Arizona schools are scheduled to receive an extra $21 million in fiscal year 2020. The Arizona Board of Investment approved the $342 million “record distribution” from the Permanent Land Endowment Trust Fund Tuesday, a 6.5 percent increase over fiscal year 2019.
When Arizona became a state, it got millions of acres of land from the federal government, and when the state sells those parcels, it invests the money in the Permanent Land Endowment Trust Fund.
The fund currently boasts a $5.7 billion balance. In 2016 Arizonans voted to increase the amount the trust fund can disburse to schools.
The payments will start in July 2020 and average to nearly $1.75 million more a month.
