Textbook Central loan program is the centralized administration and direct distribution of textbooks to private and parochial non-public school students attending over 100 participating schools on behalf of their school districts. Textbook Central is a sole source supplier administering a cooperative textbook loan program for all participating Nassau County public school districts.
Under this program, the participating private schools submit student enrollment through our web based system (TCSMS) and textbook requests directly to Textbook Central. The books are delivered to the private school during the summer for distribution to their students in September. These books are owned collectively by the 53 participating Nassau districts for use by their students attending the private school, but the inventory is maintained at the private school.
Final billing for textbooks is based on the number of their students attending the participating private school and the average book costs per student at those schools.
Program book costs and administrative fees are estimated in July of each year, based on the previous year's billing, and the districts are billed by Tel/Logic Inc. (Textbook Central) accordingly. The July billing is 70% of the estimate for the year. In November, an additional 20% is billed. The final billing (the remaining 10%) is billed after all final accounting is completed: after all books have been ordered and invoices paid and districts have confirmed the accuracy of the students attributed to their district. Small billing adjustments are applied to the districts’ final billing within the school year.
The following policies result in controlling textbook costs:
- Participating private schools are advised of target textbook cost limits based on existing inventory.
- Scrutiny of private school requests remains the primary cost control factor, including review of textbook eligibility and quantities, and confirmation of student information.
- Continued use of reconditioned textbooks helps to hold down total book costs, including shipping, to the target limits. We benefit also from overall economies of scale and from minimum use of consolidators to fill orders.
- Requests above the target limit from any school are filled only when we receive formal approval from the districts representing at least 75% of the students in that school.