The following information is pertinent only to Arizona school districts.

Raffles

Q: Can a school district hold a raffle?

A: No See Arizona Attorney General Opinion I84-018.

 

Bingo Fundraisers

Q: Can a school district club hold a bingo fundraiser?

A: No, bingo is classified as gambling.  Further, Arizona Department of Revenue has specific requirements for organizations that hold a bingo game (even for recreational purposes) – see https://azdor.gov/businesses-arizona/bingo-arizona

 

Silent auctions

Q: Can a student club hold a silent auction?

A:  Silent auctions are not considered unlawful for student clubs because a silent auction does not include the risk of giving something of value for the opportunity to obtain a benefit from a game or contest of chance.

 

Receipt documentation

Q: What receipt documentation needs to be prepared when student activity funds are received?

A: Per the USFR, a Cash Collection Report should be prepared to account for cash collected when tickets are not sold (e.g. for such events as candy, T-shirt or other sales). The Cash Collection Report should include the club account name, event, date collected, beginning inventory, ending inventory, quantity of items sold, price of items sold and a reconciliation between the cash collected to the amount of items sold times the price of items sold. If tickets are used, an Activity Log (or ticket log) should be used. This should indicate the ticket numbers issued, the ticket numbers returned, price per ticket and a reconciliation between the quantity of tickets sold times the price per ticket and the cash collected.

 

Purchase of classroom items

Q: Can student activity funds be used to purchase classroom items (ex. textbooks, instruction aides, etc.)?

A: No, Student activity funds may not be used to defray costs generally covered by district funds.

 

Donation of student activity monies

Q: Can student clubs make donations to other entities? Red Cross, cancer research, etc.

A: Yes, a student club, with administrative approval, may hold a fundraiser with the intent that the monies would be donated to another entity such as Red Cross or other entities.  The student club would first approve the fundraiser.  The monies would all be deposited within a district authorized account. Once deposited, the student clubs would then approve the disbursement through their meeting minutes.  A disbursement check would then be issued to the entity.  In other words, the monies raised would not be sent directly to the entity.

 

Recording in accordance with charter of accounts:

Q: Do student Activity monies have to be recorded in accordance with the chart of accounts?

A: GASB Statement 84 revised the definition of fiduciary funds beginning for fiscal year 2020 financial statements.  As a result, Funds 850-899 are no longer fiduciary funds and should be reported in the Districts financial statements with the governmental funds.  In order to report these monies in the financial statements, the district must properly classify the revenue and expenses in accordance with the chart of accounts.