Commissioner of Education Michael Williams and Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson have announced that the Permanent School Fund has reached a record high value in 2014, making it the largest educational endowment in the country.
Created by the state in 1854 with an initial $2 million investment, the endowment has now grown to approximately $37.7 billion in market value as of June 30, 2014. Of that total, approximately $30.6 billion is managed by the State Board of Education and $7.1 billion by the School Land Board. Day-to-day oversight of the Fund is handled by staff at the Texas Education Agency (TEA) and the General Land Office.
Along with providing direct support to Texas schools, the PSF provides a guarantee for bonds issued by local school districts and charter schools. The Permanent School Fund guarantee gives districts the equivalent of a AAA credit rating, the highest available. As a result, qualified districts are able to pay lower interest rates when issuing bonds, saving taxpayers billions of dollars. At the end of 2013, the PSF’s assets guaranteed $55.2 billion in school district bonds, providing a cost savings to 810 public school districts.
The Permanent School Fund’s $37.7 billion value as of June 30, 2014, surpasses that of the Harvard University endowment which stood at $36.4 billion at the same time.
To learn more about the Permanent School Fund, visit the TEA website at http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index4.aspx?id=2147485578&menu_id=2147483695.
To learn more about the Texas General Land Office’s management of its portion of the Permanent School Fund, visit the GLO website at http://www.glo.texas.gov/what-we-do/state-lands/permanent-school-fund/index.html.