Texas is one of 22 states with a process for approval and adoption of instructional materials. The Texas Constitution, Article VII, Section 3, requires that the State Board of Education (SBOE) set aside sufficient money to provide free textbooks for children attending the public schools in the state. In accordance with this constitutional requirement and provisions of the Texas Education Code, each year a portion of the Available School Fund is reserved by the SBOE to purchase instructional materials. Funds to be expended on instructional materials are appropriated by the Texas Legislature.

The EMAT system contains over 11,000 Textbook products.  New products are approved by the SBOE each year.  Each year the Textbook Agency Staff go through an adoptions process for new products for the new proclamation year.  Publishers submit their new products to the Textbook Division Agency Staff each year during the Adoptions process.  TEA Textbook Administration staff then enters all proposed products into the Intent to Bid List contained in the Adoptions database.  Reports and lists generated from the Adoptions database are used to check publisher textbook samples, create Reviewer Evaluation Instruments, and are used for review panel reporting purposes.  Once the information is reviewed, corrected, and finalized for adoptions, the final list of adopted textbooks is exported and sent to EMAT personnel.  Updates are completed to add the new multiple list codes, new vendors, new depositories, and to import the file into the EMAT Adoptions process.  The Agency staff then finalizes the textbook information for EMAT purposes and test orders are sent to the publishers.  Once validated, the Adoptions data is migrated into production EMAT along with the PEIMS population counts so that the Textbook requisition process for the new school year can begin.

Publishers who plan to offer instructional materials for adoption in the state provide finished-format review samples to the Texas Education Agency, each of the 20 regional education service centers, and members of the appropriate state textbook review panels appointed by the Commissioner of Education.

The members of the state textbook review panels are charged with the process of evaluating all instructional materials to determine if the materials cover the essential knowledge and skills (TEKS) requirements.  The materials are also reviewed for factual errors. At the close of the review period, panel members submit evaluations to the Commissioner of Education. Based on these evaluations, the Commissioner prepares a preliminary report recommending that instructional materials be placed on the conforming list, the nonconforming list, or be rejected.

Texas residents file written comments regarding instructional materials submitted for adoption. A public hearing is held before the SBOE approximately two months before the materials are scheduled for adoption.

After consideration of evaluations submitted by the state review panel members, other information provided by publishers, and staff recommendations, the Commissioner of Education submits a final report to the SBOE recommending that instructional materials submitted be placed on the conforming list, placed on the nonconforming list, or rejected.  A report detailing any factual errors to be corrected in instructional materials prior to delivery to school districts is also presented.

Bids for new instructional materials from the publishing industry are solicited by means of a proclamation issued by the SBOE no later than 24 months prior to scheduled adoption of new materials.  The proclamation identifies subject areas scheduled for review in a given year and contains content requirements (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills – TEKS), maximum costs to the state for instructional materials, an estimated number of units to be purchased during the first contract year for each of the subject areas and/or grade levels, and a detailed calendar of adoption procedures.  Specifications for providing computerized files to produce Braille versions of adopted materials and a schedule for the adoption process are contained in the proclamation.  

The Commissioner of Education shall determine the number of review panels needed to determine the number of persons to serve on each panel, and determine the number of persons to serve on each panel, and determine the criteria for selecting panel members.  The Commissioner of Education with the advice and consent of the State Board of Education (SBOE) member whose district is to be represented shall make each appointment to a state panel. 

Publishers are required to provide complete descriptions of newly adopted instructional materials to all school districts and open-enrollment charter schools; however, a district retains the option of requesting one complete official sample. Publishers are responsible for all aspects of the shipment and retrieval of sample materials and bear all costs of the sampling process.

Each local board of trustees is responsible for determining appropriate local policy for selecting new instructional materials. However, with the exception detailed in the following paragraph, only state-adopted instructional materials ratified by a school district's board of trustees will be purchased by the state for districts.

For enrichment subjects, school districts are allowed to select non-adopted instructional materials. The state pays the district the lesser of: (1) 70 percent of the cost of the materials to the district based on the applicable quota for adopted materials in the subject; or (2) 70 percent of the maximum cost to the state established in the proclamation for the subject based on the applicable quota for adopted materials in the subject. School districts electing to order non-adopted instructional materials will be responsible for the remainder of the cost.

All districts are required to complete the annual requisition requesting newly adopted textbooks and all additional textbooks to meet membership for fall classes by April 1. (19 TAC 66.104(g)  Orders for new instructional materials are transmitted to the agency for processing.  Local adoption, requisition, and membership data are entered into an automated system for verification based on the enrollment (PEIMS enrollment) of the district and the distribution quota established for the course or subject.

TEC Sections 31.151(a)(6), 31.103(b), and 31.104(b) require publishers with state-adopted textbooks to maintain a textbook depository in Texas to ensure that sufficient stock is available for Texas school.  H.B. 992 passed May, 2001, amended this statue to require that exceptions to the depository requirement be made when a publisher is located within 300 miles of the Texas border, and further requires that the state order textbooks directly from the publisher if the publisher is not required to have a depository in Texas. 

Instructional materials are ordered and shipped from one or more of the depositories. Shipments are made to school districts throughout the summer based on the district's preferred shipment date. After the first day of school, requisitions are processed within one day of receipt.  Depositories are instructed to ship materials as soon as the orders are received from the agency. Districts are allowed to submit orders throughout the school year, as necessary. Instructional materials are usually shipped within seven days of receipt of a requisition.

The Texas Education Code, Chapter 31, provides for adoption of two separate lists of instructional materials, conforming, and nonconforming. 

Conforming are those textbooks that meet 100% of the
      Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for the
      grade and subject, are error-free, and meet the
      manufacturing standard.

Nonconforming are those textbooks that meet at least
      50 - 99% of the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills
     (TEKS) for the grade and subject, are error-free, and
      meet the manufacturing standards.

Consumable materials are those textbooks and materials that are designed to be completely used up during the each school year.  These materials will be used up within the year purchased and will be replaced at the beginning of each year.  Some consumable materials can have a life for longer than a year.  Charges for districts’ consumable textbooks are deleted at the end of the school year.  Districts are instructed to order the necessary consumable textbooks to be used in the next school year.  Districts may order consumable textbooks from any publisher whose textbooks are adopted by the district in the subject area.

According to the Texas Education Code, sec 28.002, the teaching of the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for the foundation curriculum is required of school districts and open-enrollment charter schools, whereas enrichment curriculum subjects are simply used as guidelines for school districts and charter schools.

Examples of these categories are:

Some teacher materials are part of the state-adopted programs for materials and textbooks while others are not.  State-adopted teacher materials are listed in the Instructional Materials Bulletin (formerly Current Adoption Bulletin, have a separate ISBN, and an individual price.  Orders for these are verified against the number of teachers the district reports for a subject. 

Free-with-order teacher materials are not listed separately and are ordered as an aid to state-adopted pupil materials.  Orders for these materials are not verified against any teacher data, but are forwarded to the depository for shipment.

Ancillary materials are materials listed by a publisher to be given away at no charge to districts and charter schools that order a publisher’s products.  These are in addition to the free-with-order teacher editions that were bid as part of the package and were reviewed by a state review panel and adopted by the State Board of Education.  Ancillary materials are not bid nor reviewed at the state level, and are not part of the state adoption.  Publishers set their own distribution quotas for ancillary materials.

The Division of Textbook Administration is responsible for enforcing the textbook laws and rules as set forth by the legislature and State Board of Education.  It is the division’s duty to provide districts with all necessary forms, instructions, and information to requisition and receive the necessary textbook products and materials for all student populations, including the visually impaired.  

EMAT allows the textbook administration team to order materials designed for the visually impaired student population.  Currently, these materials are ordered through a manual process, however EMAT  now provides screens to accommodate the order of EVI materials online.  The EVI screens are similar to those used to order textbooks by creating the annual or supplemental requisition.  Links are provided to allow the EVI user to peruse the inventory, and to return shipments in the same manner that regular textbook materials are returned.  The EVI user is able to view the status of the shipping invoices.

