Concern over the number of fundraisers by student groups is leading the Macon County Board of Education to revisit its policies.
This follows up on a topic brought up in September by board member Hilary Wilkes, who was concerned over email-based fundraisers and asked board attorney John Henning to look at the issue.
On Oct. 16, board chair Jim Breedlove voiced his concern about the over-reliance of fundraisers by extra-curricular programs.
“Funding is not supplied to a lot of organizations the students get involved with, and that’s sad, but it’s true,” Breedlove said. “With having said that…I’m becoming worried about the number of fundraising projects that our children are being asked to do. It seems like…. sometimes it’s too much, it’s too many.”
Wilkes said there are 12 schools, so it seems like a lot when grouped, especially at a K-12 school like Highlands, where her kids attend.
“The one concern I ever had was that in the end it excludes students who can’t hit the goals,” Wilkes said, noting types of fundraisers in the past that would give awards, like a pizza party, to the winner. “Some kids that might not be able to raise these funds or not have as many family members would feel excluded, would be my biggest concern.”
Board attorney John Henning said there could be a point in the policy about “no exclusionary fundraising,” stating they need principal input to get their perspectives on fundraisers. Additionally, Henning said he wanted to see revenue sharing included in the policy. Breedlove said he has an issue with organizations that take percentages off the top of what the students raise.
Every month, the school board members look over and generally approve a list of fundraising requests. Here’s a breakdown for 2023 so far:
October: Nine requests from six schools
September: 16 requests from seven schools
August: Nine requests from four schools
July: Two requests from two schools
June: Two requests from two schools
May: Two requests from two schools
April: Four requests from two schools
March: Five requests from four schools
February: Nine requests from four schools
January: 12 requests from five schools
Henning went over previous fundraising policies, adding specific guidelines about the need for high and middle schools to raise funds for extra-curricular activities. The policy puts the onus on principals to “keep fundraising to a minimum” and not use those raised funds for purely academic purposes. Henning said previous guidelines were that K-6 students should not directly solicit funds from outside of the school, but it’s not a current guideline.
Later, Henning said he wasn’t sure how the accreditation agency, the State of North Carolina in this instance, views solicitation fundraising by students in grades 7-12. The policy states “solicitation for the sole purpose of fundraising is discouraged.” Also, the policy discourages using the school system as “a fundraising vehicle” for charitable organizations. If a school-affiliated group wishes to fundraise for a charitable group on its own time outside of school hours, that would be OK, Henning said.
Before approving the nine fundraising requests this month, Breedlove asked Henning about a fundraiser where students are mailing letters to alums and former students. Henning responded that there’s nothing wrong with that fundraiser.
Breedlove encouraged the board to read over these proposed policies before the November meeting and the second reading.
Parent’s Bill of Rights
The board gave Superintendent Josh Lynch approval to create an online comment portal to receive feedback on the “Parent’s Bill of Rights” policies.
Henning explained in September that MCS has already adopted most policies this new law mandates by the end of the year. State lawmakers say the controversial policies will empower parents to challenge instructional materials, opt out of certain data collection for their child, and be notified of any change of name or pronoun for their child. Opponents argued the bill could bring harm to LGBTQIA children and is otherwise redundant with already-existing policies.
Henning said on Oct. 16 he’s been to several school board meetings that had a public hearing on the new bill and no one showed up to speak. To comply with the collaborative intent of the law, Henning suggested doing an online survey posted to the MCS website to receive feedback before the November meeting. Wilkes suggested posting it in Spanish as well. Breedlove turned over the plan to Lynch and directed him to get word out to solicit feedback for November.
The school board will vote on the second reading of the policies in November. The final approval would be in December. The next Board of Education meeting is at 6 p.m. Monday, Nov. 27 at East Franklin Elementary.