Parents of school-age children are no strangers to fundraisers, and because many people don’t think twice before giving to causes through the schools, most local districts have standards in place to make sure a person’s hard-earned dollars go to legitimate recipients.
New York State Regents Rule 19.6 really limits the amount of fundraising that can go on in a school, said Niskayuna Central School District Board of Education member Barbara Mauro.
The Regents rule sets up guidelines for the entire state, including which types of fundraisers are appropriate, when school fundraising can occur, and what kinds of programs students may participate in. While those guidelines are substantial, individual districts also have their own regulations in place.
Recently, the Niskayuna Central School District Board of Education completed a revised fundraising policy that sets out the regulations in easy-to-understand wording.
`What we’re trying to do with the policy is put the guidelines into clear language for everyone to understand and putting it into a language that [determines] everything has to be approved and scheduled by the principal so that people know that this is a way to manage the fundraising,` said Mauro.
At Niskayuna Central School District, as well as many other local districts, fundraising is not permitted during class time. If it interrupts classroom instruction, it doesn’t happen at all. Similarly, fundraising cannot be a factor in a student’s grade for any subject, and it cannot be a base for rewarding extra credit.
School fundraising can happen during lunch and other outside classroom time, but those events must be approved by the school’s principal, and there are a number of forms and descriptions that have to be filled out by the fundraising group. A parent can’t simply decide to set up a fundraiser in his or her child’s school without taking the appropriate measures to get it approved. Finally, charities and causes that the school raises money for must be not-for-profit organizations.
Mauro said the not-for-profit requirement has limited who can come and ask the school district for money.
`The main thing to realize is that this policy restricts anyone going into the classroom and asking for charitable donations,` said Mauro. `That’s the main thrust of the Regents rule that we want people to understand. We put into the policy that it has to be a not-for-profit so that it wouldn’t just be a group of people. Say I wanted to hand out coats in a park where there are people who are needy, I wouldn’t be able to say, ‘I want to put my box here so that I can go out as a private citizen and just do what I want with it.’`
In the Bethlehem Central School District, the fundraising policies are similar: fundraising can only be done for not-for-profit organizations; it cannot occur during classroom instruction; and the project has to be approved by the building’s principal.
`The fact of the matter is the guidelines for the district pertain mainly to the financial aspect,` said Superintendent Michael Tebbano.
He said the district’s main concern is how the money is handled, what happens to it and where it goes after it is raised.
`[If] the group wanted to raise money, we have to have policy to make sure the money is positive and taken account of for whatever activity the fundraising was occurring,` said Tebbano.
He said that a new concern about school fundraisers is based on the goods that are being sold at those benefits, such as pizza, candy and ice cream, because the school is trying to take a wellness approach.
Tebbano said that he has noticed the amount of fundraising has dropped off in recent months. At the same time, other school district officials said they have noticed an increase in the number of people and organizations who are asking for money.
`Times are tough now and [organizations] need money and you need donations, but there are families who can no longer afford to give like they had in the past,` said Mauro.
`You don’t know which families in the neighborhood are being more affected by the economy than others. It really cuts both ways because the charities need more now, and everyone is fearful that their donations are going to be shrinking, but at the same time you can’t use the schools to put pressure on families to donate to outside charities.`
At Shenendehowa Central School District, the guidelines reflect those of the other districts, and Janet Grey, president of the Parent Teacher Organization, said a lot of the focus is on appropriateness of fundraiser activities and the number of events that can occur at once.
Grey said schools have to be careful about how many they allow at one time because they don’t want to overload parents and students, and they also don’t want to have so many fundraisers at once that certain causes are neglected.
Grey said decision about what to allow are made on a school-by-school basis.
`For most of the events it would be either the principal, or if it was a district event, [the superintendent] would decide if it was appropriate,` said Grey. `If there was any question, certainly there are people above a principal, but typically [principals] would be the ones who make the authorization,` said Janet Grey.
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