This money is to be spent only in the following budget categories:

Common School Funds are not to be spent for textbooks, materials housed in one classroom or used for only one curriculum area, class sets of books, library automation software, or site licenses.

The amount delegated to each district is published each January in Channel DLS and on the DPI website.

Other state funded projects

NOTE: Many of these state and federal funding sources require that the district have a certified technology plan and the federal programs will require that the district follows the requirements set out in the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) and the Neighborhood CIPA including the installation of a technology protection measure (i.e., filtering software), developing an Internet Safety Policy in the district, and holding a public hearing on this policy.

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Budget Requests

When creating a budget, take into account long-term goals, new technologies, any changes in school population, inflation, curricular changes, the speed of obsolesce for different materials and hardware, and the replacement cycle for items. Ideally, look for flexibility to acquire new formats, spread expenditures over several years, use rental or leasing options, phase in equipment and new systems over time, carry over funds from year to year, and negotiate installment plans, but this will not alway be possible  Ultimately, budgets must reflect constraints and  program needs.

Be prepared to justify a budget.  A school principal or superintendent determines what proportion of the Common School Fund is yours and may or may not add additional funds for library materials, supplies, software, and equipment.   This is often referred to as a lump sum budget.  

Other districts require a budget for materials each year that demonstrates how the money will support the libary media program.  Relate the library budget to the specific needs of your students, teachers, and curriculum.

Most schools will ask for a line item budget that will designate funds for different types of materials and other expenses.  While the Common School Fund may be spent for specific materials, there may be many other items required  for your program:

A budget is more likely to be supported it it reflects the efforts of a library committee composed of interested teachers and/or other stakeholders.  

Budgeting in a school is generally a zero sum game -- money that goes one place is taken away from another place.  Strive to serve the entire school population and build support base.  Emphasize meeting the library and school mission when justifying budget requests.

Doug Johnson in The Indispensable Librarian: Surviving (and Thriving) in School Media Centers in the Information Age (p. 109),  offers questions that budget committees or administrators should be asking about budget requests.  How would you answer these about your budget?

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Equipment Purchasing

This is called a capital expense as it often is not part of your normal library budget.  Generally, items over a certain price, such as $500, and not consumable are considered capital purchases and require a special purchasing process and long term planning.  Often the school district will also require special record keeping and labeling of such items.

Maintenance

Doug Johnson's book (p. 99) provides a formula for figuring a yearly maintenance budget. Maintenance budget = replacement rate X total number of items X average cost

Replacement rate = 100% / number of years in the life span of the item

In his example, if a school has 50 VCRs which cost $300 each and have a life span of 10 years the replacement rate = 100% divided by 10 years or 10%.  Therefore, Maintenance budget = 10% X  50 items X $300 = $1500 That means a school should budget $1500 per year to repair or replace VCRs.

This calculation gets complicated when all the items are purchased in one year as part of a large building process or bond issue as they then tend to need replacement at the same time.  It is best to spread these purchases out over several years to facilitate maintenance.  

Do not purchase more technology at one time than can be regularly maintained, upgraded and replaced and consider the support personnel to service this amount of equipment.  It does little good to have 200 computers in a school if you don't have the staff to keep them up and running every day.

Growth

While maintaining the current library media center, consider where the LMC will be in the future in terms of capital equipment.  In the past, many schools have added computer equipment through grants and special referendums, but this is not likely to continue into the future.  

Think about where the LMC should be in 3-5 years and then divide the items that are desirable to add by the number of years it should take you to reach this goal.  Then multiply this by the cost of the item.  This results in a realistic figure to use when discussing budget needs with the principal, technology coordinator, or budget committee.

Bids or Educational Price Lists

Large ticket items like computers or furniture often require a bid process or purchasing from an approved list to assure the district gets the best price. Check with the district on when to put something out for bid and which items are to be purchased off of an educational price list. 

The former is generally used for large items such as library tables and chairs and the latter may be used for computer equipment or non-library supplies.  When writing bids, be extremely specific to get exactly the desired products or services.  The lowest bidder will generally be chosen to as the supplier. Generally, one cannot specify brand names, so you need to have your exact parameters spelled out.  Get help on this from your business office.  

For example, for a computer system, you need to consider things like processor speed, RAM, cache, harddrive size, storage devices (e.g., CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, CD-RW, zipdrive, floppy drive), networking capabilities, expansion slots, Firewire / USB ports, warranty, monitor, etc. 

The TEACH Wisconsin Technology and Services Procurement site was intended to help districts with technology purchases but has not been updated in the last year. Many computer hardware sites provide educational prices for computer systems and peripherals:

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