Students must be certified as being visually impaired and included in the Annual Registration of Students with Visual Impairment to be eligible for Braille/Large Type textbooks.  The Annual Registration is collected by the local Special Education Department and reported every January to the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired.  Students not listed on the Annual Registration must be reported in writing to Textbook Administration.

Some districts employ a separate staff member responsible for the ordering of materials for the visually impaired, whereas in other districts, this task is completed by the district textbook coordinator.

The Textbook Coordinator controls all textbook activity within the district and coordinates all textbook activity for that district with the Division of Textbook Administration. 

At the district level, the district textbook coordinator:

·         Assumes responsibility for accounting of adopted instructional materials.

·         Maintains all records of activity including textbook distribution to and transfer from all schools within the system.

·         Is responsible for administration of money for lost or destroyed textbooks, and for return and replacement textbooks.

·         Is responsible for the order of EVI materials if there is no other personnel assigned this responsibility.

Note:      Prior to the passage of H.B. 623, in May, 2001 all textbooks were required to be numbered and marked with the property seal of the ‘State of Texas’.  This bill removed all textbook-numbering requirements, and allowed school districts to use whatever means of tracking inventory that they choose.

At the Administrative level, the district coordinator:

·         Completes requisition forms for adopted instructional materials, and submits orders.

·         Accepts shipments for the district,

·         Is responsible for all shipments of textbooks from the district,

·         Manages funds for textbooks lost or destroyed, and for return and replacement textbooks.

The EMAT application maintains profile, requisition, and population data, as well as both regular and surplus inventory for each School District and Charter School.  The profile data is obtained nightly from the AskTED database.  The interface updates the general School District and Charter School data.  The EMAT application allows the Textbook Coordinators from each School District and Charter School to update profile.  The Agency staff use the administrative section of the EMAT application to assign a Textbook Coordinator for each of the School Districts.

The requisition links allow the School Districts and Charter schools to create new and open in progress requisitions as well as view current and past requisitions and orders.

The population data is imported at the beginning of each adoptions cycle and is updated by the School Districts and Charter Schools throughout the year.  Populations assure that the School Districts and Charter Schools do not order in excess of the population count, plus the 103% quota.

Using the Internet, textbook coordinators connect to the EMAT application and complete many tasks, including requisitioning textbooks, updating populations, and viewing the online district inventory.  Through electronic data interchange (EDI), EMAT also connects to the system of depositories and freight companies, automating many of the processes involved in the ordering and shipping of textbooks.

Development of the new EMAT Online system began in 1997, and in the spring of 1998, twenty school districts pilot tested the new system by completing their annual requisitions online.  EMAT Online is now available for use by Textbook Administration and the districts.  It contains the functionality to service publishers, depositories, and freight companies.  EMAT continues to undergo extensive system development, with changes, additions, and refinements continuously in process. 

This reference describes the duties and roles of the district Textbook Coordinator, and is provided as a reference guide for the coordinator and district personnel.   

EMAT online offers the ability to complete many tasks online, including the following:

Viewing and updating textbook information,

Viewing and updating school district populations (enrollments)

Completing annual and supplemental requisitions,

Reporting textbooks for interim shipment (TEX-031)

Reporting payment for textbooks (TEX-009)

Reporting destroyed textbooks (TEX-012)

Viewing school district online inventory

Scheduling and printing reports in diverse formats.

The following software requirements allow access to the EMAT system. 

   ·    Internet service from an Internet service provider (ISP). 

·         EMAT Online requires use of Microsoft Internet Explorer (4.0 or above), and particularly when scheduling and printing reports from EMAT. 

FNote:    The use of any other Internet browser (ex.: Netscape) is not supported, nor recommended with EMAT Online. 

·         A user id from TEA. 

No other special software is required.  If you currently have an Internet connection, then you only need a user ID from TEA.

Access to EMAT is obtained through the TEA Security Environment screen (TEASE). TEASE manages access to secure web-based applications supported by TEA.

EMAT (Educational Materials and Procurement system) is a web-based application providing centralized storage of data and databases. EMAT is designed for multi-user access. When users sign on to the system through TEASE and supply a pre-assigned password, they see only those features of EMAT that are allowed by their user sign on privilege, and are needed for their responsibility roles.  

The EMAT system provides for each district, depository, or freight vendor:

·         one main user, and

·         two alternate users.

The district Textbook Coordinator and district personnel utilize the EMAT production database.

Production Database – This database supplies the data for the production environment.  This is the live  or real data that is used by the school districts, and Textbook Administration to coordinate processing of textbooks and materials for the current school year.

With hundreds of users accessing EMAT, the task of managing security rights is simplified by using a hierarchical approach. User privileges will vary based upon predefined access by TEA administration.  

Figure 1.  EMAT Hierarchy

EMAT Online displays three types of color-coded error messages for requisitions.

Please remember that all populations’ data used by EMAT is taken from the PEIMS fall submission.  If your district’s data has changed since the last count, please update your population counts before creating any requisition, either annual or supplemental.  Note also that the teacher counts population data must be updated if you are ordering free teacher materials.  Teacher counts are not part of the PEIMS migration data and therefore will not appear in the teacher population count.  You must update this count according to your district records.  

Yellow Message  Notifies the district that the textbook is above the maximum price cost. 
This message warns the district that the total number of materials ordered is not aligned with the number of student counts in the student population database (PEIMS).  The district is advised to always double check the number ordered and verify that the number was not entered in error. 

For EVI -  the yellow warning message appears when the coordinator attempts to order more than one single VI material item.

EMAT will allow the user to submit a requisition with a yellow warning, however the district is liable for all costs above the limit established under Section 31.025 (b)(2) of the TEC code. 

Red Message   Indicates that the requisition has exceeded the
maximum allowable order limit. 

EMAT will reject all requisitions containing red          messages.  The district is advised to always double check the number ordered and verify that the number was not entered in error.  

Green Message    Indicates that all data on the requisition is valid             and the requisition successfully processed.

Purple Message    Purple highlighting on the screen indicates an alert to the user that something new has been incorporated or is being displayed. 

For State rules and regulations detailing reimbursement, and costs exceeding eligibility requirements, refer to the Texas Administration Code ss.66.107, Local Accountability.  You may access this material online at www.tea.state.tx.us/textbooks/forms/annual2002letter.html.

You can also log onto the TEA Home page, and click:

Textbooks
Textbook Ordering & Distribution
Forms & Downloads
To the Textbook Coordinator Addressed: February 26, 2002

EMAT statuses for requisitions and orders are as follows:

The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is assigned to each individual textbook by the publishing industry.  This number is used to requisition all textbooks through Textbook Administration.  Generally, the ISBN is printed on either the back cover of a book or on its title page.  In the case of multiple volume sets of materials, learning systems, packages of materials, electronic instructional media systems or electronic textbooks, the ISBN used by Textbook Administration will be a unique 10 digit number used only for ordering purposes through TEA.  In these instances, the individual components that make up the sets, systems, or packages may have individual ISBNs that may be used to order the individual components directly from the publishers or depository.

The district user accounts for accessing EMAT Online are managed by the TEA Textbook Administration personnel, assigned to EMAT management duties.  New accounts are created to match the ID set up by the TEASE administrator.  EMAT user names must be unique. When a new account is created, the EMAT Administrator will set up the user profile information and set the access within the EMAT application.

All school district personnel and every EMAT user must fill out a request form to obtain a user ID.  Official forms are available on the EMAT web site:

http://www.tea.state.tx.us/forms/tease/emat.htm

or, follow the links:

Textbooks
Textbook Ordering & Distribution
Forms & Downloads
EMAT User ID Request Form

Who can obtain an EMAT userid:

To obtain an EMAT User ID:

Print a copy of the EMAT request form

Complete the form and submit for approval.  Please indicate Textbook Coordinator or Assistant Textbook Coordinator under Title/Function, and be sure to have it signed by your school district superintendent.

