Why is it that some schools have fees but others don't?

[Pamela Treacy]

Someone told me that their school was not allowed to charge fees like the math fee, the science fee etc? Our school has several fees. I believe I asked this question last year and I am asking it now under the discussion School Photographers -- where do the fees go?

Does anyone know?

We jus audited county government. Do our schools need an audit?

[Vic Spencer]

Pam, you will be told that the school gets audited, but that doesn't mean much. There is no transparency of where the dollars go and subcontractor bid details as well as subcontractor winner reasons for decision. There are many ways for games. I just mentioned one. A subcontractor wins at a high price, and every bidder is on the high side (easily arranged). One group decides who wins, and there is no transparency on the details. The winner kicks back 50% to the head of the decision making group, who distributes the money within the group. Only the head of the group knows the total amount of the kickback. This is just one example. This kind of abuse of assets can take many forms. For example Company A contracts Company B for a project for $1 million. Under a private side agreement Company B pays Company C $0.1 million when it gets paid from Company A. Company C then pays "Jim Jones" a cool $50K into a Lichtenstein bank account. Jim Jones happens to be the decision maker on this project in Company A. How do you prevent such things? 2 things have to be present.
Company A must have a detailed business plan that covers the "Projects" and other areas for the fiscal year in considerable detail. Company A must have a totally transparent detailed accounting statement on income, balance sheet, and expenses every month vs the plan by business unit (school in our case) subject to internal audit, and subject to independent audit quarterly to shareholders with prison to the Company Officer who signed it in case of any "misstatements".
It is not likely that anything like this happens in a school system. If it did, you would not know it, because the necessary openness is lacking on policies, contracts and financial reports. Contracts in fact may not have provisions for such things in them. In my opinion, things are so lose in this area, that such things could very well have happened.

[Cathy McCaughan]

Individual schools need to do a better job of reporting where money comes from and how it is spent.

Pamela, that math department computer lab with tiered levels, professional desks and computer stations for each student, came from fundraising. The Smart Boards in nearly every class while other schools have one per department, are from fundraising. The giant science lab, with great tables and cabinets filled with equipment, to see instead of just reading about science, came from fundraising. The trips to learn about other places and perform in academic and athletic competitions comes from fundraising. Your school is filled with learning tools because your school does endless fundraising.

[Pamela Treacy]

I am not saying fundraising is bad. It just needs to be in the open.

If the photographers give money back, we need to be aware of that. When I donate money to a fund raiser I am aware of it. I want to know about the hidden ones like yearbooks - does anything come back to the school? Or do they really cost that much to produce?

Is there a place that citizens and our elected officials can look up all the fund raising groups at our schoools to see how much money was raised and where the money goes?

I believe it makes sense if money is coming from so many sources we need to find out the total amount of money we are spending. How can we say we need $370 million a year to run the schools if we don't know how much additional money is generated from these other sources? Is it $2 million or $20 million?

My point is I don't think we know. The amount would better reflect the actual amount needed to run the schools.

[Bob Hunter]

Cathy,
While that is true you need to separate fund raising done by PTA/PTO type groups from that specifically handled by the schools. The PTA groups type groups do account for the moeny received and spent in their groups in the business meetings, minutes and budgets - usually much more clearly than the schools. And they are the ones responsible for much of what you mention in a majority of the schools.
At one time I understood someone to say that the School coupon books were the only "school" fund raisers and I don't know if this is accurate or not.
I have mixed feelings on the fund raising issue and I typically am against it. I don't send my kids to school to become Tony Robbins or whoever the current super star salesman is and I don't appreciate the guilt dumped on the kids many times for not selling enough. I also don't appreciate as a parent having to deal with it because let's face it - that is who sells the majority of what is often "junk" or gimick items that are sold. I would much rather just write a check and be done with it. I realize a lot of things in the schools come from the fund raising but in all honesty I think we could have those things anyway if someone did a lot better job handling the budget.

[Cathy McCaughan]

Bob - I agree that PTA/PTO groups (& Foundations) are very transparent in how they raise money and what they do with it, but at some schools, there is a LOT of fundraising that is not done by PTA/PTO groups.

Pamela - I hate the fundraising. I can see the difference in schools that do it effectively and schools that have less community support. It seems like a necessary evil. I still wish students could be students and teachers could be teachers and neither would have to be salesmen (and women).

[Pamela Treacy]

It's the hidden fund raisers that I want to understand better. Yes, I would like to know where all the money goes, but what concerns me most are the fund raisers that are not really know like school pictures, yearbooks, etc.

[Pamela Treacy]

3 checks for $37 and counting.

Just wrote the first three checks to Farragut High School. Math fee - $10; Family Consumer Science - $15 and non-mandatory 2013 Class T-shirt $12. That was just for one child. Haven't done second child yet. Goody more to come.

I feel pretty good that the money is being put to good use. But what I want to know is how much is being collected and who is managing this process.

Please post what fees you are being charged at other schools.

Also -- KCS -- when can we start writing one check? I am lucky I don't have a per check fee. By the time this is over I will need to start a new check book.

Besides the school checks I have already written a check to support Farragut Football Booster Club for player fees, season tickets, gala fund raiser tickets and a check to PTSO.


Cathy maybe you can do a poll next week on how much people wrote out in school related checks.

[Cathy McCaughan]

So far:

High School - p.e. fee $5, art fee $40, history fee $5, guard fee $150, band camp $85, mandatory band booster fee $165, school pictures $25

Middle School - school fee $30, activity fee $5, PTA $10

Elementary School - school fee $25

I didn't include the preschooler or college student expenses, because I don't think you're interested in those. I'm also not including the guard gloves, the guard uniform and uniform cover-up.

[Cathy McCaughan]

A few more checks:

High School - general materials fee $10, general tech fee $10, PTSO $12, student directory $3

[Cathy McCaughan]

Today's check wasn't to Knox County Schools, but it was for $151.54 to have the required drumsticks for middle school and a pair of guard gloves for high school. Monday, we are sending a check to the high school for $83 toward guard uniform accessories.

[Debi]

Don't forget, coupon books are starting soon!

[Debi]

Here's what we NEED to pay:

$ 25+5 middle school fee

$ 50 elementary school fee

$100 school supplies for today

$200 swim team (if I remember correctly from last year, in a few weeks)

$30 band fee ~

$20 reeds for musical instrument $60 elementary school (2) yearbooks + 1 middle school in a couple weeks

$20 elementary t-shirts ~

$60 cheapest pack school pictures ~

$570 grand total. Thankfully the walmart is done. I'm thankful KCS takes payments. No kidding, I really am thankful.