Question:  Should yearbook and spirit clothes sales run through our student body account? What if there is $$$ in that account that should not be, how do we get that $$$ out??

Response: Fundraisers such as year book and spirit clothes are appropriate for the student body account if that is the organization that the fundraisers are intended to support. There are not specific rules that state they MUST be in ASB, but that is normal practice around the state.

Education Code section 48932 allows the governing board, or their designee, to authorize student body to conduct fund raising events.  FCMAT suggests that the governing board should review and approve all ASB fundraising events at the beginning of each school year, or as an alternate, have specific policies and administrative regulations  on what is considered appropriate and not-appropriate fund raising events for the ASB organization.

It is important that ASB fundraisers contribute to the educational experience and not conflict with the school’s educational program.  In addition students should participate and made contributions to fundraising voluntarily.  In most districts, the following are types of fundraising events that are allowable, but this list is not inclusive as governing boards are able to decide what is appropriate for their own district:

For your second question as to how to get dollars out of ASB if they were not supposed to be in there in the first place, that’s a more complicated answer.  The only way to truly move money from ASB to another account (such as to a site account in the district’s budget), you’d have to have very detailed backup as to why the funds should not have been deposited in ASB in the first place.  Co-mingling of funds is something that should not occur, which is why we stress so strongly to be sure that when a donation is made, the recipient understands and explains who the funds are to go to.  Once donations are deposited into ASB, it becomes the student’s responsibility to decide how the funds will be spent, and cannot be spent on "usual" district expenses.  This also means that teachers are not to decide on how ASB funds are to be spent.  If teachers are to make the decision, the funds belong in a district account.  During audits, it is often found that deposits made to ASB should have gone to the district for use at a particular site, or vice versa.  It is often difficult to back up where the funds really should belong, which is why it is critical at the time of receipt to make sure the funds are deposited correctly.