Question:  Our Yearbook advisor will be going to a conference and will need to have a substitute teach her class while she is gone. Is it legal for her sub to be paid for out of the student body yearbook club?

Response: Student body funds must be used to promote and finance a program of worthwhile activity beyond those provided by the district.  State law also requires that all student body expenses be pre-approved.  In high schools and middle schools the student organizations are called organized student body associations because the students organize their activities around student clubs and a student council. The students are involved in making the decision about how the ASB funds are spent.

Because the distinction between allowable and unallowable expenses can be very confusing, it is always best that the governing boards of school districts adopt rules and regulations by which the student body is governed.  If your district's governing body has not adopted such a policy for student body accounts, we would recommend that they do so, so that parameters are in place for the operation of the associated student body accounts and to assist in the questions of whether certain costs or allowable or not.

In order for expenditures to be an allowable use of student funds, they must directly promote the general welfare, morale, or educational experience of the students.  In addition, student body funds cannot be used for expenditures that are the responsibility of the district.  I am assuming that the yearbook advisor is normally paid for from district funds.  If so, student body funds cannot be used for the substitute teacher because this cost is normally the responsibility of the district.  If the yearbook advisor is usually paid for from student body funds, then the substitute could also be paid from the same funds.

10/18/02