Wisconsin
(as of June 2024)
On May 20, 1785, the Continental Congress provided land to support schools as each new state joined the union. “There shall be reserved the lot No.16, of every township, for the maintenance of public schools within the said township.” Over 134 million acres were subsequently granted in trust as a condition of statehood. Today over 45 million acres continue to be held in trust by 20 states for the support of public schools. Revenue is placed in permanent school funds, now over $115 billion, and over $5 billion was distributed to western schools in FY 2024. However, few educators or members of the public know about school trust lands. Advocates for School Trust Lands is sharing this grand history of America’s founding vision for schools, hoping that over time Americans will know of school trust lands and their support for public schools.
Wisconsin received statehood on May 29, 1848. As a condition of statehood, 1.5 million acres were granted, in trust for the support of public schools. The majority of these lands have been sold to create the principal for a permanent school fund. This fund is to be exclusively used to support and maintain K-12 public schools, and “the purchase of suitable libraries and apparatus therefor.” [1] The school trust lands are part of a “sacred compact” between Wisconsin and Congress. The statehood act requires the state to act with undivided loyalty as it manages the school lands and funds in trust to support public schools. The founding fathers of Wisconsin had the prescience to provide for growth of the Common School Fund through the addition of “clear proceeds” of all fines, fees, and forfeitures that accrue to the state, including unclaimed property.
Today Wisconsin manages the remaining 5,190 acres of Common School Trust Lands located in remote rural areas of northern Wisconsin. Any revenue produced by these lands is deposited in the Common School Fund along with the fees, fines and forfeitures described above. The Wisconsin Common School Fund is managed by the Board of Commissioners of Public Lands. The investment returns from the Fund are distributed by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (WPI) to the school districts. The DPI assures accountability.
The above data was taken from the Biennial Reports of the Board of Commissioners of Public Lands. The Common School Fund earns money for libraries by making loans from the Fund to school districts and municipalities for public projects. For the past century and a half, Wisconsin has loaned money from the Common School Fund throughout the state of Wisconsin for public projects. Projects include economic development, school repairs and improvements, local infrastructure, and capital equipment and vehicles. In those 150 years, there has not been a single loan default. All the net interest from these loans is then distributed to public school libraries.
Interest paid on these loans is distributed for public school libraries. In FY 2025, $70 million was distributed. In most districts, these dollars represent the only funding available to purchase books, newspapers, periodicals, computers, web-based resources, and other library materials. The chart below shows the annual distributions to public school libraries obtained from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction website.
[1] Section 2, Article X, Wisconsin Constitution
