Section 350.15  Acquisition Procedures

a)         Students shall not be assessed a fee for any textbook or book substitute provided under the Secular Textbook Loan Program.

b)         Eligible applicants shall provide parents with a brief written explanation of the textbook loan program and the process for a parent/guardian or student to request the loan of a secular textbook in a student handbook, newsletter or flyer or by similar means.  A parent/guardian or student may request the loan of a secular textbook(s) by submitting an individual request (see Section 18-17 of the School Code).  School districts shall develop procedures for taking a request from a parent/guardian or student.

c)         Requested textbooks shall be those that have been adopted for use in the district or school and that are available from those vendors participating in the program.  The State Board of Education each fiscal year shall provide on its electronic textbook loan system the list of participating vendors and the list of secular textbooks that the State Board of Education has identified as eligible under the program.

d)         By the end of November of each year, the State Superintendent of Education will identify the grade levels to be funded and calculate the per-pupil allocation.  Those school administrators with schools eligible to participate will be notified in writing or electronically as to the total amount available to their students to be used for the grade levels identified for funding (the per-pupil allocation will be based upon the total amount of funds appropriated for the program and the total statewide public and nonpublic school enrollment in the specific grade levels to be funded, as of the last school day in September of the most recent school year for which data are available)

e)         The request shall be completed by the school administrator.  Electronic submission of the request shall certify compliance with Section 18-17 of the School Code and this Part, as well as with Article X, Section 3, of the Illinois Constitution, which provides in pertinent part that no funds may be used to help support or sustain any institution controlled by any church or sectarian denomination.

f)          Each eligible applicant shall submit its completed request on or before March 15.  Eligible applicants will be unable to access the electronic request system after this deadline.

g)         Each school administrator shall be informed either in writing or electronically by April 15 as to the specific textbooks that will be purchased.

h)         On a form provided by the State Superintendent of Education, the school administrator shall confirm that the quantity and titles of all textbooks received are the same as ordered.  Such confirmation shall be mailed or faxed to the State Board of Education, using the address or fax number provided on the form, within seven days after receipt of the textbooks.

i)          All textbooks provided through the program shall be listed on an inventory maintained by the State Board of Education.  Each school shall identify (stamp) the materials received under the program as "Property of the State of Illinois, School Year          ".

j)          Each recipient shall have procedures to assure the return of all textbooks from those to whom they have been loaned.

(Source:  Amended at 32 Ill. Reg. 4836, effective March 21, 2008)