School fundraisers??

[greenfamilyfarms]

As the adviser of the Yearbook Staff, we do fundraisers year-round. They go out and sell ads to businesses, senior personal ads, candy, t-shirts, paint faces, sell flower bulbs, and whatever creative ideas they have to raise money. What do they get? A very nice yearbook partially funded by their efforts that they can show to the entire school and community.

OH! Do you think BYC would buy an ad for our yearbook?

We have an active FFA and AG department...

 

[greenfamilyfarms]

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If my kid wouldn't be ridiculed for not contributing, I wouldn't. I pay a ridiculous amount in property tax, income tax, state tax, sales tax, tax tax tax....... How about you give me credit for the $5000/year per kid the schools get, and I'll enroll them in private schools.... Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrg! Then there are all the stories of graft, mismanagement of funds, fancy trips out of state for "seminars and training" Hm.... Oh yeah, and all the fraud that goes around. I betcha I know why the public school systems are going broke

Sorry, had to vent.

Not to mention the lottery is suppose to help the schools! What is up with that?? I know between taxes and the lottery tickets we buy and I know many people buy them where is the money going? It is total BS.

I got $1500 of lottery scholarship money for college.

 

[femalecbrown]

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Money spent on athletics is usually earned through athletics. Some athletic departments have their own fundraiser. Our school recently adopted the policy of not have school-wide door to door sales. We instead have an annual Bingo tournament. We make about the same as we would for selling items and it is so much more enjoyable. Schools really do need support from parents. If you don't want to help with the fundraisers, perhaps you could volunteer to help out with other school needs.

 

[seedcorn]

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If they did that to my kid, I'd deal w/him through channels.

On fund raisers, we no longer participate. I ask them how much they are to sell, what their profit margin is, donate that amount. I hate paying $5 for $1 worth of dough to make bad cookies.

The problem is simple, state/federal funds use to pay for extra curricular things as band, sports, clubs, etc. These are the first to go.

 

[greenfamilyfarms]

It's the THOUGHT that counts, everybody. If you want to contribute, but you don't want to have to buy something you feel is substandard, give a contribution to the club or organization as a donation. I'm sure it will be greatly appreciated.

 

[WriterofWords]

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[wombat]

Get a copy of the school's financial report, and look at how much $ is spent in the sports programs. It will shock you.

I left high school early, and went to a junior college. There was a huge row over the funding of athletics within the leftist radical student newspaper, student government, etc. I played on two of the sports teams, and got involved in looking into it. The expenditure per student was FAR less than the money spent per person by many of the small, clique-y clubs gotten up by the art dept, the poli sci department, etc.

We went into a student budgetary hearing armed with facts, and were basically blown off. We then successfully petitioned the state to take control of the school's student-managed segregated fees for the rest of that year.

Oddly enough, for all the rhetoric aimed at the "jock culture", about 3/4 of the students involved in sports at that school had never played high school sports, and that school gave them their first real opportunity for organized athletics.

So ... yes ... get a copy of the school system's budget and financial report before you jump to conclusions. Some, I'm sure, spend far too much on athletics to the exclusion of other activities, but many do not. To be fair, look at the expenditure per student. The football team budget may be higher, but it may benefit 50-100 players, not to mention the band playing at the games, the cheerleadingand pep squads, etc. That politically correct little art club with 5 kids in it might spend far less than the football team, but perhaps 10x - 20x as much per student.

At the university level, the men's football and basketball programs generally subsidize all the other sports teams for both men and women. You kid gets to play college volleyball or lacross? Thank a football player.​

 

[erthymom2]

I do not make our sons do "organized begging" as part of their school projects. I call the organizer (usually a mom or teacher) find out what the money is needed for, ask questions so i know their bottom line and then if my boys wish to do a donation with them adding in some of their allowance - we'll do it. I will usually match what they put in BUT we hyave a cap of $25.
I do not take their order forms or raffle tickets to work or hit up our family friends or relatives either.
IMO letting children make the decision after having the information has worked the best in our house and making them put some of their own money is important.

 

[Chickie'sMoma]

i like something that our local band used to do. (not sure if they still do this since i haven't see advertising the last few years) the band and family members would get donations from local grocery stores for sandwich supplies and make 'Super Bowl Sunday' subs to sell.

they would get together that morning to put them together for each order and bag them to be picked up after a certain time.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

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It's one thing to donate $$$ directly to a particular school dept or club, like the marching band or chess club. It's a whole other annoying issue when kids come selling overpriced junk to raise money "for the school".

And you don't want the junk, you don't want a dime of your money to go towards the company's profit, and you're of the opinion that your school district has already mishandled the money you've paid in property taxes, so why should you give them any more?

What I'd like to see is the classroom teachers supplied with all the materials they need to do the best job they can educating their students and the administration going out door-to-door selling whatever to raise funds for their fun/educational stuff like fancy office furniture, motivational speakers, out-of-town trips, company cars & cell phones, etc.