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Schools missing $1 million in textbooks from last year Maybe Palm Beach County's students love reading more than anyone realized. In the last school year, they failed to return nearly $1 million worth of the school district's textbooks. A state audit released this week criticizes the school district for its collection procedures in gathering lost or stolen textbooks that totaled $964,758 during the 2000-2001 school year. That's about 19,000 books, at an average cost of $50 each. Summer reading? School …

…or subject is more likely to be kept by students than others, Pierce said. But elementary school students are typically better at bringing the books back than high school students, whose books are usually the most expensive. The new procedures for collecting textbooks will put more responsibility on principals. They will have to develop an inventory system and debt collection procedures. They will also have to document attempts to collect lost, damaged and stolen textbooks.