Advice About Collecting Money at School

A classroom teacher may find themselves having to collect money from students and parents for a variety of reasons, but it is extremely important to follow the correct procedures to the letter. Your union representative may be able to tell you if you are required to collect money as part of your job if you do not want to collect money. Each situation is a little different but there are a few important things to consider.

School Bookkeeper: This person is normally your best resource for information regarding the collection of money from students. In most cases you will be issued a numbered receipt book that has been used before by other teachers or staff. Look through it page by page to see if there any pages missing and any abnormalities. If there are, bring them to the attention of the bookkeeper immediately. She (usually a female) can initial any problem sections which will indicate that they had looked at those problems. Look at the pages you will be using to see if they are numbered correctly etc. You will most likely have to sign out this receipt book. When you take it to your classroom, be certain that it is Locked in your desk. You will have significant problems if it gets taken while it was in your possession. Be certain you know all the rules. You may be able to take cash, but there may be an upper limit. You may be able to accept checks, but you may need extra information on the check. If you are required to write a receipt, then the student or parent will normally get the original, be certain that you have a complete copy of the receipt. At times I have seen receipts so quickly filled out that all the needed information was not on the receipt. You are normally required to turn in any collected money within a very short time. This can be as short as 2-3 days. There are almost no exceptions to the rule. The bookkeeper is also following rules. Also consider that as soon as you get the money turned over, your responsibility for that money has ended. Do not leave money or checks around, always lock them up in a safe location. I have been at schools where teachers have had to pay for stolen money from their own pockets because they had not properly followed the rules. In a worst case scenario a teacher can lose their job over money issues. We forget how much money can be involved sometimes. At a football game, students and teachers might pay enough to result in thousands of dollars being collected.

Principal: You may need to talk to the principal or assistant principal about collecting money even if you are only collecting 5 cents for a new pencil. Teachers have been fired over such types of charges. If you think something is happening that is improper you should make the proper administrators aware of the potential problem. Sometimes people are just unaware of how they have broken the rules. I must admit one time I created a calendar, which we then sold as a class fund raising project and even though I had received permission from the principal, it turned out that he was not aware of the proper procedure. Since the calendar was printed off campus, even though it was at no cost, it was supposed to be approved by the school board, which at that time only met one time per month to review requests which were submitted at least 30 days in advance.

Protection: I would copy any pages of receipts that I had issued at the end of each day. If I simply turned in the money and the receipt book, I would have no record of the actual receipts although I would have a receipt from the bookkeeper on the range of numbers I had used and the total amount of money turned in to the office. I would staple that receipt to my photocopies and put that away in a locked location.

Over the years I was a teacher there were a few principals, bookkeepers, and teachers fired for problems handling money. A few cases even reached thousands of dollars that were taken and a few ended with criminal charges and jail time. Follow the procedures and things should go well, rush and you could have problems. If you feel uncomfortable collecting money, get help, but do it properly.