School Fundraising. How Far Do You Go?
Monday, July 14th, 2008My youngest child graduated high school in May.
This has produced some mixed feelings for me. On the one hand it reminded me of how old I am. On the other hand, I realized I won’t be forced to sell anymore fundraiser candy, magazines, popcorn, etc.
Somehow I was the one who ended up selling for my children. For that reason I suspect the people I work with were happy to see the last of my children graduate. Unfortunately I now will feel obligated to purchase from their children.
One reason the schools sell so much stuff is because most states provide only the basic funding. Everything else like playground equipment, school trips, sometimes even books for the library and art supplies need to be paid for by fund raising.
It used to be that schools were funded by taxes levied on property within the school district or county where the school was located. The result of this was that districts with high property values were well funded while in poorer areas the schools were not funded as well.
Most states that I’m aware of have now adopted some type of funding equalization that attempts to fund schools equally without regard to the relative property values within the districts. A lot of these school funding plans were forced on the school districts as the result of lawsuits filed on behalf of the poorer school districts. The result of this is that if you live in a middle class or upper middle class neighborhood your school receives no more money per student than if you lived in the poorest part of your state.
The solution? Fundraisers! But how far do you go to raise money for your school? If magazines and candy don’t do the job how about booze?
The Daily Camera, a Boulder County, Colorado newspaper reported recently that September High School, a private school, came under fire recently for offering gift certificates to local liquor store Liquor Mart.
“Jack Stoakes, Liquor Mart’s general manager, said his store works with a lot of nonprofit organizations and school groups to help raise money. He wouldn’t give names of the groups or schools because of the backlash it’s brought in the past.”
“‘It’s not like we’re encouraging misuse of the product,’ Stoakes said, adding that the gift certificate program is aimed at adults. ‘I would guess that the majority of the groups that take advantage of it are various school PTAs.’”
“Certificates to Liquor Mart, however, stopped being sold after some parents questioned whether the program supported the ‘sober campus’ message September High wants to send students and the community, school officials said.”
So what would you think if you found out that a local school was selling liquor gift certificates? Would it make a difference if it were a private school? Is this finally a product that you wouldn’t mind purchasing? Is there just something inherently wrong about schools and liquor stores partnering to raise funds?
And how fair is it for public schools to hold fundraisers anyhow? Doesn’t this get back to the unfair advantage of schools with students from more wealthy families or neighborhoods being able to raise more money that schools in poorer areas? Will we see lawsuits that will require money raised this way to be distributed to all schools equally?
