Question:
Our district will open a new middle school in September and the new principal would like to open an Associated Student Body. Do you have a checklist you could email me that has the steps for opening a new ASB. Also the principal would like to know where the initial start-up money would come from. She would like to buy things like PE uniforms before the students arrive.Response:
Although it is a great idea, FCMAT does not have a checklist to share with you for new ASB’s. But, Chapter 5 of the FCMAT ASB Accounting Manual and Desk Reference does include all of the information needed in order to open an ASB with all required documentation in place. The Manual can be found at: http://www.fcmat.org/stories/storyReader$911. We’ll consider adding a checklist to our next update to the manual!As to where the initial start up money will come from, that’s an excellent question, and there is no one right answer. In some districts, site funds are "loaned" for a very short period of time to the ASB in order for the ASB to have start up money that will then be paid back during the same fiscal year. Another idea is that Education Code (EC) section 48936, regarding allowable uses of student funds, also has an allowance for temporary loans to be given to student body organizations within the same district. Specifically, the EC states:
"In addition to deposit or investment pursuant to Section 48933, the funds of a student body organization may be loaned or invested in any of the following ways:
. . . Loans, with or without interest, to any student body organization established in another school of the district for a period not to exceed three years."
So, another school site ASB could loan the new ASB the money to start up, with the agreement that the funds be paid back in an agreed upon arrangement, but in no event longer than three years.
5/22/08
