User post: Is kids fundraising to make up for shortfall in school budgets smart?

I agree outrageous however in our district (in Utah) field trips are paid for by the PTA through fundraising. The Community Council also pays for fancy school supplies through fundraising.

The CC did a fundraiser for smart boards. They had a drawing for prizes but only kids that brought in $25+ were entered in the drawing. They gave away MP3 players and other gadgets in the drawing. Kids that brought in $100 were automatically guaranteed a prize. They had a big track/field day to celebrate and do the drawings. Of course it was all optional (according to the school) but the message to the kids was quite different and the school offered to provide an alternate activity for any kids that didn't want to particpate in the track/field but this offer only came after we pushed. We donated a few dollars begrudingly just so our child wouldn't be upset but we refused to let her go around asking other families for $$. Our daughter woke up with the stomach flu the morning of the track/field day so she didn't go. They raised thousand of dollars - it was all very sickening.

My daughters school also did Hats Off For Cancer every Friday. Kids were able to wear a hat that day if they brought $.50 or more to donate. This was not a fundraiser to benefit the school - the money was being donated elsewhere. We occassionally let our daughter participate but again were frustrated with the whole thing. They would announce over the loud speaker at the end of school on Friday which class donated the most that week - made me sick. My biggest frustration was the last week that they planned to do this they made announcement over the loud speaker that if a class had 100% participation they would get a Root Beer Float party. How would you like to be the one kid who didn't donate and caused all your classmates to miss out on a party? Again another way to force the $$ from the kids - but remember it's all optional. Fortunately my daughter did not attend school the day of the mandatory donations due to a doctors appointment.

It's all very sickening. Live within your means or make cuts - it's that simple.

It's so funny the terminology being used in these comments....cause I called my son's middle school principle the "cookie-do pimp" all year since she called every night, sometimes twice a day, using the PACE auto-mated phone message delivery system for 3 weeks straight to remind parents to push the cookie dough fundraiser. They are relentless. My family won't even buy anymore since one year my brother's cookie dough order was lost, then found, but had went bad in the process. Had to wait weeks to get a refund. So he just refuses to buy stuff. He'll give me 5 dollars to put towards my order. And my poor coworkers are so tired of all the fundraisers, I have 2 kids in school, 1 in daycare. the private daycare even had a fundraiser once...thought i'd never live to see the day I would say I was sick of chocolate. It is ridiculous on how lack of budgeting skills results in these pimping tactics. But if you don't participate you are labeled a bad parent for not supporting your kids. I just put limits, one fundraiser per kid per year. They usually have 2 or 3 each per school year. Fortunately, our district is not burdened by the mandatory requirements...yet.

Well, exactly how do you suggest children learn about slavery then, Miss You-Own-The-Fruit-of-Your-Own-Labor?? Huh? I mean, really. Some people. You think you go to work so you can earn money you can keep for yourself? That's the government's money, sister. You should be happy to live in a country where the government lets you keep up to 50% of what you earn!

/sarcasm

Laura, you say you have four children in school. Apparently you don't realize what it costs the state (TAX PAYERS) approximately $6,000 per year to educate a student. And you have FOUR children!! That means WE pay an additional $18,000 (per year) for YOUR other THREE children. (I’m assuming you pay $6,000 in property taxes where much of school funding comes from. But not all your property taxes go to paying for schools. (Look at your tax statement). And you have the nerve to complain because the schools are asking you to contribute something every once in a while. Laura, don't' you realize we are in a recession and many unemployed people aren't paying property, sales and other taxes like they used to. I detect naivete and a feeling of entitlement here. I suggest you and other parents educate yourselves here, start paying your fair share and stop leaning on the rest of us tax payers for a handout out. It was your personal choice and no one asked you to bear four children, and you should be responsible for their upbringing. Just where do you think the state gets the funds to pay for public education?? It appears you make a good income, judging from your Web Site, and you probably could very well afford to pay up. I suggest you rethink your selfish attitude, pay up and stop whining.

