Vol, 7, No. 17: May 5, 2008		Get SEAchange by email

---

2. Last week's Common School Fund aid more flexible

The DPI distributed school library aid totaling $35 million last week. Because of legislation passed as part of the 2007-09 budget, for the first time school districts will be able to use a portion of that aid to purchase computers and related software for their school library media centers, in addition to books and media materials they traditionally acquired for their school libraries.

"Libraries open the world of information to our children. We need strong school library programs that reflect the digital age to support our efforts to boost achievement for all students and close the achievement gap," said State Superintendent Elizabeth Burmaster.

The Board of Commissioners of Public Lands oversees the Common School Fund, the state's oldest trust fund. Board members are Secretary of State Douglas La Follette, board chairman; Attorney General J. B. Van Hollen; and State Treasurer Dawn Marie Sass. Tia Nelson serves as executive secretary to the board.

The Common School Fund is made up of revenues from civil and criminal fees, fines and forfeitures, timber revenue from public trust lands, and revenues from the state's Unclaimed Property Program. This principal is used to make loans to local governments and school districts for buildings, roads, sewer and water facilities, equipment, recreational facilities, economic development, and other public purposes under the State Trust Fund Loan Program. Some of the principal also is invested in state and local bonds. Funds not committed to loans or bonds are deposited in the State Investment Fund.

Each spring, annual earnings from the Common School Fund are distributed to the state's school districts based on the number of children between the ages of 4 and 20 living in the district. For the 2007-08 school year, the per pupil rate is $28.09, an increase of $5.01 from the $23.08 per census student last year.

Research shows that school library programs that are adequately staffed by licensed professionals and funded so they can provide a broad range of library resources lead to higher student achievement.

"While this aid shouldn't be a district's sole source of funding for library acquisitions, it is an important and welcome resource for school districts as they strive to ensure a quality education for every child," Burmaster said.

The aid must be used by June 30 for expenditures cited in statute. Those items include:

• print and digital library books, reference and professional resources, newspapers, and periodicals
• audiovisual resources, such as videos, cassettes, CDs, and DVDs
• digital, video-streamed or web-based resources for the library
• pre-processing fees for shelf-ready resources or library book rebinding
• library automation software and related components or licenses, including WISCAT licenses
• Wisconsin history resources purchased from the Wisconsin Historical Society
• computers and related software for the school library's instructional program, limited to no more than 25 percent of a district's allocation

More information, and a list of Common School Fund allocations by school district, is available in the complete news release.

---

You can also receive SEAchange by email. For more information about SEAchange, contact: Benson Gardner at (608) 266-3374.

---

Last updated on 5/5/2008