Question: One of our clubs hosted a multi-cultural event at our school as a fund-raiser and sold tickets to the event. The club invited other school groups to perform at the event. After the money was collected and deposited from the ticket sales into the club ASB account, the club advisor submitted requests to pay the off campus school groups for performing as a show of appreciation. Is this allowed?
Response: Allowable expenditures from ASB funds need to be directly linked to the students' benefit and also must be outside of what must be, and has been, provided by the school district's general funding sources in the past. There is no "list" of what is acceptable or not (and legal or not), so we always suggest that school districts specify in their ASB policy what is considered appropriate.
As to your question above, the expenditure may be appropriate if it was properly approved prior to the event as; however, it does not sound as though that is the case. In order for a payment to another student organization to be appropriate it must have the proper approvals in advance. In your case as a high school with an organized ASB, a student representative, the ASB advisor and the principal/designee would need to pre-approve the donation or fee prior to the event occurring. And, to be clear, it would be good for the entire club to vote on the expenditure in an official meeting with minutes prior to it occurring, as well. If the ASB constitution is silent on this subject, the general student council should discuss the issue and make a decision on whether this type of expenditure should be allowed. If agreement is reached, the constitution should be amended to reflect this type of expenditure in case this question comes up again.
Donations from ASB to an organization of any kind could be considered a gift of public funds. ASB funds should not be used to buy gifts or give money as a show of appreciation. In fact, no district funds should be used for such a purpose. Because student body funds are to benefit students as a group and not individuals, awards generally are discouraged, but are allowable in some circumstances.
2/22/10
