Common School Fund will send $64.2 million to Oregon schools this year
SALEM, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Oregon’s K-12 public schools will receive $64.2 million from Common School Fund in 2022, an increase from the prior year, officials announced during Tuesday’s State Land Board meeting.
That's $4.1 million more than the 2021 distribution of $60.1 million and $9.2 million more than the 2020 distribution of $55 million.
Every one of Oregon’s 197 public school districts receives money from the Common School Fund every year. How much each district receives depends on the number of students served. In 2022, Portland Public Schools, the state’s largest district, will receive $5.7 million. Lincoln County School District will receive about $600,000. Rogue River School District will receive just over $100,000. See 2022 distributions for all Oregon school districts.
The average 2022 district distribution is approximately $326,000. Pendleton School District, with about 2,900 students, will receive $326,897 in 2022.
"Every dollar that the district receives is important,” said Michelle Jones, Pendleton School District’s director of business services. “We count on these resources to make sure we can keep class sizes small and provide needed technology and facilities for students.”
The Common School Fund has supported Oregon schools since statehood, when the federal government granted our new state nearly 3.4 million acres "for the use of schools." The State Land Board was established to oversee these school lands, which generate revenue for the Common School Fund.
Now valued at $2.2 billion, the Common School Fund is invested by the State Treasurer and the Oregon Investment Council. The Fund earned an average 13.53 percent rate of return over the three-year period ending in 2021.
“Strong returns from the Common School Fund in recent years are allowing schools around the state to invest in our most precious resource — our children,” said Mary Paulson, deputy executive director of the Oregon School Boards Association.
Annually, 3.5 percent of the Fund is distributed to schools. The 2022 distribution of $64.2 million is $4.1 million more than the 2021 distribution of $60.1 million and $9.2 million more than the 2020 distribution of $55 million.
The 775,000 acres of school lands in state ownership today are managed by the Department of State Lands on behalf of the Land Board. $22.8 million in net income from school land leases, sales, and other land management activities was added to the Fund in fiscal year 2021.
“School lands have helped support generations of Oregon students,” said DSL Director Vicki Walker. “The $22.8 million school lands generated last year for the Common School Fund directly benefits my grandchildren, just as the past millions generated by school lands directly benefitted my children and me.”
About the State Land Board and the Department of State Lands: The State Land Board consists of Governor Kate Brown, Secretary of State Shemia Fagan and State Treasurer Tobias Read. Established by the Oregon Constitution in 1859, the Land Board oversees the state’s Common School Fund. The Department of State Lands is the Land Board’s administrative agency, managing the lands and resources that help fund Oregon’s public schools and protecting the state’s waterways and wetlands for the many benefits they provide.
