Boulder Valley School District
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DFA

  • D
  • Fiscal Management
DFA

File:  DFA (pdf)
Adopted: June 9, 1988, date of manual adoption
Revised: April 13, 2004, June 12, 2007, June 9, 2009


CASH MANAGEMENT/INVESTMENT POLICY

It is the policy of the District to invest public funds in a manner that will preserve capital, meet the daily liquidity needs of the District, diversify the District’s investments, conform to all local and state statutes governing the investment of public funds, and generate market rates of return.

This Cash Management Investment Policy addresses the methods, procedures, and practices which must be exercised to ensure effective and judicious fiscal and investment management of the District’s funds.

SCOPE

Cash balances in the Bond Redemption Fund, the Building Fund, the Health Insurance Fund, the Dental Insurance Fund, the Non-expendable Trust Fund and the Expendable Trust Fund shall not be pooled and the investment income derived from the individual investment accounts shall be allocated directly to the individual fund.

All cash shall be pooled for investment purposes, except for cash balances of the funds listed above. Investment income derived from the pooled investment account shall be allocated to the General Fund.

This Investment Policy shall apply to all funds accounted for in the District’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report.

INVESTMENT OBJECTIVES

The District’s principal investment objectives include:

  • Preservation of capital and protection of investment principal;
  • Maintenance of sufficient liquidity to meet anticipated cash flows;
  • Attainment of a market rate of return;
  • Diversification to avoid incurring unreasonable market risks;
  • Conformance with all applicable District policies, state statutes and Federal regulations.


DELEGATION OF AUTHORITY

The Superintendent is vested with responsibility for managing the District’s investment program and for implementing this Cash Management Investment Policy. The Superintendent may delegate the authority to conduct investment transactions and to manage the operation of the investment portfolio to the Accounting Services Director or the Chief Financial Officer. No person may engage in an investment transaction except as expressly provided under the terms of this Investment Policy.

The Superintendent or his/her designee shall establish written procedures and internal controls for the operation of the District’s investment program, designed to prevent loss of public funds due to fraud, error, misrepresentation and imprudent actions.

The District may engage the support services of outside investment advisors in regard to its investment program, so long as it can be demonstrated that these services produce a net financial advantage or necessary financial protection of the District’s financial resources.

PRUDENCE

The standard of prudence, as defined by the Colorado Revised Statutes, to be used for managing the District’s assets is the "prudent investor" standard applicable to a fiduciary, which states that a prudent investor "shall exercise the judgment and care, under circumstances then prevailing, which men of prudence, discretion, and intelligence exercise in the management of the property of another, not in regard to speculation but in regard to the permanent disposition of funds, considering the probable income as well as the probable safety of capital."  (Colorado Revised Statutes 15-1-304, Standard for Investments.)

The District’s overall investment program shall be designed and managed with a degree of professionalism that is worthy of the public trust. The District recognizes that no investment is totally without risk and that the investment activities of the District are a matter of public record. Accordingly, the District recognizes that occasional losses may be possible in a diversified portfolio and shall be considered within the context of the overall portfolio’s return, provided that adequate diversification has been implemented and that the sale of a security is in the best long-term interest of the District.

The Superintendent and other authorized persons acting in accordance with written procedures and exercising due diligence shall be relieved of personal responsibility for an individual security's credit risk or market price changes, provided deviations from expectations are reported in a timely fashion to the Board of Education and appropriate action is taken to control adverse developments.

ETHICS AND CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

District employees involved in the investment process shall refrain from personal business activity that could conflict with proper execution of the District’s investment program or that could impair or create the appearance of an impairment of their ability to make impartial investment decisions. Employees shall disclose to the Superintendent or his/her designee any material financial interest they have in financial institutions that conduct business with the District, and they shall subordinate their personal investment transactions to those of the District.

