Wisconsin's Common School Fund

Supporting School Libraries Through Common School Fund Library Aid

January 2009

The framers of Wisconsin’s Constitution were pioneers with the foresight to create a constitutionally protected form of public education financing. They established the Common School Fund to hold in trust the proceeds from the sale of millions of acres of land granted to Wisconsin by the federal government as well as the “clear proceeds” of fees, fines and forfeitures that accrued to the state. At that time, they also created the Board of Commissioners of Public Lands to manage the Fund. The Board consists of the Secretary of State, the State Treasurer and the Attorney General.
The Common School Fund provides annual library aid support to all Wisconsin public school districts. The Fund is invested in state bonds, the State Investment Fund and in loans to municipalities and school districts through the State Trust Fund Loan Program. In April of each year, the Board forwards the available earnings of the Fund to DPI which then re-distributes the earnings as library aid to all K-12 public school districts in the state. The allocation which each school district receives is based upon the number of children aged 4 through 20 living in the district. The aid is sent to school districts by May 1 of each year. Each district must spend their total Library Aid allocation for appropriate library materials by June 30 of that same year. These materials include books, newspapers, periodicals, other media resources, and to a limited extent, computers.
Further information about the Board of Commissioners of Public Lands, the State Trust Fund Loan Program and the history of the Common School Fund can be found at http://bcpl.wisconsin.gov.
Purchase Requirements
Wisconsin Statute 43.70(3) provides that money generated by the CSF be used for the purchase of library books and other instructional materials for school libraries and for the purchase of instructional materials from the state historical society for use in teaching Wisconsin history. In addition, a school district may use up to 25 percent of the [CSF] moneys received in a fiscal year to purchase school library computers and related software if the school board consults with the person who supervises the school district’s libraries and the computers and software are housed in the school library. The person who supervises the school libraries is the district’s designated certified library media coordinator as per Wisconsin Administrative Code PI 8.01(2)(h).
Library materials implies:

Items housed in school libraries (except when borrowed)

Listed in the library media center catalog

Accessible to all students and teachers in the building and district

Circulated in the normal manner

Eligible Purchases
The following items are examples of those considered eligible for purchase with CSF money:

Library books, reference and professional resources, newspapers, periodicals (print and digital)

Audiovisual resources, e.g. videos, cassettes, CDs, DVDs

Digital, video-streamed or web-based resources for the library

Pre-processing fees for shelf-ready resources; library book rebinding

Library automation software and related components or licenses; WISCAT license

Wisconsin history resources purchased from the state historical society

Computers and related software for the school library’s instructional program (no more than 25% of a district’s CSF allocation may be used for this purpose)

Non-eligible Purchases
The following items are examples of those considered not eligible for purchase with CSF money:

Textbooks and/or workbooks
Classroom or teacher sets of trade books, encyclopedias, newspapers, or periodicals
Audiovisual or computer-related equipment or peripherals
Furniture, shelving, supplies, or storage items
Administrative, network or Internet software
Course-specific or application software
Resource borrowing, delivery, service or usage fees

Note that many instructional resources today are in electronic format and may be housed in a distant database and simply accessed from library media centers. The statutory language must be interpreted to apply to this media format and, at the same time, remain true to its principles. For a detailed explanation of Common School Fund rules and guidance, check http://dpi.wi.gov/sfs/comsch.html.

Who is Eligible to Apply?

No application is necessary. The Common School Fund is automatically distributed to all Wisconsin public PK-12 school districts, as described above.

Amount of Funds Available

Amount is determined by the BCPL, as described above.

Application Due Date

In January of each year the BCPL informs DPI of the estimated amounts to be allocated to school districts; DPI then informs each public PK-12 school district.

Contact Information

Questions regarding school library purchases that meet the requirements of the Common School Fund can be directed to Nancy Anderson, School Library Media Consultant. 608-267-9287.
Questions regarding school library aid can be directed to Brad Adams, School Finance Consultant. 608-267-3752.

Links

For questions about this information, contact Nancy E. Anderson (608) 267-9287

Last updated on 1/15/2009 10:00:56 AM