Forget chips and candy, the newest vending machines headed to Paso Robles schools will be stocked with books.
On Aug. 18, the Paso Robles Joint Unified School District board unanimously approved spending up to $105,000 on book vending machines and a year’s supply of books for eight Title I schools.
The machines are intended to promote literacy while doubling as a reward system: Students can earn golden tokens for positive behavior, good choices, or other accomplishments determined by their school, then feed the tokens into the machines to pick out a book to keep.
“The concept of having a book vending machine is putting books in the hands of our students and also incentivizing [reading] joyfully,” Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services Erin Haley told the board.
The district will purchase machines for Glen Speck, Virginia Peterson, Pat Butler, Kermit King, and Georgia Brown elementary schools; Lewis Flamson Junior High; Paso Robles Independent Study Center; and Liberty High School. Winifred Pifer Elementary, also a Title I school, purchased a machine last year and will receive money to replenish its books.
“Title I schools are those who have a particular threshold of low-income students or unhoused students,” Haley explained. “Our lowest percentage at this point is 61 percent at Kermit King. Our highest is 87 percent at Glen Speck. So, we have significant need across our schools.”
The $105,000 will come from Title I carryover funds—federal money left unspent from the previous year that must go toward targeted efforts at Title I schools. The district has until Sept. 30 to spend the money or return it.
Each campus will have some autonomy over how students earn tokens and distribute books. District librarian Catrina Hanna said the machines could become part of existing recognition programs, such as student-of-the-month celebrations.
The machines will likely be kept in school libraries or front offices and stocked with high-interest, grade-appropriate books.
“We’re going to be putting things in them that they’re going to want to read instead of things that they may have been given for free or they’ve seen in their classroom,” Hanna said.
Board member Nathan Williams said the proposal reminded him of the excitement surrounding Scholastic book fairs.
“To have something like this is just … so unique and different,” Williams said. “What better way to reward students but with books and encourage reading.”
The district already has some evidence that the novelty works. Winifred Pifer has used a book vending machine for an entire school year, and when district officials recently approached the school about the carryover funding, staff asked for money to replenish its supply.
“They are also very excited about it because kids responded to it,” Haley said.
With the Title I carryover funds facing a Sept. 30 spending deadline, Haley said the district needed to move quickly.
“These are kind of, at this point, use them or lose them,” she said. ∆
This article appears in Aug 27 – Sept 3, 2026.
