Oregon Public Broadcasting

Payments from the Common School Fund to Oregon schools are up by 14-percent over last year.  

The state Department of Education distributed nearly $28 million to Oregon’s public school districts this past week.

The money comes from a fund managed by the Department of State Lands.  That fund now has more than a billion dollars in it -- generated by state lands.

The school payments come from the interest from that fund, says Julie Curtis, a spokeswoman for the Department of State Lands.

Julie Curtis: “One of the largest land holdings we have is the Elliot State Forest which is in Coos County near Coos Bay and timber revenues from that forest are one of the primary contributions of revenue to the fund.”

State officials say this revenue is just one funding tool they use to help Oregon’s public schools, which had a total budget of $6.3 billion last year.