Regarding Parent Club Policies and Procedures
Fundraising and family service hours are a necessary part of the St. Joachim School's effort to keep the cost of tuition affordable for all our families. Every year the principal presents the State of the School Address. This presentation explains how tuition dollars alone do not cover the cost of educating our children. This year what it actually cost to educate a student is $6,279.26, but no one is being asked to pay this in tuition. Our tuition is based on what we feel our families can reasonably contribute given the economic realities in our area. We fill the gap through generous donations and successful fundraising.
Fundraising — Policies
Fundraising not only provides financial support, it also helps grow our community. Our families organize and participate in each fundraiser and in the process build lasting relationships with each other.
Each family is required to earn a minimum of $200 in fundraising annually. This amount may be earned by participation in any or all of the fundraising events scheduled by the parent club throughout the year. Any unearned balance must be paid at the time of registration for the following year or at the time of checkout for non-returning families.
Qualified Percentages
Due to the cost associated with some fundraisers, families my not earn 100% of the monies collected toward their annual obligation. As an example, candy sales often earn 50% profit of the total sales and this amount would be credited toward the family requirement. In this example, a family that sold $100 in candy would be credited with $50 toward their obligation. The parent club officers are delegated with the responsibility of establishing the percentages credited for each fundraiser within these guidelines. These percentages are to be published prior to the fund-raising event.
Eligible Contributions
With some fundraisers the process for determining eligible contributions is self-explanatory. With candy sales, anyone may make an eligible contribution to a family's fund-raising obligation by purchasing candy from them. The same is true with the Jog-A-Thon, where anyone may make an eligible contribution by a pledge in the family's name. This policy also holds true for ticket or raffle sales when the credit for sales may be designated at the time of purchase. For silent or live auction items at the annual dinner dance, the amount of the item purchased may be designated toward a specific family's requirement at the time of purchase.
Transfer of Fundraising Credits
Once fundraising credit has been designated to a specific family, it may not be transferred to credit another family's obligation. This is to avoid confusion and the unnecessary burden on the First Vice President tasked with record keeping of fundraising credits. In addition, transfers after prizes and rewards had already been designated for specific students and classes would create further confusion.
Volunteer hours are as essential to the success of St Joachim School as our fundraising. When our families give of their valuable time, we are able to provide various services and events for our children that would not be available to them if we had to pay for this service. Helping with fundraising, field trips, Coaching, Athletic Direction, activities in the classroom etc., all help St. Joachim School achieve the excellence we strive for. Each family is expected to complete a minimum of 20 hours. Single-parent families are only required to perform 10 hours of service. Qualifications for single parent status must be approved by the administration at the beginning of the school year. Parents are responsible for recording their hours in timely fashion. There will be a $400 penalty if hours are not completed by the stated deadline. Restrictions may be placed on the number of hours that will be credited for specific events or categories. Examples of this include limit of 8 hours per family for field trips and 8 hours per family for the Harvest Festival. Reports are published on a regular basis and parents have 10 school days to respond if they believe a discrepancy exists.