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LINCOLN — A panel of state lawmakers passed over one idea for reducing property taxes but expressed dismay Friday that a state agency isn’t generating more investment income for Nebraska schoolchildren.
The idea of selling some of the 1.25 million acres of land owned and rented by the Nebraska Board of Educational Lands and Funds and using the proceeds to lower property taxes emerged during debate this year on reducing the state’s traditionally high taxes on land.
An interim study hearing, called by State Sen. Dave Murman of Glenvil, called for exploring the “viability” of doing that.
But testimony and discussion Friday before the Legislature’s Education Committee veered from that idea and instead focused on why the independent agency wasn’t generating more investment income from its more than $1 billion in financial assets.
Relic from settlement days
Nebraska’s Board of Educational Lands and Funds is a relic from settlement days.
At that time, two square-mile sections of land per township were set aside in trust for schools.