AUTHORIZED SECURITIES AND TRANSACTIONS

All investments will be made in accordance with the Colorado Revised Statutes as follows: C.R.S. § 11-10.5-101, et seq., Public Deposit Protection Act; C.R.S. § 11-47-101, et seq., Savings and Loan Association Public Deposit Protection Act; C.R.S. § 24-75-601, et. seq., Funds - Legal Investments; C.R.S. § 24-75-603, Depositories; and C.R.S. § 24-75-702, Local governments – authority to pool surplus funds. Any revisions or extensions of these sections of the statutes will be assumed to be part of this Investment Policy immediately upon being enacted.

This Cash Management Investment Policy further restricts the investment of District funds to the following types of securities and transactions:

  1. U.S. Treasury Obligations:  Treasury bills, Treasury notes, Treasury bonds and Treasury STRIPS with maturities not exceeding five years from the date of trade settlement.
  2. Federal Instrumentality Securities:  Debentures, discount notes, callable securities, step-up securities and stripped principal or coupons with maturities not exceeding five years from the date of trade settlement issued by the following only:  Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA), Federal Farm Credit Banks (FFCB), Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLB) and Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (FHLMC). Federal Instrumentality Securities shall be rated in the highest rating category by at least two Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations (NRSROs), and shall be rated not less by any NRSRO that rates the debt.
  3. Repurchase Agreements with a termination date of 180 days or less collateralized by U.S. Treasury obligations or Federal Instrumentality securities listed in 1. and 2. above with a final maturity not exceeding 10 years. The purchased securities shall have a minimum market value including accrued interest of 102 percent of the dollar value of the transaction. Collateral shall be held by the District’s third-party custodian bank, and the market value of the collateral securities shall be marked-to-the market daily.
    Repurchase Agreements shall be entered into only with broker/dealers recognized as primary dealers by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, or with firms that have a primary dealer within their holding company structure. Approved Repurchase Agreement counterparties shall have a short-term credit rating of at least A-1 or the equivalent and a long-term credit rating of at least A or the equivalent by a Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organization (NRSRO). Repurchase agreement counterparties shall execute a District approved Master Repurchase Agreement with the District. The Chief Operations Officer shall maintain a copy of the District’s approved Master Repurchase Agreement along with a list of broker/dealers who have executed same.
  4. Commercial Paper with an original maturity of 180 days or less that is rated at least A1+, P-1 or the equivalent  at the time of purchase by by at least two NRSROs and rated not less by all NRSROs that rate the commercial paper. If the commercial paper issuer has senior debt outstanding, it must be rated at least AA-, Aa3 or the equivalent at the time of purchase by at least two NRSROs and rated not less by all NRSROs that rate the issuer.
  5. Non-negotiable Certificates of Deposit with a maturity not exceeding one year in any FDIC insured state or national bank, or state or federal savings bank located in Colorado that is a state approved depository per C.R.S. § 24-75-603. Certificates of deposit that exceed FDIC insurance limits shall be collateralized as required by the Public Deposit Protection Act or the Savings and Loan Association Public Deposit Protection Act.
  6. Local Government Investment Pools authorized under C.R.S. § 24-75-702 that:  1) are "no-load" (no commission or fee shall be charged on purchases or sales of shares); 2) have a constant net asset value of $1.00 per share; 3) limit assets of the fund to those securities authorized by state statute; 4) have a maximum stated maturity and weighted average maturity in accordance with Rule 2a-7 of the Investment Company Act of 1940; and 5) have a rating of AAA or the equivalent by one or more NRSROs.
  7. Money Market Mutual Funds registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940 that: 1) are "no-load" (no commission or fee shall be charged on purchases or sales of shares); 2) have a constant net asset value of $1.00 per share; 3) limit assets of the fund to those securities authorized by state statute; 4) have a maximum stated maturity and weighted average maturity in accordance with Rule 2a-7 of the Investment Company Act of 1940; and 5) have a rating of AAA or the equivalent by one or more NRSROs.

The foregoing list of authorized securities shall be strictly interpreted. Any deviation from this list must be approved by the Board of Education.

