*Any questions that you have pertaining to money please see the school secretary for more details. 

Grade-Level Budget

• Teams will be responsible for maintaining their own budget records. 

• Teams should work together to plan for budgetary needs that impact the whole team.  REMINDER: There is no such thing as “extra money” so stay within your budgets. Also, make sure to allot money for shipping and handling. 

Purchase Orders (PO's)

• Requisition forms are available in the main office through the secretary. These must be filled out completely by team leaders and before submitting them to the principal’s secretary.   All purchase orders are due at the end of the school year for the upcoming year. The campus secretary will then input the information into the purchase order system in July for the new school year. Any orders not submitted at the EOY must have approval.  

• Please make sure that you allot money for shipping and handling.

 Supply Request

• Frequently used items such as staples, tape, paper clips, etc. are kept in stock at the front office. Classroom supplies will be given at the beginning of the year. If you need additional supplies from the front office, please stop by the front office or call the front office to request a supply. The campus secretary is happy to fullfill a need. 

We can only purchase from MISD approved vendors. 

Cash/Checks

• All money that is received by the school must be documented in written form.  Please see the school secretary for more information or before you plan to accrue money to ensure that proper procedures are followed. Do not accept post-dated or temporary checks from parents for any reason. Checks are deposited daily/weekly by the school secretary based upon need. 

• We cannot accept checks written out to teachers or to cash. 

• Teachers should not keep collected money in the classrooms overnight.   Please bring it to the office and secretary can put it in safe overnight. 

• All money collected needs to be deposited the same week it is collected, please discuss this with the secretary as it takes time to prepare deposit transaction forms. 

• If you are accumulating money for field trips, fundraisers, book orders, etc. you should turn it into the secretary each afternoon to be locked away in a secure place. 

• Please make sure your substitute folder contains communication about how to turn in money received by a student. During times of money collection (field trip, camp, etc), team leaders should also follow up with the substitutes on their team. Substitutes are not allowed to handle cash collection. The team leader should collect the cash from the sub and turn it into the campus secretary before the end of the day. 

•  Transactions that have not been completed may be picked up each morning until all monies are collected (i.e. field trip collections, etc.) 

• Routinely, PTA and school fundraisers will occur on campus and you will be receiving money for these purposes.  Please make sure that all fundraising money goes to the proper place (school secretary or PTA member) by 3:00 p.m. each day. This is to ensure that money left in the building overnight will not be sitting in the mailboxes and will be locked away. 

Book Orders

• Checks or money orders must be made payable to the book company when receiving money for student book orders.  

Reimbursement

• Teachers may not purchase supplies then ask to be reimbursed without prior approval from the principal.  

• If you do receive prior approval to purchase supplies keep in mind that TAX IS NOT reimbursable and you must choose an approved MISD vendor.  This means that you will need to plan ahead to obtain a tax-exempt form from the secretary before purchasing. 

•  Make sure to save the receipt in order to provide the secretary with written documentation for the purchase. Reimbursement is only available with the original receipt – copies are not accepted.  

Travel Expenses

• All travel expenses must be approved in advance.  See the school secretary if you need more information regarding this topic.

Fundraising

• McGowen Elementary will conduct annual fundraisers each year according to MISD fundraiser guidelines and in addition to PTA fundraisers. 

• No committee or special group should approach our PTA for funds without first discussing it with the principal. 

• All financial assistance requests should start with campus administrators.  Please see BUDGETS for more information.

Grant Request

• Teachers must get prior principal approval for all grant requests, including MEF.