Investment of Public School Fund Study And Report

Legislative Interim Committee on School Finance. The bill staggers authorizes the state treasurer to stagger the terms of the state treasurer's 3 appointed members to the investment board, commencing with new appointments beginning on and after July 1, 2022, to ensure that no more than 2 members' terms expire in the same year.Beginning in the 2022-23 state fiscal year, the bill amends statute relating to the distribution of interest or income earned on the investment of the money in the public school fund to reorganize the distribution and to make changes to wording of the statute to:

• Pay first from the distribution the services of the investment consultant hired by the public school fund investment board;
• Credit next to the state public school fund for school finance, all remaining interest and income, not to exceed $21 million dollars; and
• Credit next to the public school capital construction assistance fund, all remaining interest and income, not to exceed $20 million dollars.

The bill creates a working group, convened by the state treasurer, to consider opportunities to improve earnings on the deposit and investment of money in the fund, while safeguarding the endowment for public schools and complying with state and federal laws relating to state school trust lands and the fund the growth of the public school fund and its distributions for intergenerational benefit of public schools . The bill authorizes the state treasurer, after consulting with the investment board, to select the members of the working group, and the bill specifies the issues the working group must study. The state treasurer shall report the findings and recommendations of the working group to the joint budget committee and to the education committees of the house of representatives and of the senate during the 2023 legislative session.

The bill clarifies the time frame and circumstances in which a realized investment loss to the fund may be offset by realized gains before the general assembly is required to appropriate money to cover losses to the fund.

(Note: Italicized words indicate new material added to the original summary; dashes through words indicate deletions from the original summary.)

(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)