By State Rep. Ken Paxton
Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson recently announced that 2011 Oil & Gas exploration on West Texas Permanent School Fund (PSF) lands is earning more than ever for Texas school children. Last months quarterly lease sale brings the years record total to $133.5 million. Texas will earn even more when wells are drilled and production begins.
Private oil and gas companies paid $9.3 million just for the right to explore on land owned by our States Permanent School Fund which helps pay for the States share of K-12 education. The companies competitively bid for the right to look for oil and gas on 6971 acres.
In quarterly lease sales held by
the General Land Office oil and gas firms submit sealed bids for the right to drill for hydrocarbons on Permanent School Fund lands. The Permanent School Fund will also earn 20 - 25 royalties on any oil or gas produced on the leases.
However Commissioner Patterson reports that efforts by the federal government to list the sand dune lizard as an endangered species could
threaten the vitality of this revenue stream for public education in Texas and potentially cost our school system hundreds of millions of dollars.
The Permanent School Fund was created with a $2000000 appropriation by the Texas Legislature in 1854 expressly for the benefit of the public schools of Texas. The Texas Constitution stipulates that revenues from certain state lands and all proceeds from the sale of these state lands also constitute the Permanent School Fund.
Additionally all the proceeds from the sale and the mineral-related rental of these lands including bonuses delay rentals and royalty payments become part of the Fund.
Each year a portion of the revenues from the Permanent School Fund is transferred to the Available School Fund to benefit public schools in Texas.
To learn more about the
Texas Permanent School Funds oil and gas lease sale
click here.
Representative Ken Paxton was elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 2002 and is currently in his 4th term 
representing District 70. Paxton received his BA & MBA from Baylor University and also earned a law degree from the University of Virginia. He and his wife Angela live in McKinney TX and have 4 children.
