School Fundraiser Rant

[Randombitsofstring]

My children’s school kicked off their first week with the fall catalog sales. UGH! I hate these things—most of the stuff is over priced and tacky and I hate the whole sales pitch they give my kids in school—you know the whole “If you sell X amount of items you’ll get this cool prize.” But to really make matters worse this year the PTA has just raised the bar by sending how “promise notes” that says “I promise to sell at least 2 items…and I will get a Scooby Do key chain.” Of course both of my kids want the Scooby Do key chain—because all their friends are going to get key chains….UGH! It just makes me so mad. The cheapest thing in the catalog is $7—so basically the school is trying to bribe me into buying at least $28 worth of stuff so that my kids will not whine about a key chain. Of course I am not going to sing that slip. If we they 2 items a piece then fine—but I am not going promise that school anything right now.

 

[FollowHisPath]

I am not a parent but I know the whole fundraiser deal. Each year since I was in 7th grade (going into 11th now) the choir has selled Virginia Diner Peanuts and on the letter they send home to parents it says "Your child is required to sell at least so-so amount of items to help out the choir partons" Umm excuse me? REQUIRED? What if I cant sell so-so amount of itmes? People may not have the money for these things. A 10 ounce can of peanuts are like 5.50-6.50 a peice and a 3 pound tub of cookie dough is like 10.00! I am sorry but if I cant sell 2 items then its not my fault. I hate it when the funraiser teachers say REQUIRED or have children make promises that they cant keep. It makes me mad too.

 

[Sascha Fitzpatrick]

Oh I hated this as a child - can't think of what's going to happen when I'm a parent.

I think all schools/groups do this, so we can't really escape it - I still get it at work, and if I didn't work I'd have to deal with it coming past my door every night.

I think I'm going to be the mother from hell about any 'required/commited' achievements that a school might place on me. So far I haven't heard of the school we want to send our kids to doing things like this. It's a lot more community minded and smaller than most...

Sasch

 

[appleofhiseye]

ugh I have this to look forward to, ???
DS starts Kdg this fall.

 

[GolfingMom]

Our school pushed it (when I was young) but didn't require it. My parents didn't push it either...We rarely sold anything...no biggy.
As for the prize - If my child wanted the prize I would direct them to better options at a local store that they could "work" for...

 

[Andry]

Most school districts are under a current climate of stretched budgets to the point where individual schools have to somehow make up the for the "shortfall" if they want to continue with some programs that parents expect.

And many dedicated teachers like my son's often spend their own money on classroom supplies or other special knick knacks that help make their kids learning experience a bit more memorable.

And as we all can pull out the "well I pay my taxes to fund my kid's school", let's not use that line.

I say give them slack (read: grace) and go with the flow; if you can contribute to help raise funds, wonderful. If you cannot, gracefully decline.

 

[Randombitsofstring]

Most school districts are under a current climate of stretched budgets to the point where individual schools have to somehow make up the for the "shortfall" if they want to continue with some programs that parents expect.

And many dedicated teachers like my son's often spend their own money on classroom supplies or other special knick knacks that help make their kids learning experience a bit more memorable.

And as we all can pull out the "well I pay my taxes to fund my kid's school", let's not use that line.

I say give them slack (read: grace) and go with the flow; if you can contribute to help raise funds, wonderful. If you cannot, gracefully decline.

I understand about schools having tight budget, and I don’t mind buying a few things from the fundraiser—what I object to is the means in which they go about it. The way they present it and the way they hype up the kids so that they are disappointed in themselves when they can not reach certain goals.

Our school is in a very expensive district with a very large tax base—plus I do buy all of my children’s school supplies ($150 this year, not counting clothes) and I pay PTA membership dues and buy school T-shirts for the whole family another $30. The PTA also does many fundraiser though out the year, not counting the fall catalog they do: Cookie dough, magazine subscriptions, local coupon books, fall and spring photos, bake sales, 2 book fairs, and a school carnival—all of them I try to buy at least one item and/or help run booths. I also volunteer about 5 hours a week—so I am very involved in the school and understand their needs. I just dislike these “Promise Notes” it strikes me as very ill mannered.

 

[Linnis]

We do not do school fundraisers. I do not want him peddling cheap overpriced junk, so he can get a cheap junk prize. I'd much rather support the Chili nights etc the school has.

 

[Andry]

We do not do school fundraisers. I do not want him peddling cheap overpriced junk, so he can get a cheap junk prize. I'd much rather support the Chili nights etc the school has.

Eh? Aren't Chili nights a fund raiser too? As for cheap overpriced junk, I betcha most of us would be guilty of buying some of that stuff ourselves in our furnishings, our clothes, our kids toys etc etc ad nauseaum.