Mail or FAX the form to TEA,

Texas Education Agency

Textbook Administration

1700 North Congress

Austin. TX  78701-3612

Access will be granted to the user for the PRODUCTION system, based on user need.

Once TEA has processed the form, you will be contacted and given a user id and an initial password to log on to EMAT online.  Usually it takes a week to process requests for a user id for EMAT Online.

EMAT User Request Form

Figure 2.  EMAT User Request Form

Section 1:  Requestor Information

To login to the EMAT Online system, open your Internet browser and display the TEA Home Page. 

The Home page can also be accessed using the URL:

         http://www.tea.state.tx.us

                    Figure 3.  Logon to EMAT

Click the link, Curriculum & Educational Programs, the fifth item on the index on the left of the screen to display the Curriculum and Educational Programs page.

Scroll to the very bottom of the programs listing.  Click the link Textbooks (displayed below)

to access the Welcome to Textbook Administration page.

Click the link, Textbook Ordering & Distribution.

Click EMAT Logon to log into the EMAT textbook online system.  The TEASE logon screen will display.

To access the Logon Page directly using the URL address line, enter the following web address into the URL address line.

    http://seguin.tea.state.tx.us/apps/logon.asp

Hint:  Don’t forget to set this Internet address in your bookmarks or favorites folder, as it can be hard to remember or type.

                                              Figure 4.  TEASE Logon

When processing is completed, EMAT users will log out of the EMAT application, and must also log out of the TEASE security environment.

If TEASE senses fifteen minutes of EMAT inactivity, the session will time out and automatically log the user off the system.

REMEMBER! The TEASE timeout is not necessarily set to the same timeout limit as the TEA application that you are logged into.

The EMAT online system has a separate session limitation for inactivity, and can be set to a different time limitation than TEASE.  The EMAT System configuration contains this setting.

If you are experiencing problems logging into the TEASE (TEA Security) System, or if you forget your password – contact the TEA Help Desk.  Their hours of operation are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

            TEA Help Desk  (512) 463-9800

The page design of the EMAT Splash page uses color and consistent display areas to help users pinpoint needed information. 

The left-hand portion of the page contains the contents of the EMAT Index. 

The right-hand side of the screen displays messages regarding the current status of EMAT, or messages used to alert users to changes in operation, or displays the status for daily operations.  Also displayed are critical hints for using EMAT Online. 

Figure 5.  Splash Page

F Note:   Check this page often for system and reminder messages, because the message can change daily.  

WARNING!!   DO NOT DOUBLE CLICK the mouse when using EMAT!!!!  Only click ONCE on each selection.  DOUBLE CLICKING WILL CAUSE SYSTEM ERRORS.  

Each click initiates a new thread or process.  EMAT has a set maximum limit for the number of threads or processes that can be running simultaneously.  If for example the maximum is 10, and the number of threads set off reaches 10, the system goes into overload and locks up.  

The EMAT application maintains and tracks Textbook education material inventories for School Districts and Charter Schools.  These inventory counts are based on the orders that were created in EMAT, the shipments that the School Districts and Charter Schools received, and any adjustments that were made for lost or damaged inventory.  In addition, the School Districts and Charter Schools report surplus inventory in the EMAT system so that it can be tracked and sourced to orders.  The EMAT Online system was developed by TEA, for the school districts to allow them to complete textbook requisition orders online, using a series of screens.  This system allows the textbook coordinator for each district to select all textbooks and materials required for the current school year and submit the order to the depository for shipment before the first day of school.  All requisition orders are reviewed by TEA’s Textbook Administration before submission as final orders.  Shipments are made directly to each ordering district.

EMAT Online also allows district personnel to access the Adoptions certification form, set up the school district profile, create, open, list and view requisitions, manage populations data, manage inventory online, conduct a product search, and generate reports using the EMAT data.   

The following index display shows the EMAT Online Index that the district textbook coordinator user will see when logged in.   

The links under the heading, Textbook School Districts, provide access to a view the profile data for the district textbook coordinator, links for creating textbook order requisitions, links for managing the populations data, links for managing the textbook, and surplus inventory, links for conducting a product search, and allows the user to generate reports for reporting data. 

                                                   Figure 6.  Textbook School District Index

The Help feature is currently under consideration for design, and has not yet been approved for development in the production environment.

The Textbook Coordinator is required to submit the Board of Trustees certification form, notifying the State Board of Education of books and materials selected for the school year.  The certification form is the only document that must be signed by your local board or governing board and returned to the agency.  The form can be accessed online at http://www.tea.state.tx.us/textbooks/forms/certificate.rtf.

This form is included in the Annual Requisition Packet that is mailed to the districts each February. Locate the Annual Requisition Packet online at http://www.tea.state.tx.us/textbooks/2002requisitions.html.  Click the links on the screen to display the forms.   

                                Figure 7.  Annual Requisition Packet Forms

Print each form using the browser print button.

The following is a sample Local Board of Trustees Certification form.

______________________________________                                       __________________________________

District Name                                                                                                        County-District Number
 
 

Local Board of Trustees Certification, 2002

Legal Citation:

Texas Education Code §31.101 requires that, each year, the board of trustees of each district and the governing body of each open-enrollment charter school notify the State Board of Education of the textbooks selected by the board of trustees or governing body for use in the following school year. The law also requires that the board of trustees or governing body notify the State Board of Education if the district or charter school has selected textbooks, in the enrichment curriculum only, that are not on a conforming or nonconforming state-adoption list.

Textbook Requisitions – Business Rules

Each year in March, districts complete their annual requisitions for textbooks and materials.  EMAT Online allows the districts to submit the requisitions using the Internet and the  EMAT online software developed for the school district.  The district or open-enrollment charter school creates a requisition for textbooks on the conforming or nonconforming list as provided by State Board of Education rule, no later than June 1 of each year.  A requisition for textbooks for the upcoming school year is based on the maximum attendance reports plus an additional 10 percent.  In emergency cases, TEA Administration creates a requisition for textbooks as need dictates. 

Once a school district submits a completed online requisition, it is in the EMAT system ready to be submitted as orders.  All submitted requisitions are reviewed by TEA and submitted to the depositories for order.

The introductory section of this chapter explains the rules governing ordering, calculating, and completing of textbook requisitions.  The remainder of the section outlines the procedures the districts use to complete their requisition(s) online.

The EMAT application converts requisitions into orders either manually or nightly.  Manual conversions are usually done during the peak requisition times, which usually fall from April until July, when the school districts are completing their Annual requisitions.  The Textbook Administration staff review, approve, and set up a shipment date for the requisition and then manually submit that requisition to be converted into an order.  The nightly conversion process is usually turned on in the later half of July and runs until March, at which time it is turned off again.  This process will automatically convert completed requisitions into orders each night.

During the conversion process from a requisition to orders, EMAT reviews each line item in the requisition.  EMAT attempts to first fill  each line item from the Surplus Inventory of each of the 1200+ School District and Charter Schools.  If a Surplus Inventory exists, complete or partial orders are created and sourced to the appropriate School Districts and/or Charter School for filling.  School Districts and/or Charter Schools that are sourced orders for filling use the EMAT application to view and fill orders.  If the line item cannot be completely filled from the Surplus Inventories, orders will be created and sourced to the publisher depositories.  Orders sourced to publisher depositories are sent via the EDI system to the depositories.  In addition, the depositories can view orders sourced to them online using EMAT.

As stated in the letter to all textbook coordinators, the new programs adopted for use in school year 2001-2002 are categorized as: 

·         Pupil edition and teacher edition

·         Learning systems or kits with no consumables, traditional or electronic

·         Learning systems or kits with consumables

Districts or charter schools ordering pupil edition materials are entitled to 103 (103%) percent of their enrollment in the subject or grade.  The publishers provide teacher editions for each teacher of the class or grade.

Districts ordering learning systems or kits may order as many as the district needs, but the district must report how many students will be using the kits that are ordered.  The students identified using the kits will not be eligible for additional state-adopted materials.  If a district’s order is split between traditional textbooks and kits, the number of students using kits is subtracted from the overall district eligibility of 103 percent.  Districts should also be aware that orders for kits with few students identified as using the kits could cause the district to bear some of the cost of the kits.  Districts should refer to Proclamation 1998 Instructional Materials before submitting a requisition for kits.

