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ASB fund depletion explained

Doug Flanagan/reporter@qvpr.com
May 27, 2010

As of last week, the Quincy High School Associated Student Body fund’s account had a negative balance of $18,777.

But during Tuesday’s informational public meeting on the subject, held at the Quincy School District adminstration office, superintendent Burton Dickerson didn’t dwell on that particular number too much.

Rather, he took personal responsbility for the situation and explained what the district is planning to do in order to get the fund back into the black.

“This is a serious situation,” Dickerson said. “It’s been heavily weighing on me a lot. This is a shared responsibility, and a lot of people have to do their part, but ultimately the buck stops on my desk. I’m eager to get it corrected and back on the right path. I’m very sorry it’s reached this point, and I’m going to do everything I can to get us where we should be.”

The ASB fund is financed by student body fees, gate receipts and other fund-raising activities and exists to provide funds for athletics and other activities.

Several years ago, a large fund balance developed, and since the fund exists to benefit current students, the balance was reduced through what Dickerson called “legitimate expenditures to benefit students.”

By the end of the 2008-09 school year, the ASB fund balance was depeleted, ending the fiscal year with a negative balance of $7,000. Spending still outpaced revenues for the 2009-10 school year, leading to the current situation.

“No fraud or theft occurred to our knowledge to account for the decrease,” Dickerson said. “The coaches didn’t have the correct information or didn’t understand how the accounting is done. They obviously want to be a part of the solution, not the problem. They need to have easy access to the information. That wasn’t done as well in the past.”

Dickerson said part of the district’s action plan to correct the problem is to increase ASB revenues by taking such actions such as increasing the cost of ASB cards for students and requiring every student to buy a card; holding monthly fund-raisers such as low-expense dances; and increasing the cost of school parking spaces.

One idea suggested was for the school to sell season passes for sporting events.

“That’s an option worth exploring,” Dickerson said. “That would be able to generate the money up front and increase revenue. If the price is right, that’s a way for people in the community to help out.”

High school principal David Talley suggested the school implement a large-scale, annual fund-raiser, something similar to the spaghetti feed that is put on annually to raise money for the district’s fourth-grade field trip.

“You need to get people on board with a tradition,” he said. “That will make it easier for people to support because it’s for a good cause and they know it’s going to happen every year.”

The district also wants to ensure that all funds raised by a particular sport or activity would be available to be used only by that sport or activity. That’s not always happened in the past, Dickerson said.

“It’s a matter of fairness, goodwill and common sense, I think,” he said. “The sports teams or clubs need to know that the funds they raise will be available to them and they won’t disappear or be difficult to access.”

Dickerson said the district will endeavor to improve communication to its stakeholders by doing things such as sharing monthly financial reports with all ASB personnel and implementing a computerized ASB accounting system at the high school.

He also explained that purchase orders were able to go through in the last couple of years despite the school’s negative balance because the funds technically came out of the district’s singular ASB fund.

“The district ASB fund has always been in the black,” he said. “That’s part of what’s been keeping this thing afloat. But there’s been no money transferred or moved into the high school account.”

Community member Lisa Karstetter, the mother of two high school boys, said that she’s encouraged to see some forward movement on the issue.

“My older son was in ASB this year, and when this became apparent to him, he became upset,” she said. “He couldn’t figure out why they were approving things. He told his younger brother, ‘Don’t get involved in the ASB. It’s a mess.’ It’s good to see we’re airing the dirty laundry. Things can only go up from here.”