Laura, you say you have four children in school. Apparently you don't realize what it costs the state (TAX PAYERS) approximately $6,000 per year to educate a student. And you have FOUR children!! That means WE pay an additional $18,000 (per year) for YOUR other THREE children. (I’m assuming you pay $6,000 in property taxes where much of school funding comes from. But not all your property taxes go to paying for schools. (Look at your tax statement). And you have the nerve to complain because the schools are asking you to contribute something every once in a while. Laura, don't' you realize we are in a recession and many unemployed people aren't paying property, sales and other taxes like they used to. I detect naivete and a feeling of entitlement here. I suggest you and other parents educate yourselves here, start paying your fair share and stop leaning on the rest of us tax payers for a handout out. It was your personal choice and no one asked you to bear four children, and you should be responsible for their upbringing. Just where do you think the state gets the funds to pay for public education?? It appears you make a good income, judging from your Web Site, and you probably could very well afford to pay up. I suggest you rethink your selfish attitude, pay up and stop whining.

Local school districts in Chicagoland focus on the revenue side. There seems to be little long term planning, deficit spending seems acceptable because they and the unions feel the school districts can just go back to the tax payers. No one seems to understand what a defined benefit pension plan is or means (creating the State level issues of unfunded plans) and everyone hides behind the notion that we all want what is best for the kids, as long as the teachers comp and ben goes up 4-8% every year. Where does that really happen in the private sector? School budgets are largely comp and ben based, but it seems a challenge to get people to think that way.

From my local research, teachers salaries are above average yet their benefits and pensions are almost entirely funded by the tax payer. Hasn't the purpose of the union, obtain better benefits and pension because of lower initial salaries, has outgrown itself? Isn't tenure outdated? What is wrong with pay for performance and creativity versus paying against some experience schedule and level of education?

Unfortunately, this is not a local school district, State or region issue, it is a National issue that our current political environment is unwilling to address. Listen to almost any news cast, read almost any article and almost NONE of them talk about reducing salaries, making union employees pay comparable medical costs to the private sector or even challenge the notion of defined benefit pensions when the private sector has largely moved to defined contribution (401k) plans. Nothing is for free and just like the housing market, values can't go up forever, They have to, and did, come down.

I hate all the crap kids sell. Everything from wrapping paper to frozen cookie dough, and all at inflated prices. The only fundraisers I support are the recycle programs, where kids collect used phone books or cans.
Kids can earn an allowance for completing chores, but it's not to make up for the adults' failure to manage the school budget. The school budget woes are not their problem and kids should not be burdened with it.

How's this for perspective: I live in SF where our bus drivers make more than our teachers! There is money to launch a mandatory composting program citywide, but the education budget is suffering a $15million deficit. Where are the priorities??!! And to stay on topic, I agree that the fundraising is out of control, but no one seems to be managing the facilities, staff, programs or materials.

I am with springtime. This is ridiculous. I for quite some time have had issue with schools and their fundraising. I live in a small community in CA. I like the small school district. We don't have walk situations and striking like other larger districts. However the fundraising gets to be too much. I feel they "pimp our children to make more money and you are not quite sure of where it goes. Or you have all the elementary kids selling the same crap at the same time so you are flooding the community with it. Recently we have suffered the economic blow that everyone else is experiencing so some of our programs, namely, sports are threatened. I do feel that the sports are important but education over rides that. At a parent meeting we actually had another parent who volunteers to coach get up and basically told us that we better wake up and realize that the situation is worse than explained and it takes all of us to do our part and we are expected to sell raffle tickets to keep the program going. So there is mandatory sell for everyone. ten tickets at ten bucks a piece. Not to mention another side raffle for twenty dollars a piece for a dinner. Needless to say he did not deliver this speech well. So yes this does tend to take an ugly turn at some point.

The head of our county's school administration makes $250,000 annually, and they continually ask for tax hikes on the ballot "for the children and for the teachers."