Student records from the PEIMS database are used to populate EMAT Online.  TEA will use October PEIMS data to determine estimated membership for the forthcoming fall.  After the first day of school, enrollment figures will determine membership. (19 TAX 66.104(j))  Documented pre-enrollment figures are used to determine eligibility for textbooks for fall.

Kindergarten through grade 8 student enrollments will be in the database, as districts and charter schools begin the requisition process.  In addition, student records for grades 9-12 will be used for foundation subjects.  Districts or schools ordering materials for other subject areas report those enrollments through EMAT Online populations. 

All requisitions for instructional materials should be based on the maximum number of students enrolled during the school year.  19 TAC §66.107, Local Accountability, was amended to require districts to reimburse the state for the full cost of all materials ordered in excess of eligibility.  Districts and charter schools should order only the number of textbooks actually needed by the students and teachers.  Noncompliance with this rule will require payment to the agency or result in a loss of EMAT privileges.

The Texas Education Code, Section 31.101, provides that school districts may apply for and be eligible to receive reimbursement for the purchase of non-adopted textbooks and materials. 

School districts obtaining approved waivers may receive reimbursement up to the state maximum, or up to the maximum cost of the non-adopted textbook, whichever is lowest. 

Reimbursement for non-state adopted textbooks is provided based on the following terms and conditions:

 

(1)   WAIVER:  AP/IB and Dual Credit courses (college).  The state reimburses 100%, not to exceed the state maximum for the subject or the actual price of the book, whichever is lower.  There is no provision for the 103% percent quota on the reimbursement.  If the district purchased 10 books, they are reimbursed for 10 books.  Currently the state only reimburses for state adopted subject areas.

 
Example:  Statistics is a college level course currently being taught, however no statistics textbooks is supported on the current adoption list, therefore districts are not eligible for reimbursement.

(2)     WAIVER:  Under Proclamation 1999, $387,000 was appropriated for the purchase of state adopted astronomy textbooks.  No textbooks were bid for this subject; therefore a district may apply for an astronomy waiver.  The district could be reimbursed 100% of the state max or the price of the book whichever is lower.

(3)     OFFLIST:  Refers to TEC 31.101.  A district may purchase an ‘offlist’ non-state adopted textbook for an "enrichment" subject area only, and only during the year which that enrichment subject is adopted.  The reimbursement for the enrichment ‘offlist’ is 70% of the state max, or the price of the book, whichever is lower.

For more information about waivers, please refer to the State Waivers link under the School Law and Rules heading of the Texas Education Agency’s web page, or see the Appendix of this document. 

The state uses the same method to purchase both conforming and nonconforming textbooks.  All textbooks that are priced at or below the maximum price established by the State Board of Education will be fully funded.  Districts will be responsible for paying the difference between the maximum established for the category and the actual price of the textbook only if the actual cost is higher than the maximum.  EMAT Online calculates the purchase of textbooks and materials according to the rules of the following statutes.   

Texas Education Code, Chapter 31.025, provides that the State Board of Education set a limit on the cost that may be paid from the state textbook fund for textbooks.  Section 31.025(b) provides that if a school district or open-enrollment charter school selects textbooks that exceed the limit established,

(1)          the state shall pay the publisher an amount equal to the limit established under this subsection multiplied by the number of textbooks the district or school requisitions; and

(2)          the district or school is responsible for the remainder of the cost. 

TEC, section 31.021 (d) provides that all money transferred to the state textbook fund remains in the fund until spent and does not lapse to the state at the end of the fiscal year. 

TEC, section 31.101 (a) provides that all school districts and open-enrollment charter schools notify the State Board of Education of the textbooks selected from the conforming and non-conforming lists. 

Section 31.101 (b) states that if a school district or charter school selects textbooks for a subject in the enrichment curriculum and grade level that is not on the conforming or non-conforming lists, the state shall pay the district or school an amount equal to the lesser of:

(1)    70% of the cost to the district of the textbook multiplied by the number of textbooks for that subject and grade level; or

(2)    70% of the limitation established under sec. 31.025 for a textbook for that subject and grade level; multiplied by the number of textbooks the district or school needs for that subject and grade level

Section 31.101(c) provides that if a school district or charter school selects a textbook that is not on the conforming and nonconforming list:

(1)          the school district or charter school is responsible for the portion of the cost of the textbook that is not paid by the state under Subsection (b); and

(2)          may use funds received from the state under Subsection (b) only for purchasing the textbook for which the funds were received.

Section 31.106 provides that a school district or charter school may use local funds to purchase any additional textbooks or materials.

EMAT Online immediately notifies districts and charter schools when textbooks and materials are selected that cost more than the maximum.  A yellow warning message is displayed above the order on the screen, if a product is ordered over the state maximum. 

Districts that intend to use materials that are not on either the conforming or nonconforming list and that are in enrichment subjects should notify the agency when other local selections are made.  A space on the Local Board of Trustees Certification form is provided for this purpose.  Districts that choose “off-list” titles are instructed that the state will reimburse the district 70 percent of the actual cost of the off-list material or 70 percent of the maximum cost for the category, whichever is lower.  Districts and charter schools will need to provide invoices, a copy of the Local Board of Trustees Certification, and subject enrollment for the enrichment course to Textbook Administration showing that materials were purchased before reimbursement will be made.

F    Note: All subjects listed in Proclamation 1999 are considered foundation subjects.  Off-list textbooks selected for any of the subjects in Proclamation 1999 will not be eligible for reimbursement under the 70%/30% law.

Districts will order off level products when ordering a textbook that is a higher grade level product than the grade in which the student is enrolled, i.e. assigning a fourth grade math textbook for a third grade student.  Off-level requisitions are subject to the following rules.

·         An off-level requisition can be created at any time.  Off-level are separate requisitions from the annual or supplemental.

·         Only one off-level requisition is allowed to be open and active at any time, but can be re-opened as needed.  Once the off-level requisition reaches the ordered status, a second off-level requisition can be created.

Districts and charter schools will not be allowed to enter or change shipment dates on annual requisitions.  Textbook Administration will enter the shipment date based on the district’s or charter school’s preference as stated on the Local Board of Trustees Certification form and upon availability of the date.

Section 31.151(7) of the Texas Education Code provides that a publisher or manufacturer of textbooks shall guarantee delivery of textbooks before the opening day of school, of the year for which the textbooks are ordered, if the textbooks are ordered by a date specified in the sales contract.

Replacement textbooks orders will be considered for wrong order situations, i.e. inappropriate material for the student, but not when the replacement is being requested due to a teacher’s preference for another textbook title. 

·         If the actual shipment date is more than three weeks away, the district may submit a change order either via EMAT Online or by calling Textbook Administration.

·         If the requested shipment date is less than three weeks away, or the title has already been shipped, contact the depository that made the shipment.

·         The depository has discretionary authority to allow returns of already shipped materials, and will issue instructions to return the materials.  When the materials are received, credit is issued to the agency; the district may then request the correct title on a supplemental order. 

The swapping of one title for another, after the textbook materials have been used by the district, is prohibited.  This means that if a teacher finds he/she prefers another titled textbook over the one ordered, an exchange is not allowed at the state budget’s expense. 

Payment records are generated in EMAT once a week, on Thursday morning.  The EMAT application generates payments for the depositories and freight vendors based upon the valid invoices that EMAT received from them.  The EMAT application contains an ISAS interface that allows Textbook Administration staff to enter the weekly allocation of funds from the accounting division.  In addition, the EMAT application allows the Textbook staff to view the pending payments and to select from this list those payments that will be sent to ISAS for payment.  EMAT has a process that runs every day at 5pm to push the selected payments to ISAS.  ISAS then interfaces with USAS to generate the actual payment vouchers.  EMAT runs another process each morning to grab any payment feedback from ISAS.

