​​​​​​​​​​Common School Fund

This Fund is as old as Wisconsin. The framers of our state Constitution established this permanent “school fund” and required that its income be applied exclusively “to the support and maintenance of common [public K-12] schools … and the purchase of suitable libraries and apparatus therefor.”

The Fund was established with proceeds from the sale of the 16th Section of each township—nearly 1 million acres of land granted by the federal government to Wisconsin when it became a state. Except for the ~6,900 acres* that remain in trust, all of the lands from these 16th section original grants were sold to establish the Fund. Like other states joining the union at that time, Wisconsin received another grant from Congress of 500,000 acres of land for the purpose of making “internal improvements.” Wisconsin’s early leaders petitioned Congress for permission to dedicate these lands for public education, as well.

The Fund is diversified across a number of different asset classes designed to produce a steady stream of distributable income as well as growth for the principal balance of the fund. The Fund has also invested hundreds of millions of dollars to direct loans to Wisconsin municipalities through the State Trust Fund Loan Program.

In April of each year, net earnings of the Fund are forwarded to the Department of Public Instruction for distribution to every Wisconsin school district as library aid. These monies are the sole source of state funding for public school libraries and for many school districts is the only money available to them for library books, newspapers and periodicals, web-based resources, and computer hardware and software. See ​how much your district receives in ​Library Aid Distributions​​ each year​.​

Check out this YouTube video to get a closer look at what the Common School Fund does for Wisconsin.

Tour the Department of Public Instruction for a complementary perspective on the Common School Fund, library aids, and the benefit to public education.​​