What States Have School Trust Lands

In 1784, a committee of three chaired by Thomas Jefferson conceived a political framework for the natural westward expansion of states, from temporary self-government, to organized territories, to full statehood. In the final draft before passage of the May 20, 1785 Land Ordinance, there emerged a uniquely American creation — the Congressional grant of school trust lands to educate, not just the privileged few, but all children. Every new state was to enter the Union with a solemn grant of a one-mile-square school section at the center of every six-mile-square township.

Millions of acres of school land in each state would be peppered across the landscape in a sacred trust to fund common schools forever. Beginning with Ohio in 1803 and continuing through every state admitted thereafter, this was not a mere policy; it was an irrevocable, unalterable compact — a promise stretching across generations, etched into the very foundation of our national heritage. Cumulatively, roughly forty-six million acres were granted to the states for the support of public schools.

Twenty mostly western states still hold these school trust lands today. Explore the interactive map or browse the state list below.