Question: Is it allowable for an organized ASB club to hold a rummage sale for a fundraiser?

Response: Education Code Section 48932 allows governing boards to authorize study body organizations to conduct fund raising activities, so the first criteria in answering your question would be to ask if that governing board has approved the activity of holding a rummage sale for a fundraiser. Good business practice suggests that governing boards should review and approve all associated study body (ASB) fund raising events at the beginning of each school year. If a fund raising event was not known at the beginning of the year, the governing board can still approve events as they come up during the school year. In addition, governing boards may delegate authority to approve fund raising events to the district superintendent and /or other district designee.

Boards must also consider issues such as student safety, number and type of fund-raising events and whether the events interfere with the normal conduct of the schools. For these reasons and as a good practice, the governing board should consider approving policies and administrative regulations that delineate allowable and unallowable fund raising events.

If the board has approved the activity, there does not appear to be any statutory reasons why a rummage sale could not be held by the ASB. But it never hurts to check with the district’s legal counsel to be truly certain.