School fundraisers. Your thoughts please?

School trip and holiday events should be option, and if the parents chooses for their child to attend, they should pay for that event. If the parent decides they do not want their child to attend, then they should not pay and not attend. The cost of attendance can be a few dollars more than the actual need so children who are too poor to pay do not miss out because of their parents in ability to pay. So if the event is going to be $5 per child, charge $6 (depending on the number of children the school thinks can't afford it), and then left over money goes towards another event. If the family wants to fund raise to each year to cover these costs for their child, that is a great way to help, but no one should be forced to fund raise or to pay for events their child won't participate in. All schools have ice cream socials, field trips, holiday parties and other events, and they all cost money for the child's family- but attendance and choosing how to gain the money for your child should be your choice.

Fund raising for extra things like a new computer lab or playground should also be optional, and have rewards for top sellers as an incentive, or a pizza party for all who sell, or something similar. Fund raising should be an option-it either puts family and friends in the situation to feel they need to buy or puts kids on the streets selling to strangers or wandering wandering the neighborhood alone.

I don't do fund raising, but I do donate yearly to the "extra" things the kids do at school. I don't like asking my friends and relatives to buy the junk they sell, but I also want the school to have non-academic events, like field trips, a spring carnival, movie night. Those things are fun. School has become all about teaching academics. I remember looking forward to the fun events at school. It's hard sometimes for the school to arrange things on a pay as you go basis, because then they have to front the money. If they are holding a bar-b-que, the parents have to use their own money to buy the supplies and then get paid back when people pay at the door. The same is true with field trips. The bus companies want payment in advance.As long as it's a public school your kids attend, you are free to opt out of the fund raising. If you object to some of the activities, let the PTA know. If you can't afford it, tell someone, it isn't something you must do.

I'm a PTO president and chair one of the fundraisers, so I'm prepared for the thumbs down. I hope you'll read my answer and give it some consideration before condemning me for the position I chose to accept.

If you want to have more say, participate in your PTO/PTA. They are always in need of volunteers, and if you have a good one, they want to hear what you have to say. It's not easy to make good decisions with the opinions of just a few.

Our school is in need of $90,000 to replace computers over the next two years. Right now, that money is not in the budget. We are hoping for a technology grant and matching funds.

To reach that goal, we have two main fundraisers a year. The first is Avon and the second is cookie dough (priced at $8-$12 a bucket.) Avon is run during the holiday season and many of the items are things that might be purchased anyway as gifts. Families are not obligated to participate and in the last two years, our participation has run at about 30%.

Our sixth graders take an overnight trip to a YMCA run camp. They "borrowed" $4,000 from PTO to pay their deposit. Over this school year, they will hold some independent fundraisers to try to regain the money. We are relying on the sixth grade parents who have own their own companies to help out here. One parent does horseback lessons and is willing to donate her time and the use of her animals for a clinic with all proceeds coming back to the kids. Another owns a food franchise and is willing to do one night a month where a certain percentage will be returned to the school. A third runs an in home party business and is willing to do a catalog party for the kids once a quarter to help them raise funds. Another local school did a garage sale to raise money for their sixth graders. It was open to the school for donations and then was held as a two day event. They made over $2,000.

Last year we tried a new event to raise money for the music and art department. Our art teacher spent time during the year making a big project with each class. We had an arts night and the items were auctioned. It was very successful and allowed the art teacher to buy a slab roller and the music director to purchase some new drums for the percussion group she has started.

This year we tried a walk-a-thon. It was tied into a family pizza night and our book fair. Participants had family and friends pledge an amount determined by the person giving the pledge and then walked around the school for an hour. (It was supposed to be held outside, but the weather didn't cooperate.) When it was all over, we had pizza and book fair in the gym. There wasn't any junk to sell and pizza was the reward. Tallies haven't been finalized as there are a few families who have asked for the weekend to collect, but the last count was over $2,000 for a first time fundraiser.

I do not allow my children to peddle junk. I don't even like the cookie dough fundraiser. I'd like to see our school go more to events that encourage family and friends to participate like they do on our art night and at the walk-a-thon. Recently I was contacted by a group of grandparents who would like to have more say in what we are doing. They feel they are an untapped resource. I've encouraged them to come to our next meeting.

Once again, voice your opinion. Be heard. But also be prepared to be active and volunteer your time.

I am not a parent nor a teacher but children selling from door to door is dangerous these days. To keep the peace I would just buy the minimum. When I was at school many many years ago we chad cake stall white elephant sales and things like that schools don't seem to do that any more.

A cake stall parents bake cakes and at the school have an event and sell the cakes a white elephant sale is like a garage sale parents send thing they don't use any more and the school advertises that there will be a whit Elephant sale and the public come along and buy things. One mans trash is another mans treasure

i think that you do the fundraiser and she can raise what ever money she raises. if she doesn't make the 30 min then say well take it away from the _________________ (thing you didn't want her to or care if she did). the school shouldn't be able to make you pay a flat fee up front and fundraisers were always optional when i was growing up, they should still be. what about the people who can't afford the extra 50 right then? do they make them come up with it? if she gets a prize for selling so much let her try to sell some stuff, if she doesn't tell her it is up to her if she wants to go selling or not and don't push it.

At our school it is our choice if we want to sell things. I do some but not others but the ones you mention about $30-40 are ridiculous. Some ours do

Cakes and slices (around $6 )

Chocolates (popular brand here in Australia and sell for $1.20 each)

Garden bulbs ( about $5 a pack)

Beanie kids (always support this as my kids are obsessed with them $12)

there are others but nothing to much and you can choose which ones you want to support and if that is none of them then thats fine. And it is always per family not per child.

Also they will have out of uniform days (in Australia all kids at school have uniforms) and it is a gold coin donation ($1-2) per child and that may be for the school (we are told what it is for) or a charity . Sometimes it is bring a tin of fruit,biscuits,coffee... and it is donated to a men's shelter. Another one is a school disco that is $5 each to get in and all the money goes to the grade 6 graduation (last year in primary school before going onto high school). For this they get a drink, chips a few lollies and get to dance the night away and win prizes.

Personally, I am sick and tired of all the fundraisers that my daughter brings home, the things they expect her to sell are totally over priced and most people cannot or will not buy them.

A good example of what she has to do, she had to sell Otis Spunkmeyer cookies, at least one, there was 35 cookies in there and it was 20 bucks! And, they sold them the same week girl scout cookies came out so, I bought one and told her we were done.

I feel there are much better ways to earn money, not trying to sell overpriced items to people!! I think it's just the person who is in charge of fund raising being lazy and not looking for alternatives, just my 2 cents, which in the land of fund raising wouldn't buy a thing!!!

My daughter has not and will not to fundraisers. I will pay for her participation in any programs she is a part of, as I do not like asking people for money.

I understand the schools are underfunded, but we don't need to try and guilt trip people into buying things from kids. If I let my daughter go out and sell, I would feel obligated to buy from anyone who ever bought from her. And quite simply, I don't want that kind of financial obligation.

Is this fundraiser "mandatory?" I would flat out refuse.

I'm sick of them! My daughter just had 3 fundraisers for cheerleading she got one sent home on the first day of school and now they sent one home on the first day of girl scouts. Everybody is sick of being asked to buy things and their are to many kids in the area selling things. Its impossible to get orders. I myself can afford to spend extra money on the overpriced items and i dont expect anyone else to either

A great school fundraiser is a silent auction, winter or spring carnival, 5K marathon, a yard sale, a book sale, and a bake sale