If the children need the money, and if they need to entice good teachers to stay, then the administration can take a pay cut. That goes for EVERY overpaid school administrator who's getting fat off of the backs of kids and teachers. Why should kids, parents, and teachers have to wh-ore themselves at fundraisers again?

I'm not even a mom! I'm a student and this shocks me! That's rediculous! I believe in all that you're saying. *sigh* My school is cutting teachers and adding computors, which is also quite sad. Hire good teachers, we can live with less/old computors. Classes are going to have to be bigger because of this and it's just not good in general. Schools are probably one of the hardest hit government run facilities in this time and to think they're this desperate is quite appaling.

Maybe I'm weird, but I like the cookie dough :) I don't, however, appreciate the fact that it's being pimped out by 9 year olds trolling the neighborhood trying to outsell their classmates.

I would have called the superintendent and the local newspaper about this. If the school is public, that means the public pays for it. Having kids do chores, then "donate" $20 to the school is ludicrous. First of all, we've paid them already. Secondly, in this economy, how many families won't be able to come up with the cash (if you have more than one child, you could be on the hook for more than $20)? And thirdly, make a budget and stick to it. I live in a small town and you would not believe the number of administrators we have. Good Lord, there is a superintendent, a couple vice-superintendents, then managers and so on. Truly, if I'm short on my budget for the month, I don't show up at their office and request $20.

My biggest complaint is that I already pay tuition at a private school, and yet they also expect about $600 in MANDATORY fundraising from each student each year. Of course, the kids are expressly forbidden from going door to door or standing outside the grocery store due to safety concerns, so what it really means is Mom and Dad have to beg our coworkers (trust me, I hate it at least as much as you do!) or our own families, or just write another check. If we don't "donate" enough through these fundraisers, the difference is added to our final tuition bill. Why not just increase the tuition to cover the amount you need from the start and be done with it? At least then I could pay it over time through the payment plan and not be surprised by yet another fundraising notice.

That is just insane... doing household chores so the school could benefit. My take is my kids are a part of the household, so they chip in to help by taking care of their things and their area. They also pull kitchen duty. It's called family living; they do not get paid for being a family member. Most schools operate on a tight budget. So, they have garage sales, dog/car washes, walk-a-thons, etc. to raise money. Also, many apply for grants. Your child's school is way out of line, and the school board should be notified.

My kids go to public school in an upper-middle class neighborhood of the SF Bay area. I can testify that the drumbeat of fundraising is constant, relentless and impossible to ignore. I am so frustrated that my kids have been pimped out to fundraise gift wrap, cookie dough, shopping cards, auction items that I don't need or want, and on and on it goes. Oh, and every family is asked to donate $750 per child to our community's education foundation, per year, just so kids can still have the basics. It is absolutely deplorable that our state -- California -- cannot prioritize its spending properly. However, I also blame California residents, who passed prop. 13 and refuse to pay more property taxes. They are basically just passing the buck to the younger generation so they can continue to have their same standard of living.

A great fundraiser to try is the Discount Card Fundraiser - Everyone wins since people save money on stores they will be going to anyway.

I don't participate at all with the school fundraisers.

Why put this task on the children who are the innocent ones in all of this? What is more, this is one of life's great lessons that children can learn-how to cut back budgets and ultimately, how to save (yes, SAVE!) during the robust times and plan for a rainy day in the future.
Faye Rogaski
founder socialsklz:-) tools to thrive in the modern world

Please review the following information regarding Scott Veerkamp: Scott is a member of the Franklin Township School Board.

http://www.ripoffreport.com/Search/scott-veerkamp.aspx

Thank you for your opinion. However, to help educate you, you are wrong in your assumption. You are right there are many unemployed. Another fine example of the ramifications of not knowing how to manage money or budgets. And you are also correct in that I chose to have my children and now I am choosing to get involved in keeping that $3 Trillion they will have to pay for all of the overspenders over the years at a stand still. And quite frankly, for the record, I have not needed to "let go" of any of my employees during this RECESSION which I am well aware of. Again, thank you for your opinion.