Committee presses staff for options after Trust Lands staff describe proposed land exchange and $50 million stabilization-fund appropriation

Paula Plant, director of the School Children’s Trust, briefed the committee on recent trust administration work and an unprecedented proposed land exchange involving research parcel holdings and potential revenue-producing minerals.

Plant described a trade under consideration: the University of Utah would receive a Beaver County parcel used in a geothermal research project (Forge), where staff discovered "hot rock" beneath the surface; in exchange the public-school trust would receive a portion of the Lasal south block in southeast Utah. Plant explained that surface rights are typically sold while mineral rights are retained, and appraisals and negotiations are ongoing.

Several members raised alarm about a separate but related fact: in 2024 the legislature appropriated $50 million from the state’s education stabilization account to the Department of Natural Resources to buy large recreational land blocks, which has led to questions about whether education funds were used to purchase property the state then expected to hold for conservation and recreation. "They used education money to buy a piece of land that education already has," one member said during the meeting.

The committee unanimously directed staff to prepare options and potential legislative language to provide 'guardrails' around the education stabilization fund so similar appropriations are constrained or clarified in future sessions. Members and staff also discussed additional due-diligence items, third-party appraisals and the timing of any board action; staff indicated a possible full-board consideration in June for related trust decisions.

The committee did not take a stand for or against the land sale itself, acknowledging the complexity of trust administration and appraisal timing; instead it sought policy options to limit how stabilization funds are redirected in future appropriations.