Question:  Does each individual sport have to vote on their expenditure, or can the coach just work with the ASB general student council?  Is each sport treated as a club and required to turn in minutes?

Response:  ASB organizations have a lot of flexibility and discretion in how they may use their funds, but there are overlying principles that guide what is allowable and what is not. Allowable expenditures are those that promote the general welfare, morale and educational experiences of students. Allowable expenditures are also those that involve the students in making the overall decisions. In athletics, the adults are often involved in making the overall decisions, not the students. That in itself would tell you that athletics as a whole may not really belong in ASB. Maybe parts of it do, such as referee costs or other specific expenditures the students want to fund-raise and pay for. So the district budget should probably contain the majority of the athletic budgets, and the ASB should have a budget fQuestion:  Does each individual sport have to vote on their expenditure, or can the coach just work with the ASB general student council?  Is each sport treated as a club and required to turn in minutes?

Response:  ASB organizations have a lot of flexibility and discretion in how they may use their funds, but there are overlying principles that guide what is allowable and what is not. Allowable expenditures are those that promote the general welfare, morale and educational experiences of students. Allowable expenditures are also those that involve the students in making the overall decisions. In athletics, the adults are often involved in making the overall decisions, not the students. That in itself would tell you that athletics as a whole may not really belong in ASB. Maybe parts of it do, such as referee costs or other specific expenditures the students want to fund-raise and pay for. So the district budget should probably contain the majority of the athletic budgets, and the ASB should have a budget for specific parts of the program that the students have agreed to raise money for, and fund, in advance.

Since it is confusing as to what is and is not allowable, districts must establish board policy and administrative regulations containing their own on what they consider allowable and prohibited expenses for student body. These policies/regulations should be regularly reviewed and updated as individual questions come up so that they cover the types of items that are specific to your district. This will document what is truly considered allowable.

As to how sports are set up within ASB, that often differs by district. Some ASB’s have one athletic club that has a representative from each sport as a club member, but others have a club specifically for each sport.  If there are going to be numerous fund-raisers for different sports on an ongoing basis it would not be recommended to do this through general ASB.  Either an Athletic Club or individual sport clubs should be set up to clearly differentiate the revenues and expenditures.

ASB fund expenditures must be pre-approved, PLUS the expenditure must be an allowable expense. For an organized ASB like yours, pre-approval means the signature of three people: a student in the club, the club advisor, and the principal. That pre-approval should be on a purchase order.

If athletic expenditures continue to be run through ASB, a club budget should be prepared at the beginning of the year, including fund-raisers and anticipated expenditures. There should also be an approved constitution in place for each club. Three signatures would be needed on purchase orders prior to the purchase.  Adults cannot do the pre-approval alone . . . the students must be involved in all of the discussions starting with the budget as fund-raisers are planned and occur, and as expenditures are planned and pre-approved.  Remember, though, that students cannot be forced to fund-raise or approve expenditures that they do not believe appropriate. That would be in conflict with the meaning of student body funds. So, even though a coach may feel an expenditure is an appropriate sport purchase, he or she cannot make that decision alone or "force" the kids to do so.