Money or Education ?

Welcome back to school for 2010.  I hope that your children are settled and happy and the year will be a fruitful  one for both children and parents.

There are many issues already which have taken our attention . The top two are -

1. My School website – have you looked at it yet.  Let us know what you think about it and the information contained there – is it of any use to you as a parent?

2. Queensland Government Green paper ‘ A Flying Start for Queensland Children’. Go online and respond and attend one of the forums that will be held across the state.  You should be notified of these through your school newsletter.  Your P & F might also like to respond as a group. This is a very worthwhile exercise for a P & F meeting.

Other issues for the year will involve the Federal Election and the Federal Funding Review.  Watch out for information on these two activities.

What plans do you have for the year?  Are your meetings filled up by discussions on money?  How do you spend it? What do you spend it on?  Many P & F’s have great concerns about these issues and look on the money as something that needs to be protected and kept rather than spent on the students whose families have raised the money.  The money that P & F holds on behalf of the school should be used wisely and this needs to be decided in partnership with the Principal and staff.  The Principal is in a great position to know what is needed for the school and these ideas together with parents’ ideas can make for a good relationship building exercise. One of the outcomes may be to build funds for a long term project.

Every P & F should have a budget that is prepared so you can plan your activities for the year and have an aim or goal in mind.  Fundraising for the sake of it drains your local community and often people are very willing to support a particular activity which is raising funds for a particular item or project  rather than just fundraising.  

This planning also frees up your meeting to have guest speakers or educational discussions on topics like the ones mentioned above. So have a think about what P & F is about – Is it money or education?

[Appeared in NIB Vol 29 No. 1 Feb 10]