John Maynes, Utah State University
The Center for the School of the Future
In the early history of the United States, the Founders of our nation set aside vast amounts of land which were to be used to support public schools. Starting in 1785, lands were dedicated to support schools and thereby provide public education to new settlers in the “Northwest Territory.” Further legislation in 1787 reinforced this granting process with the language, “Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.” These actions were championed by many of the same men who would be influential in writing the Constitution, most notably Nathan Dane of Massachusetts. However, after the first lands were granted, many new states were admitted to the United States without granting lands for schools. It seemed that the idea for granting school lands had been forgotten. However, in 1803 Ohio was admitted as a state, and the land grants for public schools were renewed. Since that time, every state admitted to the Union was granted school trust lands. The purpose of this study is to address the following questions: What resources were used to support public education? How did attitudes toward these resources evolve from the beginning of our country to now? Based on preliminary findings, we can see that attitudes towards school trust lands have varied throughout history and the policies and resources used to support them have been equally variable. By looking at school trust lands and school permanent fund values, I hope to evaluate the attitudes of decision makers toward education over the course of American history. Using historical records such as legislation, Congressional annuls, and personal correspondences to evaluate personal attitudes of policymakers, this study will identify determinants that supported the unique attitudes and policies surrounding school trust lands.