According to a Patch article on the Wootton - BBYO (B'nai B'rith Youth Organization) concert for Saturday evening, "four years of homecoming fundraisers" are being used to fund this concert. (We've been informed that amount would be somewhere around $30,000. But if you have the specific total, please pass it along. The total cost of this concert according to the Patch article is around $100,000.)
However, student funds held by schools are not to be stockpiled for years at a time.
According to Board of Education Policy student funds belong to the student body "currently in attendance" at a school.
That Policy guarantees that when students raise money, the money raised goes to benefit the actual students that are attending the school at the time of the fundraiser. Obviously, the students that raised some of this "homecoming money" three and four years ago are long gone from the school and receive no benefit from this event.
No idea if this is done at Wootton, but graduating classes often give gifts to their schools from funds raised through their four years at the school. Big ticket items, like this concert appears to be, are often funded by successive classes.
ReplyDeleteIn this case, I would think an account was created back in 2009 following the last concert of this sort and the classes of 2009, 2010, 2011, and now 2012 contributed to this account. This is all conjecture of course.
No need for conjecture, the Independent Activity Fund books are public documents. The Parents' Coalition has made many IAF records public over the years. Superintendent Starr can make these documents easily available to the public today.
DeleteThis argument makes no sense. Think about an entire grade level class. The Class of 20xx is supposed to normally put on prom during their Junior Year. Classes raise money for this prom throughout the 3 years leading up to the prom, not just during junior year. What your saying is that the money raised in the freshmen year must go to that year, because the seniors will leave the next year? That makes no sense unless parents want to spend hundreds of dollars for their student's prom tickets.
DeleteIt's not an argument, it's a Policy. Take it up with the Board of Education.
DeleteAnd to be clear on the Wootton event, the school staff person is saying this is a SGA event. SGA isn't a class. It's not a year group. SGA is a school wide group which means she is saying that students that graduated 4,3 and 2 years ago raised money for an event they can't even attend.
DeleteA year group event is students raising money for an event that they CAN attend. The graduating class of 2013 raises money for THEIR graduation.
That's not what this $30,000 represents. Anyone making the IAF ledger for the Wootton IAF accounts public? They are public documents. Just walk into the business office and make a copy. We will post them.
The policy is for an event funded by the school from funding provided by the county to the school each year. This does not include the individual student organizations inside the school that hold their own events. This event is held by the SGA, a student organization within the school who receives funding not from the county, but by fundraisers.
ReplyDelete@6:10 PM. Absolutely incorrect statement of the Policy on student funds. There aren't any funds provided by the county for student events and this Policy does cover the SGA.
DeleteThe MCPS Policy on Independent Activity Funds exists specifically to control how funds are raised by student groups like the SGA.
Let's stick to the facts, not fantasy.
I don't understand what happens with student funds for students not currently in attendance. One might think that these specific funds are saved up from excess revenue on the part of student fundraisers. Just because students raise a lot of money doesn't mean that they must spend it all. Then what happens if they have extra when that class graduates?
ReplyDeleteGood question. Money not spent during a school year can then be spent by the principal as she/he desires.
DeleteWe have seen this many times. That's why it is important for student clubs, activities and groups to keep careful tabs on their balances in the school's IAF (Independent Activity Fund) account. The Parents' Coalition has made school audits public on our website to help students and parents keep an eye on their school accounts. But to date, the Board of Education refuses to make school Audits available on the MCPS website.
Even money that is designated for specific uses can be taken by the principal if students and sponsors aren't paying attention. The most notable example of that was at Churchill High School when the principal tapped into student accounts and used the funds to pay for perks for staff. The student accounts ended up being in the red, with the principal actually owing the students money. The principal never paid the money back, the students simply had to fund raise again to make back up the funds that had been misappropriated by the principal.