Alaska
The story of school trust lands in Alaska is a complicated one. Traditionally, sections sixteen and thirty-six in each township were set aside for public schools in incoming states. A township is a square of 6 miles on a side or 36 square miles total. A section is a mile on each side and contains 640 acres. The townships were established through the federal survey system.
During its territorial days Alaska used receipts from Federal township sections 16 and 36 for support of common schools. At Statehood in 1959 the Federal government granted all surveyed sections 16 and 36 to Alaska for support of the public schools. This trust grant totaled 105,000 acres.
The story became more complicated. In 1978, the Alaska legislature combined the school lands with other State lands to be managed in unison.
To offset the income loss of the land taken, .5% of revenues from all State lands, soon to total 103 million acres, is now paid to the school trust fund. Some beneficiaries with lands involved in the consolidation filed suit and recovered their lands. The schools have not yet been so successful. Legal action is pending to determine to what extent the schools have been harmed.
In 1980, an additional 75,000 acres to make up for land not obtained at Statehood was promised through Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. Selection of the ANILCA lands was completed in 1992.
Proceeds from land revenues are deposited in a permanent fund called the Public School Trust Fund. In FY 2005 this fund was worth $317 million. The interest and dividends go to schools via the school foundation program.
The Alaska PTA has recently become involved in an attempt to speak up for the school children whose original land grant has been lost. They are working with historians, policy makers and advocates to move the issue towards resolution. The members of this organization continue to make the Alaska Public School Land Trust a priority, and Alaska PTA adopted a formal membership resolution (2005) to support their work relating to the school trust. They also sponsored a resolution on School Trusts that was adopted at the National PTA Convention in July of 2006.
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