DCPS School Donations

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here

Our school has a PTO. But a teacher wants to spend money differently and on their own terms so solicited donations from the parent community for their own use without PTO oversight. They asked to give cash or check written to the “Student Activity Fund”.

We were told the “Student Activity Fund” was used to hold left over field trip money (I.e the school says the cost of a field trip is $25 when it’s really only $23 and then the school keeps the left over $2 for kids who can’t pay).

My question is - can an individual teacher or support staff solicit funds to use as they please. Who would have oversight?

Of course they can. The PTO has NO authority on this kind of thing.

Guys - I’m talking about general solicitations for no specific purpose.

This is not a power-play question. It is simply about the purpose of the solicitation. I.e. it’s different if somebody’s asking for a field trip fund amount versus just give us some money. There’s all sorts of rules around how organizations use money who has say have the money is used if it’s collected by the school? There’s a reason schools don’t do this and they use parent organizations.

“ But a teacher wants to spend money differently and on their own terms”

Pick a story and stick to it. Is a teacher soliciting donations for no purpose and you don’t want more money for your school? Or the teacher is doing something the “no power play” PTO doesn’t want to fund and you’re trying to get them in trouble?

Just email the principal for goodness sakes.

[Anonymous]

Generally when teachers have solicited funds at out DCPS, they have done it through Donors Choose, which has some built in accountability. They usually describe what the money is for but it can be somewhat general. However, if you donate, the teachers pretty much always send a thank you describing how the money was spent. I think sometimes they have to wait and see how much money they get before they know exactly what they can afford.

We have also had teachers provide Amazon wish lists and people will buy classroom supplies off that, but that is an in kind donation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here

Our school has a PTO. But a teacher wants to spend money differently and on their own terms so solicited donations from the parent community for their own use without PTO oversight. They asked to give cash or check written to the “Student Activity Fund”.

We were told the “Student Activity Fund” was used to hold left over field trip money (I.e the school says the cost of a field trip is $25 when it’s really only $23 and then the school keeps the left over $2 for kids who can’t pay).

My question is - can an individual teacher or support staff solicit funds to use as they please. Who would have oversight?

Of course they can. The PTO has NO authority on this kind of thing.

Guys - I’m talking about general solicitations for no specific purpose.

This is not a power-play question. It is simply about the purpose of the solicitation. I.e. it’s different if somebody’s asking for a field trip fund amount versus just give us some money. There’s all sorts of rules around how organizations use money who has say have the money is used if it’s collected by the school? There’s a reason schools don’t do this and they use parent organizations.

“ But a teacher wants to spend money differently and on their own terms”

Pick a story and stick to it. Is a teacher soliciting donations for no purpose and you don’t want more money for your school? Or the teacher is doing something the “no power play” PTO doesn’t want to fund and you’re trying to get them in trouble?

Just email the principal for goodness sakes.

Shut up. You’re the reason DCUM sucks. Because you’re an anonymous keyboard warrior who likes to giggle when you type as if your anonymous stupidity will bring down some other anonymous person. I’m guessing you don’t volunteer much with DCPS.

[Anonymous]

[img]

Anonymous wrote:Generally when teachers have solicited funds at out DCPS, they have done it through Donors Choose, which has some built in accountability. They usually describe what the money is for but it can be somewhat general. However, if you donate, the teachers pretty much always send a thank you describing how the money was spent. I think sometimes they have to wait and see how much money they get before they know exactly what they can afford.

We have also had teachers provide Amazon wish lists and people will buy classroom supplies off that, but that is an in kind donation.

This was how i thought it was done too. It was my first time hearing of a direct solicitation to a DCPS managed fund with no specific purpose.

And I couldn’t ask for what yet because it was a large announcement the last day of school. A teacher just said we need more money for things.

[Anonymous]

If a teacher asks for donations to the school activity fund, then that would get deposited into the school's account with DCPS. The principal and the school's business manager would have some oversight on that money. The teacher can't spend the money without it getting a check cut by the business person.

It seems you could choose not to donate. Are you feeling compelled to?

You could ask the principal for more clarity.

You could ask the PTO whether they were asked about the campaign and what the point of conflict is.

[Anonymous]

^^ Also, I don't know if a donation to a school activity fund is eligible for tax deduction. If that issue has relevance for you, you'd need to figure that out.

