Land Board vote was the right decision

This week, the Legislature's budget committee approved a schools budget significantly less than the previous year. While no one is happy with it, the truth is, it could have been much worse, with up to $160 million in cuts.

What helped offset these cuts?

In large part, the $22 million in additional revenues from the Land Board. Now, the Coeur d'Alene Press has questioned whether I was right to request that funding in an editorial based on several assumptions and inaccuracies.

I stand by my decision. Here's why.

As a Land Board member and State Superintendent, my responsibility is to Idaho students - the beneficiaries of state endowment lands.

It's our duty to maximize the long-term financial return for the beneficiary, and do what's in their best interest.

My proposal didn't touch one penny of the corpus fund reserved for future earnings.

I proposed an additional one-time distribution from earnings, which are distributable. We tap this earnings reserve fund each year for $31 million for schools, and up until 10 years ago, all earnings were distributed to schools.

Still, knowing this, I conducted my due diligence to ensure the proposal was prudent and constitutional.

The Press claims I used "irresponsibly optimistic projections." Well, I relied on projections from the experts, who are appointed by the Governor to manage Land Board investment funds.

Just weeks before I presented to the Legislature, these experts from the Department of Lands and the Endowment Fund Investment Board presented the most pessimistic estimates for the upcoming year. That's the data I used.

Under this scenario, public schools could draw the regular $31 million distribution as well as an additional $52.8 million, and still have a cushion of $31 million remaining - one year of reserve.

Even the manager of the Endowment Fund Investment Board told the Land Board this one-time distribution wouldn't affect future distributions as long as it was one time.

I also sought legal counsel from the Attorney General's office and was told this proposal was constitutional. And it's consistent with the principles of trust law, which allow trustees to consider increases or decreases in the beneficiaries' other sources of income.

The bottom line: This proposal is constitutional and doesn't put future distributions at risk.

In the end, the Land Board approved a one-time distribution of $22 million for the upcoming year, thanks to support from the Governor and Secretary of State.

This was a good decision for the students of today - and tomorrow.

If schools are cut too deeply this year, we risk losing critical student-teacher contact time, effective programs and the academic progress we've made in recent years. That will have a lasting impact on future generations.

We cannot allow this to happen. We must keep education moving forward.

Tom Luna is superintendent of public instruction.