method that would average the fund value over three years and distribute 4.5% of that average each year.
Dyker provided an illustrative calculation for the JWP district: using 2023–24 average daily membership numbers, the new formula would have raised the district’s per-pupil amount from about $68.17 to roughly $96 and produced an estimated additional $17,000 for the district in that illustrative year. She cautioned that the figures are illustrative and depend on future enrollment and market performance. "So JWP would have gotten about $59,892," she said as an example.
Presenters and council members clarified voting mechanics: a skipped ballot question is effectively treated as a no in the statewide tally, so Dyker urged officials and community members to communicate clear information to voters and to encourage them to mark the question yes or no rather than skip it.
The presentation was informational; no council action was required or taken on the ballot question. Dyker provided links and materials from the Minnesota School Boards Association, the task force presentation and the Department of Natural Resources land maps for more detail and public outreach.