[Anonymous]

Here is a link generally discussing donations to DCPS and how to do it:
https://dcps.dc.gov/page/make-donation-dcps

Direct payments to each school's SAF can be made online; however, this will not generate a receipt sufficient to prove that your payment was a donation and not a payment for service; but if you don't care about that, then this is the easiest way to build up your school's SAF.
https://dcps.dc.gov/page/paying-student-activities

While a government entity like a public school does not qualify for tax exempt status, donations to them generally are tax decuctible if the funds are used for a public purpose.
https://www.irs.gov/publications/p526

To make a donation to the SAF tax deductible, you could do it by check/cash with a letter to the principal identifying the purpose and let them deposit the donation. Or you could have your PTA arrange a SAF fundraiser, make the tax deductible donation to the 501c3 HSA, and the HSA can deposit the money in the SAF. As always, check with you tax advisor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here is a link generally discussing donations to DCPS and how to do it:
https://dcps.dc.gov/page/make-donation-dcps

Direct payments to each school's SAF can be made online; however, this will not generate a receipt sufficient to prove that your payment was a donation and not a payment for service; but if you don't care about that, then this is the easiest way to build up your school's SAF.
https://dcps.dc.gov/page/paying-student-activities

While a government entity like a public school does not qualify for tax exempt status, donations to them generally are tax decuctible if the funds are used for a public purpose.
https://www.irs.gov/publications/p526

To make a donation to the SAF tax deductible, you could do it by check/cash with a letter to the principal identifying the purpose and let them deposit the donation. Or you could have your PTA arrange a SAF fundraiser, make the tax deductible donation to the 501c3 HSA, and the HSA can deposit the money in the SAF. As always, check with you tax advisor.

But then why not just donate through the HSA/PTA? That's what they do -- raise funds and disburse them on behalf of the school and parents. PTAs are always getting eye-rolled here, but their organization enables decision-making with inputs from multiple persepctive, provides accountability, and provides tax-deductibility.

Donating to your schools' SAF means you need to trust whoever makes decisions about it to be good financial stewards. You are not going to get reports about the spending and you are not going to have a range of eyes on it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here

Our school has a PTO. But a teacher wants to spend money differently and on their own terms so solicited donations from the parent community for their own use without PTO oversight. They asked to give cash or check written to the “Student Activity Fund”.

We were told the “Student Activity Fund” was used to hold left over field trip money (I.e the school says the cost of a field trip is $25 when it’s really only $23 and then the school keeps the left over $2 for kids who can’t pay).

My question is - can an individual teacher or support staff solicit funds to use as they please. Who would have oversight?

Of course they can. The PTO has NO authority on this kind of thing.

Guys - I’m talking about general solicitations for no specific purpose.

This is not a power-play question. It is simply about the purpose of the solicitation. I.e. it’s different if somebody’s asking for a field trip fund amount versus just give us some money. There’s all sorts of rules around how organizations use money who has say have the money is used if it’s collected by the school? There’s a reason schools don’t do this and they use parent organizations.

“ But a teacher wants to spend money differently and on their own terms”

Pick a story and stick to it. Is a teacher soliciting donations for no purpose and you don’t want more money for your school? Or the teacher is doing something the “no power play” PTO doesn’t want to fund and you’re trying to get them in trouble?

Just email the principal for goodness sakes.

Shut up. You’re the reason DCUM sucks. Because you’re an anonymous keyboard warrior who likes to giggle when you type as if your anonymous stupidity will bring down some other anonymous person. I’m guessing you don’t volunteer much with DCPS.

I’m sorry I’m calling you out on your hypocrisy. You clearly think a teacher is soliciting funds for an

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here

Our school has a PTO. But a teacher wants to spend money differently and on their own terms so solicited donations from the parent community for their own use without PTO oversight. They asked to give cash or check written to the “Student Activity Fund”.

We were told the “Student Activity Fund” was used to hold left over field trip money (I.e the school says the cost of a field trip is $25 when it’s really only $23 and then the school keeps the left over $2 for kids who can’t pay).

My question is - can an individual teacher or support staff solicit funds to use as they please. Who would have oversight?

Of course they can. The PTO has NO authority on this kind of thing.

Guys - I’m talking about general solicitations for no specific purpose.

This is not a power-play question. It is simply about the purpose of the solicitation. I.e. it’s different if somebody’s asking for a field trip fund amount versus just give us some money. There’s all sorts of rules around how organizations use money who has say have the money is used if it’s collected by the school? There’s a reason schools don’t do this and they use parent organizations.

“ But a teacher wants to spend money differently and on their own terms”

Pick a story and stick to it. Is a teacher soliciting donations for no purpose and you don’t want more money for your school? Or the teacher is doing something the “no power play” PTO doesn’t want to fund and you’re trying to get them in trouble?

Just email the principal for goodness sakes.

Shut up. You’re the reason DCUM sucks. Because you’re an anonymous keyboard warrior who likes to giggle when you type as if your anonymous stupidity will bring down some other anonymous person. I’m guessing you don’t volunteer much with DCPS.

I’m sorry I’m calling you out on your hypocrisy. You clearly think a teacher is soliciting funds for an

Sorry it got cut off…

You clearly think a teacher is soliciting funds for a purpose you think they shouldn’t be. Or you think they are using funds for their own personal use. Either way, you contact their boss and inquire or report. But it’s still none of your business to worry about, at least as far as you’ve explained. Are you the solicited donor and aren’t sure you should donate? Then don’t. Why are you giving to someone you don’t trust.