“Money, That’s All I Want!?!” By the Beatles Textbook Waivers and Reimbursements TCAT Conference December, 2009 Melanie Kelley Plano Independent School District

Priorities Scheduling your time to submit textbook waivers and reimbursements will add some financial support back to your district’s budget. “The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.” –Stephen R. Covey

Application Process According to TEA, “application for textbook waivers will be accepted for consideration only for subjects for which no instructional materials were adopted.” The list of eligible course instructional materials is located on the internet for TEA at waivers/subjectsnobids.pdf. See Handout 1. waivers/subjectsnobids.pdf

Application Process To find the procedures for the textbook waivers applications and reimbursements navigate to the following TEA Web site index: books/waivers/index.html. books/waivers/index.html You can also locate this information by going to the following TEA Web Site: Index A-Z 3.Textbook Waivers

Application Process Contact your curriculum coordinator or whoever purchases non-state adopted instructional materials/ textbooks for copies of the purchase orders/invoices needed for the documentation phase for textbook reimbursements. You can submit your district’s waiver application the same school year you are asking for reimbursements as long as the books purchased are after the State Waiver Unit has approved your waiver application form. You can apply for your district’s waivers at anytime but try to do it the same time each year for continuity. See Handout 2.

Waiver Application Waiver application form page 1. This form is located at Handout 2.

Waiver Application Waiver application form page 2. This form is located at Handout 2.

Waiver Application The same waiver application form is used not only for applying for these expedited waivers referencing textbook adoption proclamations, but also for those waivers that reference staff development days, early release days, modified schedule/TAKS testing days, etc. Coordinate with your various administrators, if possible, to apply for all the waivers at the same time.

Waiver Application See Handout 2. On the Waiver Application Form Sections 1-3 must be completed in full. Those sections contain contact information and the various signatures required for waiver application submission. After the waiver application is completed, the Site-Based Decision Making Committee for your school district must approve the waiver to be submitted to the school board. Once that committee approval is obtained, the final step in the application phase is to send the waiver application to the school board for approval. The superintendent and the school board president must sign the application. The date of board approval and the tallied board votes also must be entered on the application.

Waiver Application Yahoo, your district school board approved it – now what! See Handout 2. Fax or mail the waiver application to the State Waiver Unit. That information is located on the bottom of your waiver application. If the application is faxed to the State Waiver Unit, the fax transmission verification report with the number of pages, date and time is your backup. Paper trails are a must! See Handout 3. Check the waiver site periodically at s.Web/Default.aspx. Usually within a month of submission of the waiver application the approval will be recorded. If there is a problem, you will be notified. s.Web/Default.aspx

Waiver Application Handout 3. Access TEA Waivers Online Report

Reimbursement Process After TEA has posted your waiver approval, start the reimbursement process depending on the time of year. Annually, start this process in late May or early June when most of the textbooks have been purchased for that school year and you have applied for the state waiver approval the previous fall after school has started. I file textbook reimbursements with TEA by the end of June after school is out, however you can submit reimbursements every time you purchase textbooks as long as your waiver approval is on file with the state. I prefer to do it once a year, if possible. Textbook reimbursements are for the prior school year, i.e., applying for reimbursement in June, 2009 for textbooks purchased July 1, 2008 to June, Again, make sure your waiver approval and your textbook purchases are before the date you are requesting reimbursements.

Reimbursement Process TEA requires the following documents to receive reimbursements: 1.“Request for Reimbursement for Non- State Adopted Textbooks” form and 2.Copies of invoices or purchase orders for the textbooks purchased. See Handout 4.

Reimbursement Process Form to Request Reimbursements for Non-State Adopted Textbooks Handout 4.

Ask whoever types or files your purchase orders/invoices to put the ISBN and the Edition, if possible, directly on the purchase orders/invoices. – Paper Trail Use a separate form for each category i.e., AP/IB, LOTE and Fine Arts, etc. Fill out line items for each purchase order. Don’t panic if you do not have all of the information – Copyright and Edition is not always available, however, ISBN is a must. Be sequential-file each purchase order/ invoice copy in order of line items on the reimbursement form. File the copies behind each form then move to the next category. Be systematic – it will help you and TEA with any questions. Reimbursement Process

Sample Form to Request Reimbursements for Non-State Adopted Textbooks Handout 5.

Sample Copies of Purchase Orders/Invoices for Documentation Reimbursement Process Handout 6.

Fax your completed forms and backup purchase orders/invoices to Always include a cover page with your contact information. Your contact information allows TEA to be able to call or fax you with any questions or additional information you may need to provide. Again, you will have a backup of all the information you sent via fax with the transmission verification report. Reimbursement Process

“The amount of reimbursement applies to the actual textbook cost or state maximum cost, whichever is lower.” You can calculate an estimation of the money you will receive based on Handout 1 list and your costs submitted. Based upon our sample reimbursement form, the following estimated deposit will be received: Reimbursement Process Refer to Handouts 1 and 5. Chinese 1 textbook cost $90.75 Reimbursement cost $ x 260 students = $10,400 AP Art History textbook cost $90.00 Reimbursement cost $ x 18 students = $1, Total estimated reimbursement =$11,535.26

You are finished! Now you wait for the money to be deposited into your district’s account. Sometimes you receive notification of the deposit from TEA but not always. Check with your finance department and ask them to let you know about funds deposited they have not requested. Based upon your estimate you should be able to recognize the deposit amount or at least close to the amount you figured. Our district usually receives our deposit sometime between October and December, but sometimes even earlier. Once your deposit has been received it is time to do the “happy dance” until next year. You only have to apply for the textbook waivers every three years but you have to file for the reimbursements annually. Reimbursement Process

Here are a couple of things to remember: 1.Once you have been reimbursed for textbooks, those textbooks are now property of the state like your regular inventory. 2.You must claim them on your inventory, however, you do not have to send them out or show them as surplus. 3.There is a line where you indicate these are locally purchased textbooks and the textbooks cannot be sent out due to changing yearly enrollments. Reimbursement Process

Textbook Waivers & Reimbursements Congratulations you have gone through the process to receive funds from TEA for eligible textbooks purchased that school year! Sit back and pat yourself on the back! If you have any questions, you can always contact me any time at the following: Melanie Kelley Plano ISD Phone: Fax:

Thank you and good luck! Money, it’s all we want!! Go for it!! “I have learned as a rule of thumb, never to ask whether you can do something. Say, instead, that you are doing it. Then fasten your seatbelt. The most remarkable things follow.” Julia Cameron