I agree with Phil as this is the way we have done in the past- not sure how it will be done now as so many other things have changed. But there are so many things the classrooms need that the school budget does not cover so the teachers pay out of their own pockets. I have seen though that a lot of teachers will actually hold a pizza party with their allotment. At any rate I think it does go back to the kids in one way or another. As for accountability we would have an invoice made for the teachers discretionary fund and list how much was given to each teacher. We never had a problem at audit time.
Just to show there are more ways to skin a cat, we give a teacher allocation to each primnary teacher and one of each specialist with no strings attached. We have a high degree of confidence that the teachers spend more each year on classroom supplies than what we give them, so we don't ask for forms or receipts. It is the way we have always done it and it works for us.
But I would never criticize any group that wants more accountability.
Thanks for the responses. I think part of the problem is that we are a very small school (250 students) and the teachers have always been given the money up front and they're very good about turning in receipts. Change is hard! As far as receipts go, is something labelled "classroom supplies" acceptable, or do they have to be itemized?
We've always given the teachers the money and asked that they bring us a copy of the receipt after-the-fact. This way we can try to keep them honest about what they spend the money on but, of course, close to half of the teachers never turn in the receipts and nobody ever follows up on it because the money has already been given away and there is no way of enforcing anything.
We may think about reversing the order of things for next year.
We do a basket silent auction each year for our Halloween carnival. Each class does a basket with donations from the parents and whatever else the basket person can get donated. The money raised goes into our general fund. We do teacher reimbursements, but we require the teachers to provide receipts for what they spend and then we give them a check.
I think you will find this is the most common way to do things. It probably doesn't seem fair when some classes work harder than others on the baskets, but it's the fairest way for all the teachers to get their money. It's not the teacher's fault if they get a very inactive class and their basket isn't that good.
We ask for receipts to give us a paper trail and to make sure the money really goes for classroom expenses.
