Texas school fund now worth nation-high $37.7B

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A fund Texas uses to buy instructional materials and cover some local school districts’ costs is now worth nearly $38 billion, officials announced Tuesday, making it the nation’s largest educational endowment.

Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson credited a booming natural gas industry for growing the Permanent School Fund, which was worth about $37.7 billion as of June 30.