INVESTMENT DIVERSIFICATION

It is the intent of the District to diversify the investments within the investment portfolio to avoid incurring unreasonable risks inherent in over-investing in specific instruments, individual financial institutions or maturities. Nevertheless, the asset allocation in the investment portfolio should be flexible depending upon the outlook for the economy, the securities markets and the District’s anticipated cash flow needs.

INVESTMENT MATURITY AND LIQUIDITY

The investment portfolio shall remain sufficiently liquid to meet all cash requirements that may be reasonably anticipated. To the extent possible, investments shall be matched with anticipated cash flows and known future liabilities. Investments shall be limited to maturities not exceeding five years from the date of trade settlement.

COMPETITIVE TRANSACTIONS

Each investment transaction shall be competitively transacted with authorized broker/dealers. At least three broker/dealers shall be contacted for each transaction and their bid and offering prices shall be recorded.

If the District is offered a security for which there is no other readily available competitive offering, quotations for comparable or alternative securities will be documented.

SELECTION OF BROKER/DEALERS

The Chief Operations Officer shall maintain a list of broker/dealers approved for investment purposes, and it shall be the policy of the District to purchase securities only from those authorized firms.

To be eligible, a firm must meet at least one of the following criteria:  

  1. Be recognized as a primary dealer by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York or have a primary dealer within its holding company structure;
  2. Report voluntarily to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York;
  3. Qualify under Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Rule 15c3-1 (Uniform Net Capital Rule).

Broker/dealers will be selected by the Superintendent or his/her designee on the basis of their expertise in public cash management and their ability to provide service to the District’s account. Each authorized broker/dealer shall be required to submit and annually update a District approved Broker/Dealer Information Request Form that includes the firm's most recent financial statements. In the event that an external investment advisor is not used in the process of recommending a particular transaction in the District’s portfolio, any authorized broker/dealer from whom a competitive bid is obtained for the transaction will attest in writing that he/she has received and reviewed a copy of this policy.

The District may purchase commercial paper from direct issuers even though they are not on the approved broker/dealer list as long as they meet the criteria outlined in item 3. of the Authorized Securities and Transactions section of this Investment Policy.

SAFEKEEPING AND CUSTODY

The Superintendent or his/her designee shall approve one or more banks to provide safekeeping and custodial services for the District. A District approved safekeeping agreement shall be executed with each custodian bank. To be eligible, a financial institution shall qualify as a depository of public funds in Colorado as defined in C.R.S. § 24-75-603.

The purchase and sale of securities and repurchase agreement transactions shall be settled on a delivery versus payment basis. Ownership of all securities shall be perfected in the name of the District. Sufficient evidence to title shall be consistent with modern investment, banking and commercial practices.

All investment securities, except non-negotiable Certificates of Deposit, Local Government Investment Pools and Money Market Mutual Funds, purchased by the District will be delivered by either book entry or physical delivery and will be held in third-party safekeeping by the District approved custodian bank, its correspondent bank or the Depository Trust Company (DTC).

All Fed wireable book entry securities shall be evidenced by a safekeeping receipt or a customer confirmation issued to the District by the custodian bank stating that the securities are held in the Federal Reserve system in a Customer Account for the custodian bank which will name the District as “customer.”

All DTC eligible securities shall be held in the custodian bank’s Depository Trust Company (DTC) participant account and the custodian bank shall issue a safekeeping receipt evidencing that the securities are held for the District as “customer.”

All non-book entry (physical delivery) securities shall be held by the custodian bank or its correspondent bank and the custodian bank shall provide evidence that the securities are held for the District as “customer.”   

The District’s custodian will be required to furnish the District monthly reports of holdings of custodied securities as well as a report of monthly safekeeping activity.

REPORTING

At the end of each quarter, the Chief Financial Officer shall submit to the Board an investment report listing the investments held by the District and the current market value of the investments.

POLICY REVISIONS

This Cash Management/ Investment Policy shall be reviewed annually by the Superintendent or his/her designee and may be amended by the Board of Education as conditions warrant.

LEGAL REFS.:
C.R.S. § 24-75-601, Funds-Legal Investments

End of File:  DFA