New York State Library

School Library System Funding and Fiscal Guidelines

Overview

The resources below provide general funding information as well as detailed guidelines and procedures to support financial stewardship of school library systems across the state.

Fiscal Guidelines for School Library Systems

The Fiscal Guidelines for School Library Systems provide general guidance for the financial management of State Aid by local agencies. These guidelines include general information about state formula funds, budgeting, expenditures, and reporting categories, as well as administrative timelines. Information about the state annual report is also included here.

Merger and Cross-Contracting Guidelines

Guidelines and information about merging school library systems, as well as cross-contracting between two or more school library systems.

State Aid and Grants in NYS

Formula aid is provided by the Governor and Legislature to 40 school library systems to facilitate sharing of library resources for both public and nonpublic school libraries. State aid supports interlibrary loan, delivery, continuing education, coordination of collection development, automation and database building activities, and service to clients with special needs.

Resources from P-12

Many services to school library systems are administered by the New York State Education Department's P-12 division.

Textbook, Software and Library Materials Information

Textbook, Software, Library Materials and Computer Hardware & Equipment Information is available from the New York State Education Department. For additional information, see NYSED's Library Materials Aid - Frequently Asked Questions.

CO-SERs

A CO-SER is an approved cooperative agreement to establish a shared service between a BOCES and two or more districts. NYSED's CO-SER Criteria Guidelines System (CCGS) provides BOCES and school districts with a single access point for all CO-SER guidelines, including CO-SER titles, descriptions, criteria guideline numbers, and Program Serial Number (PSNs).

Last Updated: January 11, 2024