Parents’ Association Financial Report: Fall 2019

The Stuyvesant High School Parents’ Association (PA) has agreed to release a financial report summarizing its yearly revenue, operating expenses, and program services. The report also outlines the distribution of funds for specific school activities such as extracurriculars and the college office. After working with the PA to interpret their tax returns and other financial information, here is what The Spectator found:

The annual appeal, or largest fundraising initiative of the year, comprises close to two-thirds of the annual budget and is the PA’s largest push for funding throughout the year. Considering special events such as fundraisers, contributions, and merchandise sales, the PA’s total revenue reaches $427,238, close to an approximate average of $430,000.

As a tax-exempt non-profit, the PA’s funds are almost entirely dedicated to the student body. Program services such as appropriations, the Principal’s Educational Need Fund, and faculty appreciation such as monetary gifts for teachers fall under this category. Website upkeep and other administrative expenses constitute Management and General expenses, while fundraising expenses for the school are minimal. In total, expenses for the 2019 school year amounted to $458,590.

Program services can be divided into three major categories: academic funding, administration funding, and college events and expenses. Academic funding refers to items such as trip fees, lab funding for science classes, and appropriations for clubs and Public Schools Athletic League (PSAL) sports for a total of $283,362, or half of the PA’s approximate budget.

Administration funding is used to pay overtime hours for staff, cover the salary of internship coordinator Harvey Blumm, and add to the Principal’s Educational Need Fund and the Fund for Needy Students. The Educational Need Fund allows Principal Eric Contreras to fund programs such as professional development for teachers and aid academically inclined teens in attending competitions such as Science Olympiad.

The PA also pays for all overtime hours for librarians and college counselors, alongside other college office needs. College night and overtime hours total to $21,736.

Each year, close to half of the PA’s total budget is devoted to appropriations for a variety of activities around Stuyvesant. Two rounds of appropriations, one in the fall and one in the spring, ensure that activities remain funded throughout the school year. This also means that applicants who did not receive funding for their activities during the fall can apply for funding later in the year. Athletics and PSAL sports receive their own round of appropriations independent from academics, the college office, and extracurriculars and are typically allotted approximately $10,000 per year. The total amount allotted during appropriations was $96,967.57.

Academic appropriations generally refer to add-ons the school cannot fund, such as smart boards or short-term purchases like trip fees and supplies for class projects. The total amount awarded in the academics section constituted close to $26,000 in the spring of 2019.

Extracurricular activities make up the majority of appropriations and are generally divided into requests above and below $10,000. In the spring, two clubs, Speech and Debate and Robotics, received $12,500 each. Other, smaller clubs collectively sought around $25,000 and requested various items such as trip fees, tape, and posters for projects.