EMAT Online Screens for Textbook Order

Set Profile allows each school district to maintain its own profile data.  Included in the profile are:

·      school district profile information,

·      primary textbook coordinator name, address, phone and FAX number, TEASE logon id, and internal user id,

·      display of the school district’s alternate address, delivery point address, mailing address, and site address.

Currently, school districts will maintain the upper half of the profile screen, i.e. all data above the blue school district address line.  The bottom half of the profile screen, containing the alternate and delivery addresses is maintained by TEA personnel. 

Figure 8.  Set School District Profile

Types of Textbook Requisitions

The school districts must complete and submit requisitions to TEA
for textbooks and materials needed for each school year.  TEA’s Textbook Administration division reviews the submitted requisition orders. When verified and approved, Textbook Administration creates an order and submits the order(s) to the depositories for shipment.  Shipments are made directly to the school districts.

Using EMAT Online, the school districts are able to:

·         create new requisition orders,

·         create supplemental requisitions,

·         create off-level requisitions,

·         open any in-progress requisitions,

·         re-open a completed annual or off-level requisition; edit and re-submit,

·         list all current requisitions,

·         order list – view all requisition orders

Requisitions are submitted as annual, supplemental, or off-level. 

Annual – The original order for all textbooks;

Supplemental – allows user to order additional textbooks and materials only after the annual has been ordered.

Off-Level – allows user to order a higher level product for a lower grade level pupil.  Can be ordered at any time, however only one off-level requisition can be active at a time. A second off-level requisition is created only after the original is ordered.

All districts are required to complete the annual requisition requesting newly adopted textbooks and all additional textbooks by April 1^st, to meet membership for fall classes. (19 TAC 66.104(g)) 

Create an annual requisition only once a year; additional requisitions will be supplemental, or off-level. 

Each School District or Charter School is allowed one annual requisition per year.  The annual requisition is the first requisition for the new school year and usually contains the bulk of the products requisitioned for the new school year.  The annual requisition is reviewed and approved by Textbook Administration staff and a shipment date is assigned prior to releasing it to an order.

TEA uses October PEIMS data to determine estimated membership or populations for the fall.  After the first day of school, enrollment figures will determine membership. (19 TAC 66.104(j))  Documented pre-enrollment figures are used to determine eligibility for textbooks for fall. 

All EMAT population data is migrated automatically from PEIMS, using the October submission.  Student records from the fall PEIMS submission are used for all grade level enrollments; enrollment data is displayed on the screens in EMAT Online. If no data is available from the migration, the district must enter its own enrollment data based on the current year’s highest enrollment figures.  The data for all elementary (K through 6) is based on grade enrollment, while data for grades 7 through 12 is based on subject areas.

Districts and charter schools update their enrollments with accurate information whenever an order is submitted. Shipping begins June 1^st and continues through February 15^th of the following year. 

If changes or additions to the annual requisition are needed, the annual requisition can be re-opened until the status displays “ordered”.  A district cannot re-open an “ordered” annual requisition.  A supplemental requisition is created. 

Note:   Each district will create an annual requisition only once a year that is to be submitted on or before April 1^st.  All other requisitions are supplemental requisitions, or off-level requisitions.

Each School District or Charter School can file any number of Supplemental requisitions.  Supplemental requisitions are usually created to supplement the annual requisition in case a product was missed or not enough ordered, or when changes occur in student populations such as new students are added and more products are needed. 

If the district submits additional textbook requisitions after the annual has been ordered, the district must submit a supplemental requisition. The following conditions must be met for a supplemental to be created.

·         The annual requisition must be in ordered status;

·         There can be no currently existing in-progress requisitions for the district.

The following information is needed for an annual, supplemental, and off-level order:   

·         The ISBN and complete title of the material being ordered.

·         The multiple list code (mlc) for the subject. 

·         The current number of students enrolled in the grade or subject.  

Additionally for a supplemental:

·         The current number of teachers if ordering state-adopted teacher materials;

·         The order for the free-with-order teacher materials,

·         The number of worn-out textbooks for the subject(s) area (s) for which textbooks are being ordered (optional),

·         The number of textbooks that have been lost and are being paid for (optional).

These requisitions cover requests for products that are above the current grade level of a student or students.  A School District or Charter School can create any number of Off-Level requisitions.  In cases where students excel in a subject and are learning at a grade level above their own, higher grade level products can be requested using the Off-Level requisition.  Products ordered through the Off-Level requisition process are sourced against the student’s actual grade level population count.

The district textbook coordinator user will create an off-level requisition if there is a need to order a higher grade level product for a lower grade level pupil.  EMAT will use the term product mlc to refer to the grade level product, and the term inventory mlc to refer to the mlc category into which the selected product will be placed.  The following are characteristic of off-level products:

·         Off-level requisitions can be created any time.  They are not tied to annual or supplemental requisitions.

·         Only one active off-level requisition is allowed to be active and existent at any time.  Prior to creating a second off-level, the original off-level must be in ‘ordered’ status, i.e. unable to be reopened.

Summary of Differences:

Each requisition created by the district will process through status levels.  For example, when the requisition is created and opened, it will remain in the status, “in progress” until it is completed by the district. 

The district can continue to re-open and add to an “in progress” requisition until it is submitted to TEA as “completed”. A requisition in “completed” status can continue to be re-opened until the status displays as “ordered”. 

Textbook Administration submits all requisitions for order.  These requisitions all contain the status “ordered”.

The status cycle identifies the requisition(s) in three stages:

·         In progress  - district has not completed and closed the requisition.

·         Completed  - district submits to TEA for review.  

·         Ordered  - TEA submits the requisition for order.   

Note1:  Districts are able to re-open a requisition displaying the status, “completed” make changes and re-submit the requisition.

Note2:   Districts cannot open a requisition with the status, “ordered”.

Note3:  Districts are not allowed to order products contained in their surplus inventory. 

Create a Textbook Requisition

The EMAT application allows School Districts and Charter Schools to create requisitions online for State Board Of Education (SBOE) approved Textbook material for the current or upcoming school year.  EMAT manages and validates requisitions against multiple parameters including the School District or Charter School’s student enrollment counts and current product inventory, as well as the cost to the state for purchasing the products in each particular requisition.  In addition to the creation of new requisitions, the School Districts and Charter Schools can also view previous requisitions and the orders that were created from those requisitions.  There are three types of requisitions in EMAT and they are as follows:

Districts order textbooks and materials for each school year by filling requisition orders and submitting to TEA.  TEA’s Textbook Administration team review the requisition orders and submit to the depositories for order.  Orders are shipped directly to the districts. 

Using the EMAT Online screens, the district selects the product for ordering using the multiple list code for each product.  All selected materials are displayed on the screen.  When all products are selected and the order completed, the requisition is submitted as a completed order to TEA for review.  The requisition status changes from “in progress” to “completed”.  When TEA submits the order, the status of the requisition becomes “ordered”.

If a district lists textbook materials for order that are currently recorded in the districts surplus inventory, EMAT will display an error code on the requisition order screen.  All surplus inventory must be depleted before new orders are allowed on the requisition.  This business rule applies to all orders created for requisitioning textbooks and materials for the current school year.  

Each School District or Charter School is allowed one annual requisition per year.  The annual requisition is the first requisition for the new school year and usually contains the bulk of the products requisitioned for the new school year.  The annual requisition is reviewed and approved by Textbook Administration staff and a shipment date is assigned prior to releasing it to an order.

Log into EMAT Online.  EMAT displays the Index with the links available for the District Textbook Coordinator.

Access the Textbook Requisition screens using the following steps.

                                    Figure 9.  Create Annual Textbook Requisition

Supplemental requisitions are created to order additional textbooks and materials, after the annual requisition has already been ordered.

Unlike the annual requisition, that is due by April 1^st, the supplemental is submitted throughout the year on an as-need basis.  Supplemental requisitions are based on actual enrollment counts after the first day of school.  These shipments will generally ship within two weeks of the order entry.

