[tasla] FW: Book $

[Laboon, Jennifer]

A question for the group-
In North Texas we've found a discrepancy over whether districts are allowed to spend bond money on library books-some are, some are not.  We are hoping that someone else in the state has a good answer.  We may need to pursue this on a larger scale, as the ramifications of library books not being allowed will have a huge impact on our ability to have quality opening day collections.

Here is one district's business manager's response when they were questioned about not being able to use their bond money on books:


Not a simple  answer...generally, the use of bonds has to meet the education code, and is outlined in the official statement when the bonds are sold...the question is more than likely directed to why we can't use bond money for library books....that answer is that our auditors tell us that GASB (the national accounting board) won't allow us to capitalize library books, so they will not be an asset on our books. That means that when we spend bond dollars on library books, we don't have an asset to show for the expenditure. That creates a "negative asset" situation, which causes us major problems with TEA and our finance accountability system.



Anyone have a good legal answer to this response?



Thanks for your help!  This could be big if the other districts decide to adopt this policy!

Jennifer D. LaBoon
FWISD Library Media Services
3150 McCart Ave
Fort Worth, Texas 76110
office 817-922-4420
fax 817-922-4415
jennifer.laboon at fwisd.org



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