A Fund Created at Statehood Will Be Administered Under Government Corporate Entity

In 1845, Texas created the Permanent School Fund (PSF) although there was no tax base to support it; however, it received a $2 million appropriation in 1854 as a result of ceding former Republic of Texas lands to the U.S.

With a reported $42.6 billion in 2021, the perpetual endowment will soon be administered by the Texas Permanent School Fund Corporation (Texas PSF Corp.), an independent governmental corporate structure created during the 87th Legislature by Senate Bill 1232.

“The bill allows the fund's investment function to transition from divisions of the Texas Education Association (TEA) and the General Land Office (GLO) to a single, independent governmental corporate structure under which all fund investments would be governed by an independent board of directors,” according to the 2021 annual report.

The report gives a detailed history of legislation impacting the PSF and how the fund has grown and been governed over its lifetime.

According to the TEA, the Texas PSF Corp. will assume management of the now $56 billion public endowment early next year.

Leadership and employees of the fund will transfer from the TEA to the Texas PSF Corp. with benefits, insurance and retirement remaining with the Texas Employees Retirement System, according to job postings.

One of the leadership roles yet to be filled is the corporation’s director of information technology, with the deputy director II title. It is listed under TEA job postings.

The role requires discretion, leadership, change management, strategic planning, creating and maintaining procedures and policies, and oversight of the IT organization.

The applicant should have a minimum 15 years' IT services experience with a preference for prior work in investment management, financial markets or banking experience.

Required and preferred qualifications are listed under General, Cybersecurity, Network and Cloud, and Infrastructure and Systems headings. The salary range is listed as $12,399 to $20,971 per month. The candidate search is ongoing.

There is also a posting for a software programmer to provide the PSF support for software, data management and reporting among other solutions. The work will include supporting a suite of financial applications. This is a full-time role with compensation range listed between $4,598.66 and $7,532.75 monthly.

State employment opportunities are listed at the Centralized Accounting and Payroll/Personnel System (CAPPS) with full descriptions and instructions for applicants.