Follow the same procedures for creating a supplemental requisition as for creating an annual requisition.  The screen titles will reflect the term SUPPLEMENTAL in place of ANNUAL, on the Select Products for Textbook Requisition SUPPLEMENTAL Requisition for New Instructional Materials screen, and all subsequent screens.  

Figure 10.  Create Supplemental Textbook Requisition

Continue with steps 2 – 8 for the procedures outlined in the preceding section, Open A Requisition.  From step 2, click Supplemental Requisition, instead of Annual Requisition. 

Note:  If an order contains a request for textbook materials that   the district currently has in surplus inventory, EMAT displays a red warning message. 

The off-level requisition is submitted by districts ordering textbooks for pupils taking subjects a grade higher than the actual enrollment of the student.

Off-level requisitions can be created at any time, and are a separate requisition from the annual or supplemental requisitions. Only one off-level requisition can be open and active at any time.  The user can re-open a completed off-level requisition in the same manner as an annual or a supplemental. Create subsequent off-level requisitions only after the original off-level requisition is in “ordered” status.

Follow the same procedures for creating an off-level requisition as for annual and supplemental requisitions.  The screen title reflects the term OFFLEVEL in place of ANNUAL, on the Select Products…… screen.

Figure 11.  Textbook Off-Level Requisition

Note:   If an order contains a request for textbook materials that the district currently has in surplus inventory, EMAT displays a red warning message. 

If you get an error while processing an annual, supplemental, or off-level requisition, refer to the following.  EMAT errors are color-coded by severity level:

Red – Indicates the requisition has exceeded the maximum
allowable order limit, or if ordering materials that are recorded as available in surplus inventory.  EMAT will not allow you to proceed; adjust order quantities, or populations, and continue.
Severe Error – cannot process
A red error also displays when attempting to create an annual, and one already exists.  Open the “in progress” annual requisition.

Yellow – Indicates that the textbook is above the maximum price cost.  Allows the user to process the transaction, but the school district will bear cost of the expense over and above state costs.  Refer to Sec 31.025(b)(2) of TEC. 

       Warning Error – can still process

Green – Indicates that all data is valid and the requisition has been successfully processed.

        Confirmation message

Population Count  – If EMAT displays an error due to insufficient  population(s), verify the population pulled from the PEIMS migration that is displayed on the screen. If this number is inaccurate, adjust the total to include your most recent enrollment number(s).  Adjust the population count, using the Populations link on the EMAT Index. See also Chapter 2, Populations.

Inventory Threshold  – When calculating an order, if the number of users varies significantly from the threshold allowed, EMAT will display a yellow warning and ask you to verify your intent to allocate state funds for this expense as entered. 

JAVA Error – If you encounter a JAVA error screen during EMAT processing, please notify Textbook Administration immediately!  If possible, please record the steps involved that led to the JAVA screen display, and report these.

Refer also to the section entitled, Introduction to EMAT Administration for complete detail regarding all error messages.

A number of publishers provide consumable components as part of their textbook submissions.  The publishers of these programs have agreed to provide the consumable items at no additional cost and in quantities matching the number of student editions purchased for the duration of the contract.  School districts must notify the publisher if they wish to receive the consumable components on an annual basis or if they prefer one shipment of consumable materials for a six-year period.

The Textbook Coordinator can view the components available with the products ordered through EMAT Online.  A list of available component parts is included with each annual requisition packet. 

In EMAT Online, the buttons, More Components, and Free Teacher Materials, display the components and materials screens.

From the Program Information page, the textbook coordinator can view the components and the free teacher materials screen displays, using the button provided. 

Figure 16.  Program Information Page (ISBN)

The Textbook coordinator can also view details about available teacher materials.  There are two types of teacher materials available.

State-adopted teacher materials:

·         listed in the Instructional Materials Bulletin, (formerly Current Adoption Bulletin),

·         have a separate ISBN and an individual price.

·         Orders are verified against the number of teachers reported.

·         Reduction in orders occur only when number of teachers reported is not sufficient to justify the order.

Free-With-Order teacher materials:

·         Not listed in the Instructional Materials Bulletin, (formerly Current Adoption Bulletin),

·         Are ordered as an aid to state–adopted pupil materials.

·         Orders not verified against reported teacher data.

·         Orders forwarded directly to depository for shipment.

·         Reductions in order at the discretion of the publisher/depository.   

                                            Figure 17.  Free Teacher Materials     

Ancillary materials are materials that are listed by a publisher to be given away at no charge to districts and charter schools that order the publisher’s products.  These are provided in addition to free-with-order teacher editions that were bid as part of the package, reviewed by a state review panel, and adopted by the State Board of Education.

Ancillary materials are not bid nor reviewed at the state level, and are not part of the state adoption.  Publishers set their own distribution quotas for ancillary materials.   

Open In Progress Requisition

Opened, but not completed requisitions display the status, “in progress”.  To continue adding materials to an existing requisition, the textbook coordinator must open the “in progress” requisition, using the Open link, under Requisitions, on the EMAT Index.

             Figure 18.  Open In Process Textbook Requisition

When the open link is clicked, EMAT displays the Select Requisition Type screen.   

Notes about requisitions:

·         Requisitions displaying the status, “in progress” can be modified or changed. 

·         Requisitions displaying the status, “completed” must be re-opened using the Reopen Requisition button displayed. 

·         The reopened requisition can be changed and re-submitted. 

·         The district user cannot re-open a requisition displaying the status, “ordered”. 

Continue with instructions under Create a Textbook Requisition.

Re-Open Completed Requisitions

Completed requisitions will display the status, “completed”.  To add additional materials or edit a “completed” requisition, the textbook coordinator must open the requisition, by clicking the Reopen Requisition button.

                                          Figure 19.  Re-open Completed Requisition

The original requisition is displayed.   

List Requisition

This link displays a list of all requisitions and the status of each.    Displayed are all orders that are “in progress”, “completed”, and “ordered”. 

The ID link displays the original requisition.  For “in progress” requisitions, the district user adds materials and textbooks to the requisition and completes for order.  For “completed” requisitions, the district user re-opens the requisition and resubmits a revised requisition.  A requisition with the status, “ordered” cannot be opened. 

                                          Figure 20.  List Textbook Requisitions

The columns on the List screen display:

The total number of records listed at the bottom of the page indicates the total number of requisition orders that have been placed by this district for the current school year.     

Order List

The EMAT application converts requisitions into orders either manually or nightly.  Textbook Administration staff review, approve, and set up a shipment date for the requisition and then manually submit each requisition for conversion into an order.  During the conversion, EMAT reviews each line item in the requisition and attempts to fill from the Surplus Inventory.  If surplus exists, complete or partial orders are created and sourced to the appropriate School District and/or Charter School for filling.

The district user can display a list of all orders submitted to TEA for review. EMAT’s List of Textbook Orders screen displays the status of each item on order by depository name.  

Figure 21.   Order List for Textbooks

The columns on the order list screen display:

The ID link in the leftmost column is the order ID.  This number is the sequential order number assigned by the EMAT system. This link allows the user to link back to that textbook item in a requisition. Depositories track orders, and ship orders by order number. An order can include a number of requisitions.

                                            Figure 22.  Textbook Requisition Order ID link                              

The requisition id link on the List of Textbook Orders displays the details for each requisition submitted with an order.  The requisition id displays the items ordered on the requisition.

                                                   Figure 23.  Textbook Requisition ID link

Components and free teacher materials are discussed in detail under More Components and Free Teacher Materials, earlier in this chapter.

Once a depository is ready to ship the order received from EMAT, the depository will create a shipping invoice and Bill of Lading.  The shipping invoice provides detail regarding the order, until the order is completely filled, i.e., the entire order has shipped, only some line items have shipped, some partial line items shipped, and others are back ordered, the entire order is back ordered or some other variations of these scenarios.  These invoices can either be sent to EMAT via EDI or they can be created online through the EMAT application.  In addition to having the ability to create invoices, the EMAT application allows the depositories to view all their invoices, paid invoices, audited invoices, and invalid invoices for a given school year.

