That’s the record amount eligible residents will receive this year from the state’s oil investment account.

Governor Bill Walker, moments before 12-year-old Wasilla student Shania Sommer officially unveiled the PFD amount, said this year’s dividend is remarkable for another reason: it comes at a time when Alaska’s state government faces billion-dollar deficits. The Pick.Click.Give. program, which lets Alaskans divert any or all of their dividends to a vast array of causes, saw almost 34,000 PFD recipients donate about $3.4 million this year – roughly 7,000 more people than participated in 2014, with $700,000 more in contributions than last year. Using money from the fund was a key element of several hypothetical budgets presented during a Saturday forum on the state’s fiscal crunch at the University of Alaska Anchorage.

Eligible Alaskans will receive $2,072 for the 2015 Permanent Fund Dividend, the largest payout in the fund’s history.

Walker preceded Sommer’s appearance by remembering late Alaska Permanent Fund Corp. executive director Mike Burns, who died in July shortly after retiring from a decade at the corporation’s helm. So we’re in a bit of a dilemma this year with the price of oil.

The press conference was held at the Atwood Center in Anchorage today.

Editor’s Note: A previous version of this story quoted Governor Bill Walker saying that this is was the first time in Alaska’s history that the earnings from the Permanent Fund have exceeded the earnings from Alaskan oil. Altogether, more than $21.1 billion has been distributed to Alaskans.

“Across Alaska, we are laying off school teachers, cutting trooper posts, and scaling back services provided by the state”, said Governor Walker.

“It is time to have an open and honest conversation about our finances, and how resources like the Permanent Fund can be used as an asset”, Walker said.

Despite his critical view of the Alaska Permanent Fund, Walker is in favor of developing ANWR and making changes to the state’s permitting process.

$1.30 billion was spent on education this year, compared to $1.33 billion spent in PDF checks, according to Walker’s release.

“The original objective of the Permanent Fund was to save wealth for future generations of Alaskans”, said Eric Wohlforth.

PFD season in Alaska means a slew of advertisements targeted at residents receiving a check.