The money Northland Pines School District gets every year from the Common School Fund is pretty much the entire budget for the libraries.
Library Director Jone Davis says she has watched the common school fund grow in the 16 years she’s worked in the library.
This has helped the district keep the library stocked with the latest books and stay up to date with technology.
“The library is your hub. For a lot of kids, it's that safe space, especially in the middle and high school,” said Davis. “we also support the classrooms and the teachers. We provide the books for different lessons or research or the databases. We can help guide or support lessons in research and research skills. We kind of fit a ton of roles that can support the classroom and the kids.”
Third graders Edith Richards and Levi Blankenberg love their school’s library.
Richards for the Lego’s that she makes stories out.
“She does a spinner, then we have to make a Lego about it and then write about it.” she said.
Blankenberg for the VR headsets that have “really cool space stuff in them.”
The Common School Fund was established by the Wisconsin Constitution in 1848 with the granting of about 1.5 million acres of land for educational purposes. The vast majority of these lands were sold to create the principal for a permanent school fund, with the earnings to be exclusively used to support and maintain K-12 schools.
The money can be used by districts for the purchase of library books and other instructional materials for school libraries. It can also be used to buy school library computers and related software.
This school year’s payout from the Common School Fund was a record setting $73.5 million for Wisconsin school districts.
Secretary of State Sarah Godlewski visited the Eagle River Elementary School Library and others across the state to meet with students and present checks.
Godlewski says the state’s been able to increase the fund by diversifying its assets.
“At a time when we're seeing that school districts are being asked to do more with less, we want to make sure we are sharing with folks about the Common School Fund and providing over $100,000 to the school library so they can buy books and technology,” said Godlewski. “We know this is a really important thing, because it's setting our kids up for success.”
Local school districts received anywhere from $9,000 to more than $200,000 dollars from the common school fund this year. The distribution is based on the number of residents ages four to twenty and the district census count.
