School Generated Funds

[Tony Maxwell]

My Board (Upper Grand) is reviewing its School Generated Funds policy. (I'm a parent rep. on the cttee.)

Has anyone else been through this?

Is there research / news / articles that we should know about?

Any comments / advice / lessons, esp. with regard to getting input from parents, school councils and esp. Treasurers?

Attached is the current policy with some suggested changes. Warning: it's 66 pages!

Thanks in advance for any feedback / input.

Tony Maxwell
Co-Chair, Primrose

[Sheila Stewart]

Our board updated the fundraising policy last spring. Boards are required to consult with school councils during the review process or development of such policies. Input was requested through School Council Chairs, but the response was low. I am not sure how many brought it to the attention of their council membership. It probably should have got more attention and input, as I sense not all are happy with it now.

[Nicci]

My first reaction after reading this Tony is that it needs to be cut in half. It's must too long and there's way to many hoops that your school community has to jump through. Not a very parent friendly document. I can see why you might have trouble getting parents excited about this....especially if fundraising isn't something parents like very much.

[Tony Maxwell]

Nicci,

The trouble is the Board policy applies to how ALL school generated funds are handled, which includes activities (e.g. school trips) that are part of normal school operations as well as school council generated funds.

So you have the Board trying to write a policy that covers both basic administrative procedures for school operations AND school council activities.

Whereas school coordinators are full time employees whose job it is to administer the policy, obviously school council volunteers are just that, volunteers.

That's why the policy isn't written to or for parents: it's aimed at school coordinators, too.

I'm arguing that, whatever the policy ends up as, there needs to be a distinct effort made to communicate specifically to parent volunteers about their responsibilities.

Otherwise, you're right, few volunteers are going to wade through such a detailed policy document UNLESS there's the threat that their money will be clawed back (or something like that).

The Board says that it's their auditors and insurers and the Ministry overseers who are driving these changes...and that they are "powerless." A bit of a cop out in my opinion.

We need to fight on parents behalf so that their interests are considered...even in such a mundane area as accounting policy.

So much of it comes down to communications.

Thanks for pitching in.

Tony

[Sheila Stewart]

It is my understanding that boards don't have to develop general policies for school councils (extensive legistation), but there are 3 areas that they are required to have in place in regards to school councils. One of them is fundraising. I would suggest confirming this with your regional Ministry contact. If you want to see how our board covered it in one policy/procedures document you can visit www.lakeheadschools.ca and under the "board" menu you can get to the table of contents of all our "P&P"s. I think it is quite "parent friendly" to read, or at least focuses in that area. It is simply called "Fundraising in Schools".

[Tony Maxwell]

Sheila,

Thanks for the reference to Lakehead. I checked it out and have cut-and-pasted the policy and procedure and sent it to the Board official overseeing the review process. I agree: they are succinct and fairly plain-spoken. Thanks again.

Tony