Section 54 of the Education and Training Reform Regulations 2017 specifies that all Parent Club expenditure must be approved in advance by the School Council. This includes funds that the club spends on its own running expenses – for example, a club may need to hire a space for its meetings, pay for videoconferencing services such as Zoom, pay a guest speaker, or purchase stationery or equipment to achieve its aims.
Annual budget
We suggest that all Parent Clubs prepare an annual budget to present to the School Council at the start of the school year, to gain pre-approval for its projected expenses over the year. The budget doesn’t need to be complicated, it’s just an estimate of your running expenses over the year. If there are specific expenses you can predict (e.g. Zoom subscription for online meetings), you can itemise them, and you can also include a (reasonable) amount for unspecified contingencies.
Through the year
These amounts should still be itemised and minuted at PC meetings as the spending occurs.
The Treasurer should keep a (transparent) running tally. This could be presented at monthly PC meetings as part of the Treasurer’s report.
If there is a major variance (additional requirement to spend) during the year – this would need to go back to School Council for approval.