Once the freight carrier has completed the shipment of products, the carrier creates a freight invoice that is either sent to EMAT via EDI or created manually in EMAT.  In addition to having the capability to create freight invoices, the EMAT application allows the freight vendor to view all invoices, view paid invoices, view audited invoices, and view invalid invoices.  The vendor also uses the EMAT application to correct invalid invoices online.

EMAT receives the invoices for any Textbook shipment in excess of 150lbs, based upon the freight vendor’s contract with TEA.  Once the freight invoices are validated in EMAT, a payment record will be generated.  For shipments that are 150 lbs. or less, the Agency uses a reimbursement system to pay express delivery services and other vendors for shipping these materials by other means. 

The populations associated with a multiple list code are actually based on memberships drawn from PEIMS data.  A membership is defined as the number of students enrolled in a grade and/or subject. 

Teacher membership represent the total number of teachers who teach a subject, and includes classroom teachers and any other teachers involved in teaching the subject.

The membership data is used to determine the number of textbooks for which a district or campus is eligible.  For pre-kindergarten through grade 6, core subjects are based on overall grade memberships, while grades 7–12 are based on subject area membership, rather than grade membership.

When you update populations through EMAT, you are actually updating memberships.  All populations based on that membership will reflect the update. 

EMAT only displays the populations for the multilist codes where the corresponding memberships are associated to the school district.  All school districts are associated with all members even if the population for a membership is zero. 

The district user can update enrollments by a number of means using the Search for Local Populations screen.

To update enrollments one at a time:  Used when the mlc for the subject is known and the user wishes to update enrollments one at a time for each subject. 

To update enrollments by category:  If the mlc code for a subject is not known, the user can search by description.  The drop down box displays a list of enrollment groups.  Choose the subject by clicking to display the entire list of subjects to update.

To update all subjects for a given grade level:  Enter only the first digit of the mlc in the Search by mlc field.  Example:  To update all 3^rd grade enrollments, enter 3 in the field and click Go.  Enter the new enrollment number for each field and click Update and Ok.  EMAT updates all enrollments at once.

To update all subjects in a high school grouping:  Enter only the first two or three digits of the mlc. 

Example:  To update all high school social studies enrollments, enter 93, and click Go.  EMAT displays all high school social studies subjects.  Enter the accurate enrollment in the update count field for each enrollment.  When all are entered, click update.  EMAT displays Population Updated!

The EMAT populations screen reflects the following fields.

                            Figure 24.  Populations

Note:   Next or Prev helps the user who is searching globally for mlcs, i.e. the user has entered 91 to find all mlcs 91xx beginning with the numbers 91. If the entire mlc contents cannot display on one screen, the user clicks Next or Prev to search through all 91xx mlcs to locate the desired code.            

During populations update, EMAT Online calculates the percent change and displays it in the Percent Change column.  When the percent change reaches a certain level, Textbook Administration is notified.  This could result in an audit. 

Note: You can make changes to one or more of the populations that appear on a page.  Be sure to click Update Population before moving on to another page.

This collection of screens allows the district textbook coordinator to maintain the district’s inventory of textbooks and materials.  Using the multiple list code, the coordinator is able to display all textbook materials and products contained in the inventory, along with the quantity on hand, on order, and pending. The user can also trace the history of products as to when they were ordered, received, and shipped.  The inventory screens also provide an online method for the district coordinator to process textbook payments, as well as those materials that have been lost, damaged, or destroyed.  

The browser allows district staff to browse the database and display a list of all textbooks and materials and licenses on hand, on order, or pending, for a multiple list code.

Figure 25.  School District Inventory Browse

To display the inventory history:

This screen allows district staff to track the history of the textbooks and materials orders, by multilist code.  The history reveals the date and time of order, the status of the order, status of licensed materials, and how the materials were entered into inventory.  

The detailed history page shows the history of orders, payments, and returns for a book.

Figure 26.  School District Inventory History

                            Figure 27.  List School District Inventory Detail History

Continue to review inventory histories for other mlcs or click logoff to exit EMAT.

This series of screens allows the district textbook coordinator to process invoices for textbooks and materials that have been lost, damaged, or destroyed.

F Note: Important Changes in Redistribution of Textbooks

To better support school district needs, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) is currently redesigning the system for redistributing textbooks statewide.  As a result, the EMAT system is currently undergoing reprogramming of all inventory system features.  The new design allows school districts to display surplus textbook inventories online, and to ship surplus textbooks, or exchange with other districts as needed. Since the replacement of the State Textbook Depository with the online inventory, school districts no longer return surplus materials to Austin, but rather account for them using the online inventory system developed for the district EMAT user.  The TEX-031 form previously used for returns is not used with the current inventory system since school districts no longer return surplus textbooks.  The TEX-009 form that tracks payment invoices and the TEX-012 form used to report state-owned textbooks that have been destroyed are however, still in use.      

TEX-009 
State Textbook Sales Invoice

Use when making payment to the state for lost textbooks.

The State Textbook Sales Invoice is submitted when the district has charged a student for:

·         loss of a textbook,

·         irreparable damage to a textbook by a student, or for

·         the purchase of a textbook.

Status Codes for TEX-009 transactions:

Created – Textbook Coordinator has created or opened a transaction, but has failed to click Finish.

Submitted – Textbook Coordinator has clicked Finish to submit the transaction to TEA.

Closed – TEA has received the books or money.  Transaction processed and inventory adjusted.

Each school district is required to fill out the TEX-009 invoice for all textbooks for which the district is making payment.  This invoice is to be submitted with the payment to TEA.  Upon receipt of the TEX-009, Textbook Administration calculates the amount owed the state by the district.  If the dollar amount submitted matches the dollar amount owed, Textbook Administration staff clicks the Received checkbox on the TEX-009 online screen and adjusts the district’s account accordingly. 

To create a TEX-009 sales invoice for textbooks and materials for which the district is making payment, the user will access the sales invoice screen from the link, Lost, Destroyed, Damaged Textbooks.  

                                                      Figure 28.  TEX-009 – State Textbook Sales Invoice                               

 Note:   View provides a view screen only for verification.
Finish saves the invoice data.

The district must re-open a TEX-009 transaction to add additional invoices, if the transaction has already been submitted to TEA, i.e. user has clicked, Finish. These transactions display the status, submitted.  To reopen a submitted TEX-009:

                                                        Figure 29.  Re-open TEX-009

In process transactions, are those new invoice transactions that the district textbook coordinator has opened, but not submitted to TEA.  The district user has not clicked, Finish, therefore the transactions are still pending and display the status, created.

To open an “In Process” TEX-009:

                                   Figure 30.  Open In Process TEX-009

As soon as the districts have clicked Finish to complete the online TEX-009, the invoice screen shows the adjusted quantity on hand and extended price.  This count is reflected in the On Hand Quantity and extended price. 

To release the Sales Invoice screen, click another menu option from the Index, i.e. to process another mlc, click the Lost, Destroyed, Damaged Textbook link and enter another mlc.

Books that have been paid for by a student become the property of the student.  These books should never be retained by the district, nor displayed in the online surplus inventory.

Payments for textbooks may be processed on a year-round basis and on an as-need basis. 

This link displays the transaction types and the status of all transactions created for items pending in the Quantity Pending category of the District Browser. 

The user can set the display by choosing combinations from the pull-down lists.  These are view-only screens to allow the district textbook coordinator to track the status of the transactions and to balance out the district inventory against TEA’s activity. 

Note that the instructions given below are for the combination using transaction type, SURPLUS_MOVE and status, all. 

The procedural steps will vary for each combination type, however the basic viewing processes are similar for each Transaction Type.

                                               Figure 31.  Transaction Browser

Transaction type                Status

Note the new transaction type, SURPLUS_MOVE.  This transaction identifies all products that were moved from the current inventory into the surplus inventory.  This transaction type code has been added to allow management of the surplus products through use of the redesigned surplus inventory system.  

Statuses Used for EMAT transactions:

·         Created – indicates the textbook coordinator has created or opened a transaction.

