Endowment fund tops $1.7B

BOISE (AP) — Idaho’s endowment fund hit a record of $1.73 billion after earning high returns on its investments over the past year.

During the 2014 fiscal year that ended June 30, the fund earned 18.8 percent on its investments, investment manager Larry Johnson told the Idaho Land Board on Tuesday.

The high return is the second-highest the fund has earned in its history, Johnson said. “The fund exceeded its benchmark and has done so over the past five years,” he said.

The endowment’s earnings are largely funneled to the state’s public schools, but other beneficiaries include state veteran homes and state corrections systems. Last year, public schools were given nearly $31.3 million, while this year they will likely receive $31.5 million.

This is also the second year in a row the fund hit an all-time high. Last year, the fund reached $1.43 billion.

Helping contribute to the fund’s high earnings is the auctioning off of state endowment-owned lots. Idaho officials have already sold 34 lots near central Idaho’s Payette Lake, totaling nearly $12 million. Come August, the state will begin auctioning 62 lots along Priest Lake in northern Idaho.

On Monday, the land board unanimously approved auctioning an additional 36 lots along Payette Lake later this year.

The steady increase is a change from the decline in funds when the state first started investing in the stock market in the early 2000s. From 2000 to 2002, the fund lost almost 15 percent of its value. It went from nearly $803.7 million to $683.2 million.

The endowment investment board is expected to finalize its distribution recommendations in August, John said. The land board will then make a final decision on how to spend the money in September.

The five-member land board, made up of the governor, secretary of state, superintendent of public instruction, attorney general and state controller, manages 2.5 million acres of Idaho land.