Policies » Section D: Fiscal Management » DFA: Investment

Policy Date: 05/09/2023

ASD File: DFA
AUBURN SCHOOL DISTRICT
INVESTMENT

The Auburn School Board authorizes the School District Treasurer working in conjunction with the
Superintendent and his/her designee and pursuant to RSA 197:23-a to invest the funds of the district
subject to the following objectives and standards of care:

OBJECTIVES
The three objectives, in priority order, of investment activities shall be safety, liquidity, and yield.
1. Safety of Principal is the foremost objective in this policy. Investments shall be
undertaken in a manner that seeks to ensure the preservation of capital by mitigating
credit and interest rate risk. This will be accomplished by limiting the type of the
investments and institutions to those stipulated by statute and fully covered by FDIC
insurance or collateral approved pursuant to RSA 366:57.
2. Liquidity of the investment portfolio shall remain sufficient to meet all operating
requirements that may be reasonably anticipated.
3. Yield. The investment portfolio shall be designed with the objective of attaining a market
rate of return throughout budgetary and economic cycles, taking into account the
investment risk constraints and liquidity needs. Return on investment is of secondary
importance compared to the safety and liquidity objectives described above.

STANDARDS OF CARE
1. Prudence. The standard of prudence to be used by the School District Treasurer and
Superintendent or his/her designee involved in the investment process shall be the
“prudent person” standard and shall be applied in the context of managing an overall
portfolio. They may choose to use the Government Finance Officers Association’s
Recommended Practices and Policy Statements Related to Cash Management as a guide
to the prudent investment of public funds.
2. Ethics and conflicts of interest. The School District Treasurer and Superintendent or
his/her designee involved in the investment process shall refrain from personal business
activity that could conflict with the proper execution and management of the investment
program or that could impair their ability to make impartial decisions. Employees and
Investment officials shall disclose any material interests in financial institutions with
which they conduct business. They shall also disclose any personal financial/investment
positions that could be related to the performance of the investment portfolio. Employees
and officials shall subordinate their personal investment transactions to those of the
School District, particularly with regard to the timing of purchases and sales.
3. Internal Controls. All checks will be signed by the Treasurer (electronic signatures are
acceptable), since the checks are signed electronically the Treasurer will be notified via
email when payroll and accounts payable checks are ready to be issued. The Treasurer
will reply with their approval to release the checks.

The Business Office staff will keep a running total of the cash in the checking account to verify that
there is enough money to cover the disbursements for the district.

The Treasurer reconciles the checking account on a monthly basis. The Business Office staff
reconciles the cash account and ensures that the cash account and the Treasurer’s reconciliation
agree.

The investment policy shall be reviewed annually by the School Board.

Legal References:
RSA 197:23-a-Treasurer’s Duties RSA 383:22-Public Deposit Investment Pool

Adopted: February 8, 2000
Revised: May 8, 2007, January 13, 2009
Reviewed: May 11, 2010, May 12, 2011
Revised: May 8, 2012
Reviewed: June 11, 2013, June 14, 2015, June 9, 2016
Revised: December 13, 2016, January 10, 2017
Reviewed: March 13, 2018, June 11, 2019, June 9, 2020, May 12, 2021, May 10, 2022, May 9, 2023