3510P: Associated Student Body

1. The principal of each school containing any grade six and above will designate a staff member to act as the primary advisor to the associated student body (ASB),and will assure that all groups affiliated with the ASB have an advisor assigned to assist them. The ASB program at each school shall consist of:
   1. An executive student leadership group (student council).
   2. Interschool athletics and activities as approved by the student council and the primary advisor.
   3. Intraschool activities such as band, choir and orchestra, drama, and other activities as approved by the student council and the primary advisor.
   4. Clubs as approved by the student council and the primary advisor.
   5. Each class beginning with the class enrollment at ninth grade.
2. The Board of Directors delegates the authority to the school principal to act as the ASB for any school containing no grade higher than grade five.
3. Each school will submit an ASB constitution and bylaws to the Board for approval on the Consent Agenda.
   1. A new school establishing an ASB and bylaws must have their constitution and bylaws approved by the Board prior to initiating any ASB fundraising activity. The constitution and bylaws will:
      1. Identify how student activities become approved, and;
      2. Establish standards for the governance and financing of student activities.
   2. At the beginning of each school year, the primary advisor at each school will review the school’s existing constitution and bylaws with the student council. Any proposed changes must be voted on in accordance with the school’s constitution and bylaws, and then submitted to the Board for final approval on the Consent Agenda. In the absence of such approved changes, the constitution and bylaws will remain in effect from year to year.
   3. A copy of the most current constitution and bylaws will be submitted to the district records retention office and the business office.
   4. Originals of the minutes from the current and previous two (2) school years will be kept in the school office.
   5. Originals of older minutes will be sent to the district records retentions office for disposition according to Washington state law.
   6. Copies of the minutes will be used as attachments for approval of fundraising, disbursements, and other purposes.
4. Each secondary school ASB will submit annually a budget for the ASB program. This budget will be prepared sufficiently in advance of statutory budget deadlines to allow for the Board’s examination prior to formal approval.
   1. The budget will be prepared in the format prescribed by the district business office.
   2. Student leadership will be involved in the budgetary decision-making with guidance from the primary advisor.
   3. Schools must submit their budgets to the district business office according to the schedule published in March of each year.
   4. The district business office will prepare a budget for the elementary school ASB accounts on a single district-wide basis.
5. Procedures for the receipting and depositing of monies within the ASB fund are generally the same as for the other district funds. ASB travel requests and approvals are handled in accordance with normal district policies and procedures. Certain special procedures apply to ASB transactions:
   1. Fundraising activities by student groups shall be submitted to the student council and the school principal or delegate for review and approval. Responsibility for timely reconciling of cash receipts for sales of goods or services or of donations resides with the designated advisor of the student group participating in the fundraising activity.
   2. A differentiation shall be made between public and private monies within the ASB fund and this differentiation is made at the point of receiving the money. The segregation of “public” and “private” monies will be made as follows:

      Public Monies

      • Fees collected from students and non-students as a condition of their attendance at any optional noncredit extracurricular event of the school district which is of a cultural, social, recreational, or athletic nature are considered public monies. This includes revenues derived from activities during or outside regular school hours and within or outside school grounds and facilities.
      • Conducting the activity with the approval of, or under the direction and supervision of the school district, makes any financial gain a public interest and hence public money.
      • In addition, funds donated by individuals, groups or corporations for the benefit of the school or student body are public monies.
      • ASB funds may be used for student incentives in accordance with District Procedure 3515P.

      Private Monies

      • Non-associated student body funds will be held in trust within the ASB 600 level accounts.
      • Solicitation of funds for non-associated student body fund purposes must be accompanied by clear notice of the intended use of the proceeds and must state that the district will hold the funds in trust exclusively for the intended purpose.
      • Following the collection of private monies, the student group conducting the fundraiser will submit a reconciliation of the funds received.
      • District funds cannot be used to offset, front-fund or pre-pay expenses for charitable fundraising. Any expenses incurred while raising the funds will be deducted from the balance prior to disbursement to the charitable organization or individual designated as the recipient of the funds.
      • Charitable fundraisers must be conducted separately from ASB fundraisers. Percentage splits of the proceeds from a single event are not permitted.
      • The purchase of incentive prizes using the proceeds from charitable fundraisers is not permitted.
      • Students wishing to use district facilities to raise private monies must comply with district policy and procedures regarding community use of school facilities.
      • Accounting records relating to private monies will clearly record the purpose and intended recipient of the funds raised.
6. Disbursement of ASB Public and Private Monies shall have prior approval of the student council (at the secondary level) or the building principal (at the elementary level).
   1. Officer signatures and/or signed ASB meeting minutes shall accompany the appropriate purchase requests, expenditure reimbursements and credit card purchase documentation.
   2. In addition, for disbursement of private monies, a letter or petition indicating ASB approval of the intended private purpose to which the money is directed should accompany the request. This should clearly indicate approval in advance of the funds being collected or received by the ASB.
   3. Prior to disbursement, all expenditures associated with raising private monies must be deducted from the balance. Evidence that sufficient cash balance exists in the particular school’s private monies account is required before funds will be disbursed.
7. Cash and Budget Controls for the ASB Fund
   1. The ASB Fund operates on a cash basis, and negative cash balances are not permitted in any of the school ASB accounts.
   2. Monies earned by investment of the district ASB Fund shall be distributed annually to the individual schools. The interest allocation received by each school is based on its proportion of the average  cash balance of the district ASB Fund during the year.
   3. If a school exceeds its overall ASB expenditure budget capacity, it is permitted to borrow capacity  from another school. The student councils of all schools involved shall submit a written request for a change in expenditure budget capacity to the district business office for approval. The total ASB budget for the district shall not be increased without the approval of the Board of Directors.
   4. Bid limitations, travel guidelines and purchasing regulations of the district as a whole shall be observed within the ASB Fund.

Waiver or Reduction of Fees

In accordance with District Procedure 3520P, arrangements will be made for the waiver of fees for students whose families by reason of their low income, would have difficulty paying the full fee associated with attending or participating in optional noncredit extracurricular activities.

Students’ family members and other non-students who are sixty-five or older may have any fee to attend an optional noncredit extracurricular activity reduced if they would have difficulty paying the entire amount of the fee because on their low income. Any students’ family members and other nonstudents who are sixty-five or older who believe he or she should have a fee reduced must contact the appropriate school to request for a reduction. The school principal will determine whether a reduction is appropriate after obtaining relevant information from the person seeking the reduction. 

Website Publication of Program Fund Information

The district will publish the following ASB program fund information on its website:

1. The fund balance at the beginning of the school year;
2. Summary data about expenditures and revenues occurring over the course of the school year;
3. The fund balance at the end of the school year;
4. Data related to high school student possession of an associated student body card and high school student participation in school-based extracurricular activities;
5. The district’s extracurricular activity opportunity gap reduction plan, if the district is required to develop one; and
6. A list of optional noncredit extracurricular event attendance and participation fees and the district’s policy for waiving or reducing those fees.

The information will be published for each ASB of the district and each account within the ASB program fund. If the district website contains separate websites for schools in the district, the information will be published on the website of the applicable school of the ASB. The district will add updated annual information to its website by each August 31st, except that the district is only required to maintain the information on its website from the previous five years.