 

[Christianmom1968]

I have two kids and in the last couple years it seems like the amount of fundraisers each year has doubled or tripled. The year before last I think packets were sent home almost every month for the first half of the year. I got to the point where I told the kids I didn't want to see it because I can't afford to keep giving money.

Last year my parents and I helps support the music department at the middle school because I think it's terrible that music programs are being eliminated in many schools around the country but I didn't support much of any other fundraisers.

I also get tired of the kids coming home saying, "Oh I really need to sell 50 things so I can get this (insert cheap item)." Never mind the fact that the things they end up coming home with ends up in the garbage because it breaks or they loose interest in them within a month

 

[katelyn]

Interesting. I don't think my school ever did these types of fundraisers (i.e. kids selling stuff). The only time I sold something for school was when we sold magazine subscriptions to raise money for our prom. On one hand it's nice to get kids involved, "school spirit" and all that, but it would get frustrating if it was a constant thing.

 

[HeKnowsMyName]

I get the support your school idea, but our teachers get so much of a budget every year and they just hunt things to buy - not necessarily what they need - just so they won't "lose" their money. So that is where my taxes/fundraiser monies are being spent. If they didn't blow it then they might not have the need for so many fundraisers.

Now on the flip side of that, I have a child in school and my DH works with the school so we have kids coming up to him all the time asking for $5 here and $1 there for some sort of fundraising crap, and he feels the need to give to them. It gets old.

 

[selune]

It's sick isn't it that the schools see no problem with "pimping" our children. Because that's really what this is. "If you don't sell such and such, you don't get a prize." has just replaced the "If you don't sell your body, then I'll beat you." Is it any surprise that kids are growing up with confusion. It's also interesting the amount of money that is "found" to support sports stadiums and teams and such, but there's a shortfall for basic supplies...

 

[nuthousemom]

I see both sides here, our school uses the money they raise to do really cool stuff like "artist in residence" or "musician in residence", young authors, various literacy "fun"programs, computers in the classroom.....
So even though I don't really feel like pedalling the stuff around it doesd help support some really interesting stuff my kids might not otherwise get to experience.

I do agree that the schools can be too pushy about it. Last year I was a little taken aback when my daughter had memorized exactly what she needed to do for a "cookie dough sale" but forgot to bring home her homework folder

I would think about sending a tactful email or letter to the fundraising chair as this is a good way to let them know their methods are not appreciated even though the fundraiser is. We haven't startred back yet...this is reminding me that this year I have 3 kids who will be bringing it home ugh .

Carolyn

 

[jusluvm]

I do understand the need for some of these extra funds and my children do see the benefit of alot of these extra purchases made possible by these extra funds.

However, I do not buy anything to support the fundraisers unless it's something that I actually want, like cookie dough or fruit. Instead of buying items, I simply donate cash. Figure up what the organization would actually make --- usually about 50% of the cost of the items being sold --- and cash donations makes much more sense with 100% going to the school. Our school is very small (350 max for k-12) so it's easy to know who/which group to send the donation to.

We also support the dinner fundraisers, carnival functions, etc. by participation (working the events) as well as cash donations.

 

[icbeckyc]

Growing up I hated this stuff and other than to get my prom ticket for free, my senior year, I never sold anything. I hate it now that my kids bring stuff home. My best friends son is selling band stuff before school has even started. It is just plain crazy.

 

[GolfingMom]

Just and FYI...Private schools do the same...It's not just our Public schools. Most of the kiddo's at my church who tackle me with purchasing items are in PRIVATE...

 

[Christianmom1968]

I might add that the PTA was in charge of two or three of the never ending fundraisers because a couple of the folks in charge decided they wanted the Middle School to have one of those electronic reader boards for the school. Excuse me, I don't see that as a necessity for my children to learn

 

[lucypevensie]

Whew! I'm thankful that our school doesn't do much of this stuff. We do have fundraisers but it's none of that catalog or candybar selling or joggathon junk. People get something for the money they donate. We had an auction last year that raised 35,000.00. Otherwise there's always the soup labels and boxtops which requires no effort. We also have restaurant nights in which local restaurants donate a percentage of their profit to our school. We also do Market Day and Scrip, which requires little effort. Most of it is stuff that you'd buy anyway.

 

[Linnis]

The chili suppers etc don't promote these kids going door to door(the books say it's dangerous and they should only go out with a parent, not that many parents around here listen) or pestering their parents to take the book to work to sell.

Besides I've helpped out at the suppers and the food isn't cheap and it's worth it. Also the kids get to have fun and the parents get to meet.