More than ever, schools must develop procedures to increase cost effectiveness and control in the purchasing, storage, delivery of, and accounting for educational equipment and supplies. This document is intended to provide beginning purchasing officials, as well as other administrators and staff, with a basic understanding of the purchasing function and a framework in which to review current purchasing practices. Topics addressed include the objectives and procedures of purchasing and supply management; the relationships between budgeting, accounting, control, and purchasing; the organization of a purchasing and supply department; the uses, characteristics, and methods of developing a purchasing manual; legal aspects of purchasing; effective warehousing, inventory control, and distribution systems; and consideration of standardization of supplies and equipment, methods for formulating specifications, and means for testing and analyzing value in purchases. Additional material covers the application of the general guidelines to specific areas: the purchase and management of educational supplies; the purchase of furniture and equipment; the procurement of equipment for new school buildings; cooperative purchasing; and computerized purchasing and supply management. Appendices present policies advocated by resolutions of the Association of School Business Officials, state bid laws, and Christmas gift policies. (Author/PGD)