Another School Fundraiser Question - Assessment?

my older three kids also went to catholic school. we had a big assessment I guess you would call it. they had the chocolate sale which required each kid to sell 2 boxes it was those worlds finest chocolate bars. I think each box had 50 bars in it. they were $1 each. over and above that they had a magazine sale each kid had to sell 2 magazines. we did great on the chocolate sale. my hubby took them to bowling alleys which allowed us to sell there as long as we were bowling on a league which we did. the top prize for that was a semester of tuition. we won it 3 times. well worth the schlepping of chocolate round lol as for 3 kids a semester was several thousand dollars. on the other hand the magazine thing was a pain.

My coworkers have kids in public school, and they do candy fund raisers, cheese cake, and cookie dough fund raisers. They usually give the kids the booklets to pass around about 4 weeks in advanced. They let you know when the money is due and you can pay by check or cash. It's usually due in full when they hand in the orders. Students are not required to do fund raisers in public school. They usually do them for trips or the band.

My son goes to catholic school. We've had candy, pizza, and t-shirt fund raisers in the past and it worked just like the public school. The students weren't required to do those types of fund raisers. I liked the pizza and t-shirt fund raisers the best, because the pizza could be frozen and the t-shirts don't pack on the pounds like that annoying candy. Don't like candles either. We do have a required fund raiser called "The Winner's Circle." It's a raffle with big prizes like cruises, vacations, TVs, gift cards, cash, etc. We have a choice to sell $600 worth of tickets or forgo the selling and pay the school $500 instead. We sell them, because we figure that way we have a chance of winning something. Didn't win anything until last year. We won a vacation and gave it to one of the people that buy a ticket from us every year. We also won a Broadway music CDs with t-shirts, a massage, and a $25 Polo gift card. (That was our lucky year.) The tickets used to be $100/ticket. We talked the diocese into reducing the price of the tickets to make them easier to sell. Now they are $50/ticket. Yes, we dread the raffle ticket selling due to the amount we have to sell; but got to follow the rules to keep our son there. Everyone knows about having to sell the tickets, because you have to sign a form whether you are participating or not and how much you have to sell or pay if not participating; so nothing hidden.

We are public school and there are always fundraisers (coupon book, wrapping paper sales, big fundraising social in the spring), but none is required participation. All is to raise additional money for items that would make the school better but that can't be funded under the school's allotted budget (usually upgrading computers, buying smart boards, etc).

At the public elementary school my sister's kids attended, the PTO decided there were too many sales for the amount of money the school actually made. So they looked at the total amount made by all these sales every year, divided by the number of kids and requested a DONATION in this amount. They actually ended up making MORE money this way - people weren't saddled buying stuff they didn't want/need, and the people who didn't (or couldn't afford to) participate were covered by those who actually donated more than the suggested amount.

I've mentioned this to our PTO and really wish it would be more seriously considered. Not only can you possibly make more money, the amount of volunteer man hours needed would be greatly reduced.

You are thinking of "requiring" parents to pay more to the school?? Is this a private school? Because if my son came home from the public school and there was a note telling me it was "required" for me to pay more money to the school there would be a problem.

Public schools -
- we're always doing fundraisers, but they are optional
- there are often fund raisers for a specific school event, like a field trip and you have the option of participating in the fund raiser or paying the full price of the trip
- I've worked at lots of fund raisers, but my involvement has never decreased the amount I've had to pay for something, only my child's involvement counts

If my child were going to a private school, I would expect to be told up front what the cost was... ie- tuition is $xxx, however, you can decrease that amount $xxx by selling a minimum of 20 raffle tickets.

I hate "selling" fund raisers and rarely participate in them. However, I'll always volunteer for a car wash or a can and bottle drive. If it's a "selling" fundraiser, I'd rather just do the buy out. I HATE buying or selling junk that no one truly wants or needs.

When my kids went to Catholic School, they had an assessment I gues you could call it. They would run a raffle every year and you were required to sell at least one book or pay it yourself. These tickets were $10 each and each book had 10 tickets. I had no one to buy these tickets at the price they wanted so I ended up paying it myself. Then there was the box of chocolates. Each student had to sell one box minimum. With 3 kids, that was 3 boxes. I usually could sell 1 or 1& 1/2 but got stuck paying for the rest myself. $2 per bar, 15 bars per box. We had to pay by the deadline for the fundraiser. With 3 kids in the school ,this was really hard to do and we were barely able to pay the tuition as it was. We were not offered the option of earning the money by volunteering--which we were also required to volunteer 20 hours per family or $10 per hour not completed. I think if we could have worked it off or paid over time, it would have been much easier. For those with large and extended families, it was easier to sell stuff.

They need to raise tuition, just like my d's school.
I hate being asked for money after paying in full and signing a contract stating the cost is x. They won't so you are stuck with fundraisers.

I would give you $200 per year if I never had to do another fundraiser(maybe more).

No way in he** would I agree to any sort of assessment. My GD is in public school - you don't have to pay for it and as a matter of fact, the law requires that she go. They can't take any detrimental action against her because we refuse to participate in an "assessment." In fact, if I saw anything like that, I would be having a letter written to the school by my attorney. I believe requiring someone to pay such an "assessment" in public school would be illegal.

I pay taxes and provide supplies to the classroom. That's my contribution.