·         Submitted – indicates the textbook coordinator has clicked Finish to submit the transaction to TEA.

·         Closed – indicates the textbook coordinator has received the books or money and the transaction has been processed.

EMAT displays the Products Moved from Regular Inventory to Surplus Inventory screen.  The screen displays the quantity in stock, and the quantity to surplus.

Click the browser BACK button to release the screen and return to the Title screen.

Each school district or charter school is responsible for maintaining  current, the inventory count of all of their surplus textbooks and materials.  

This collection of EMAT screens allows school districts to maintain and manage their inventory database of all surplus textbooks and materials currently in their possession.  Using the Surplus Inventory links now available on the EMAT Index, the districts can display and view all surplus textbooks and materials available for shipping or receiving to and from their districts. It is the responsibility of each school district to manage the exchange of materials requested by another district.  This is especially important since surplus products are no longer returned, but are retained by the school districts in their inventory.

The district possessing the surplus inventory products and materials is also responsible for shipping the surplus textbooks and materials to another district that requests the excess products. 

The Surplus Inventory links are found beneath the Textbook School District heading of the EMAT Index, just beneath the Inventory links.  Surplus inventory are those textbooks and materials that a district maintains in excess of the number allowed by the qualifying population quotas.  As the student population quota varies from school year to school year, the number of textbooks required by a district will change to match the revised population count.  Those books that are no longer needed by the district are required to be counted and displayed as surplus product.

To manage, the surplus product, complete the following procedures for using the Surplus Inventory screens.

                                                    Figure 32.  Adjust Surplus Inventory                                            

The updated surplus move activity will also be tracked in inventory and will display on the School District Inventory History Detail screen. 

To access the detail screen:            

                                       Figure 33.  Tracking Surplus Inventory

EMAT now displays the List School District Inventory History Detail screen. The column Transaction Code identifies the surplus product movements using the code, surplus_move.  

Track the history of all transactions for surplus moves using the Transaction Browser link.  This link is located under the Index heading, Inventory.   

Using this link, the school district(s) can display orders submitted by the ordering school district and the quantity(ies) ordered.  A school district can reject any line item(s) on the order, or can reject the entire order.  A reason code is entered explaining the reason for rejection of the order.

EMAT displays the List of Surplus Orders for <district> screen.

                                         Figure 34.  Create Shipment for Order

Reject Line Item

                                      Figure 35.  Reject Shipment Line Item

Reject Entire Order:

                                           Figure 36.  Reject Entire Order for Shipment

The Textbook Coordinator creates the Bill of Lading during the process of creating a shipment.  The EMAT system prompts the user to fill the BOL form.  Often the user will need to add additional shipping detail to the BOL form, after it has been created.  The BOL & Shipping Log link provides this option for the district textbook coordinator. 

During the shipping process, detail information will become available that must be added to the BOL form.  To access the form, the user will click the BOL & Shipping Log link found under the Surplus Inventory screens.  EMAT displays the Shipping Transaction Log screen, listing the shipping transaction log history detail.  History includes information regarding the order, the school district id number, the name of the school district, the BOL id number, the Packing List id number, and the recorded date of the shipment.

                            Figure 37.  Re-open Bill of Lading

                                                      Figure 38.  Display Packing List

The Textbook Coordinator for each school district will regularly check for surplus orders pending.  It is recommended that the school district check for orders on a daily basis.

The Receiving Orders List link provides the school district(s) the opportunity to view orders they have placed.   

From the List of Textbook Orders screen, the school district enters an acknowledgment for the number of books received.  During the process, the EMAT system will adjust and balance the surplus inventories of the shipping and receiving school district(s) to reflect the adjustments to the inventory counts.  

EMAT displays the List Textbooks Orders screen, reflecting all orders shipped. 

                                          Figure 39.  Receiving Order List

The series of links for the school to school transfer allows the Textbook Coordinator to enter a request for textbook materials from another school district.  Using the ‘My Request’ screen link, the requesting district can review the materials submitted for request, and cancel the request if necessary.  The third screen link, ‘Fulfill A Request’ allows the sending school district to approve the transaction for release to the requesting school district. 

This screen allows the school district user to select the school district from which the textbooks and materials will be received, and the ISBN number of the textbook product to be received.                                    

       Figure 40.  Request a School-To-School Transfer

This screen allows the school district to verify the textbook item(s) scheduled for transfer to another school district.

This screen allows the district user to approve the release of the textbooks requested from their inventory.  The Request screen displays the ISBN number of the textbook product, the title, quantity requested, the requesting district and an option button to approve the transfer of the textbook materials from the inventory.  

This collection of screens allows the district textbook coordinator to search for textbooks and material products in the online inventory using the EMAT search engine. 

The pulldown menu displays the options to search by the vendor or ISBN number, the title of the material, the multilist code, and/or the product ID.  The user enters the known criteria in the available field and instructs EMAT to display all products and materials contained in the inventory, matching the search criteria.

To complete an inventory search for products or materials:

                                                          Figure 41.  Product Search screen

There are roughly 180 reports that pertain to the Textbook data in the EMAT system.  These reports are maintained using the Crystal Enterprise system that pulls the data from the EMAT database.  A variety of reports cover a number of topics including requisitions, orders, shipments, payments, inventory, legislative requests, etc. In addition to being able to access reports from the Crystal Enterprise system, a few of these reports are run daily and are displayed on the TEA website.  Roughly 30% of the reports are for administrative purposes only.  Crystal Enterprise allows the Agency Staff to restrict user access to reports.

This collection of EMAT reports allows the Textbook Coordinators to view and print the reports generated by Crystal Reports. 

To print reports using Crystal, make sure that you are using Internet Explorer 4.0 or above.  This is the only browser compatible with the current version of Crystal Reports.

The user will produce reports from EMAT using the Crystal Enterprise software available for EMAT users.  Reports can be generated for statistical purposes and used for tracking orders, requisitions, and invoice data.  Reports are available for many user groups that are provided access to EMAT, such as EDI, depository vendors, freight vendors and auditors, and school district personnel working with both regular textbooks and materials, and EVI materials.  The Textbook Administration team also is able to produce/generate reports for online viewing of data relevant to the processing or requisitions and orders. 

                  Figure 42.  Login to Crystal Enterprise

         Figure 43.  Crystal Reports Home page                                                                         

Figure 44.  EMAT Generate Reports

Figure 45.  Admin & Textbook Coordinator
Reports Collection                                                             

                            Figure 46.  Report for Textbook Products by MLC

                                                 Figure 47.  Report Detail Display by MLC

This feature allows the user to predetermine the time and date that the report(s) will print in EMAT.  The Schedule button allows the user to select the school year, report format, date, time, and the number of retries requested. This feature is especially useful for reports that are not needed on demand, or that may be lengthy and need to be run over an extended time period.

                                                                             Figure 48.  Schedule New Report              

If the Active X message continues to display on the Security Warning screen, click the checkbox before the message, "Always trust content from Crystal Decisions, Inc.", and click the Yes button.  This will allow the security software to install on your PC.

                                Figure 49.  Active X Security Warning

WAIVER PROCEDURES

REIMBURSEMENT FOR ASTRONOMY,  PHOTOJOURNALISM,
AP ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE, AND AP HUMAN GEOGRAPHY TEXTBOOKS

Applications for textbook waivers are only being accepted for Astronomy, Photojournalism, Advanced Placement Environmental Science, and Advanced Placement Human Geography.  The following are instructions for districts and charter schools applying for reimbursement for non-state adopted textbooks.

Our office will need the following documents to process the reimbursement:

• The completed "Request for Reimbursement for Non-State Adopted Textbooks" form.
• Copies of invoices on the textbooks purchased.
• The form and invoices may be sent by fax to (512) 463-8728.

The amount of reimbursement applies to the actual textbook cost or state maximum cost, whichever is lower.  The reimbursement amount is calculated at one (1) textbook per student and does not include additional textbooks, workbooks, teacher materials, taxes or other related costs.

If you need additional assistance, you may contact Linda Janney at (512) 463-9601.

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