Request By:
Mr. Omus Shepherd
Principal
Leslie County High School
Hyden, Kentucky 41749
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; Robert L. Chenoweth, Acting Deputy Attorney General
As the Principal of the Leslie County High School, you have requested an advisory opinion from the Office of the Attorney General. Your request concerns the Band Boosters Organization for the Leslie County High School. Your question is whether the funds received through Band Booster organized activities must become an internal account in the high school since school property and students are frequently used in these fund raising activities. It is our opinion money received through such Booster Club activities should not become an internal school account.
Our conclusion reached above is based upon the understanding that typically Booster Clubs are organized by parents and do not have the involvement of local school boards or the local superintendent of schools. The Booster Club officers make the decisions regarding the Clubs' activities, including those for raising money. The money raised is most usually spent, with acquiescence of the local board, on school equipment or in some other manner for the benefit of the children in a school or a particular school program, for example band or athletics. Thus, we believe that a fair amount of autonomy rests with Booster Club organizations. Funds raised by these Booster Club organizations in activities that are not under the direct supervision of school authorities should not become a school internal account. The State Board for Elementary and Secondary Education Administrative Regulation directly on point concerning this matter is 702 KAR 3:130 and reads as follows:
"(1) Internal accounts shall be defined as all funds derived from fund raising activities sponsored under the auspices of the school except that funds raised by organizations which do not come under the direct supervision of school authorities shall not be considered internal accounts."
Supervision by school authorities thus is an important factor in the entire consideration of this matter. The fact that school children participate during non-school hours in the Booster Club activities or that the activity takes place on school property with prior approval of the local board, (KRS 162.050), does not require the school board to have to approve of the Booster Club fund raising activity even if it is a so-called "school wide fund raising project." Thus, it is our opinion KRS 158.290 is not applicable to the situation under consideration. This statute reads as follows:
"(1) No student shall be compelled to solicit or meet any kind of quota in a fund raising activity. Solicitations by students shall be on a completely voluntary basis and no grade changes or any other sanctions shall be imposed for refusal or failure of a student to engage in any solicitations or other fund raising activity. No public school shall promote or engage in a school wide fund raising project without the prior approval of the local board of education.
(2) Nothing in this section shall prohibit student participation in classes in which salesmanship is an integral part of the prescribed curriculum."
We also do not believe the local school board's approval is required by the terms of the Solicitation for Charitable and Civic Purposes Statutes, KRS 367.650 and KRS 367.660. Under KRS 367.660(4) "local solicitations by a student group or parenteacher association for its campus or group connected activities with the approval of the administration of the educational institution" are exempt. We do not construe the language of this subsection to require approval of the local board of education for other than school group activities as would already need to be approved pursuant to KRS 158.290 supra.
Therefore, it is the opinion of the Office of the Attorney General that the type of Booster Club activities under consideration would not need to be approved by the local board of education and, therefore, the monies raised under such activities should not become a part of any internal school account. We do, however, encourage Booster Clubs to establish a close harmonious relationship with local boards of education.