AP 111 - Parent Advisory Council Fundraising Coordination

Background

The Surrey School District No. 36 (the “District”) intends to foster cooperative relationships with Parent Advisory Councils to serve the best interests of students. To that end, the Board of Education of School District No. 36 (Surrey) (the “Board”) considers it beneficial to provide direction to administrative officers on preferred practices to utilize where a Parents’ Advisory Council (“PAC”) chooses to raise funds to support school services.

Procedures

Administrative officers are assigned authority and responsibility to liaise with the school, PAC, support groups and the school community.

Planning of purposes

a.	School operations and PAC activities are dynamic and ongoing liaison is appropriate.
b.	Where a PAC has expressed an interest in raising funds, the administrative officer will discuss annually with the PAC, opportunities for financial support. The opportunities presented should be comprehensive and congruent with existing school programs and the school growth plan.
c.	Discussion of the survey of opportunities is a forum for mutual influence and a means of communicating school needs and receiving parental input. The outcome is a consensus which integrates PAC fundraising objectives with school education plans.

Coordination with PAC fundraising

Administrative officers are responsible for the operation of schools. Schools can raise funds for their own purposes.

Parent Advisory Councils can operate fundraising events and are accountable to their members and financial supporters.

The PAC is responsible for the administration of the funds it raises pursuant to its constitution and bylaws, legislation and commitments to donors.

Before a PAC fundraising activity can involve students, school facilities, school communication systems, or be sanctioned for schools’ protection program insurance coverage, the administrative officer is responsible to ensure that:

i.	Student involvement is safe and appropriate (per administrative procedure governing school/student fundraising);
ii.	Values which the public will confer on the school from the activity are acceptable;
iii.	Purposes of the PAC fundraising are acceptable;
iv.	Financial controls appropriate for publicly raised funds are to be established;
v.	Financial reporting and audit/review of PAC funds are appropriate;
vi.	Coordination of fundraising is congruent with school activity schedules; and
vii.	Any student accidents or illness or PAC member accidents will be reported to school administration (per administrative procedure governing risk management - incident reports, and student accident and illness at school).

Where a PAC is not registered to issue official tax-deductible charitable receipts, the administrative officer can arrange charitable fundraising capabilities pursuant to the administrative procedure governing charitable donations. Where funds are donated (i.e. not in exchange for goods or services) for which a District official charitable receipt is issued, those funds will be defined as school fundraising and subject to the administrative procedure governing charitable donations and school/student fundraising. Donor designation of purpose applies.

Coordinating school operations with PAC funding

The administrative officer is the PAC’s contact for the expenditure of PAC funds to support school operations. Funds may be expended by:

i.	Contributing funds to the school for either defined purposes or discretionary flexibility;
ii.	Purchasing goods, services or equipment and contributing them to the school, subject to the administrative procedure governing equipment donations and site improvements and maintenance, which defines acceptance of such contributions; or
iii.	Contributing funds to the board to fund larger expenditures for the school.

Reporting on PAC funded expenditure

a.	Administrative officers are to provide the PAC’s with periodic reports on school usage of funds provided by the PAC.
b.	Protection of privacy rights must be respected as delineated in the administrative procedure governing freedom of information and protection of privacy.

Coordination with other single purpose support groups

The foregoing is applicable, except as noted, to a school’s relationship with a group whose sole purpose is to support education at a particular school (e.g. a music parents’ group) and the supporter operates its own fundraising rather than participates in school-directed and/or PAC fundraising.

The School Act regulates a school’s relationship with a PAC and empowers the administrative officer to provide input on the constitution and bylaws of a PAC. These parameters do not exist for other sole purpose relationships. Therefore, the administrative officer must, to facilitate achievement of the intended purpose and the maintenance of public credibility, before entering into or renewing an arrangement:

i.	Review the supporter’s operating arrangements; and
ii.	Define the relationship in writing with the supporter.

Liability insurance coverage, under the terms of the Schools Protection Program, may only be extended to cover PAC activities. Accordingly, support and community groups must arrange their own insurance.

References	School Act, R.S.B.C., 1996, c. 412.
Approved:	June 10, 2026