The Dallas Morning News reports the following:

Selling candy, washing cars and working concession stands at sporting events have become the financial lifeline for many high school bands.

Arlington’s Bowie High School is no different. But students and their parents have a new option this year – to pay instead of participate.

A letter recently sent home to parents doesn’t say that participating in fundraisers or donating money is optional. Instead, it advises that they owe an “outstanding fee” for funds their child didn’t raise.

The letter doesn’t use the word “donation,” as previous correspondence has. By law, participation in fundraisers is voluntary.

For many parents, students and band programs, raising money has become almost mandatory as they struggle to support the group’s activities. Often the money allotted to band programs is tens of thousands of dollars less than what’s desired to give students opportunities outside the rehearsal hall.

The letter sent home to Bowie parents might be seen as a solution to the fundraising problem. It reads in part: “It is imperative that we collect the past due monies before we continue any further into the school year. Remember our new policy on fund raiser participation or a required turn in instead of fund raiser participation.”

Bowie band director Rick Baker calls it a “multi-use letter” to collect money, whether it’s for required fees for equipment or money not yet turned in from fundraisers or suggested donations.

“Several years ago we had a quota, but we don’t anymore,” Mr. Baker said. “Now we have parents who say they don’t want to do fundraisers and would rather make a donation.

“I sent 114 letters and received 36 responses with checks as of today,” Mr. Baker said Wednesday. He added that he’ll send another letter at the end of the school year.

Outlining expenses

This is the fifth year he’s sent the reminder letters to parents. But this school year, the donation policy was made a bit more formal. Mr. Baker drafted a fee schedule that outlined all the band expenses, noted the fundraising dates and suggested donation amounts.

The fall brochure asks students to sell eight items or pay $25. The passbook fundraiser requested students to sell two books or pay $25.

The magazine fundraiser suggested they sell five subscriptions or pay $25. And the candy fundraiser, which begins this week, suggests students sell two boxes or pay $50.

The donation-in-lieu-of-fund- raising suggestion isn’t new, but it is more formalized with the fee schedule, Mr. Baker said. It also keeps parents from asking when they need to pay, he said. The letters are an additional reminder.

The Bowie band, which has 225 members, is the second-largest band in the Arlington school district. Its budget this school year is about $67,000. About $16,000 comes from the school’s budget; the rest must be collected through donations or fundraisers.

“The band budget for most high schools, if not all high schools, is not sufficient,” principal Darrell Sneed said. “Fundraisers make up that difference.

“It is not mandatory that [parents or students] participate in fundraisers, but the end result is, if they don’t get the funding they need, they can’t participate in events.”

The money pays for contests, entry fees, food, costumes and other costs associated with the band.

The average cost to participate in band varies at each school, said Mark Chandler, the Arlington school district’s director of fine arts.

There are instrument rental fees, repair costs and dry cleaning bills for uniforms. Students who can’t afford such costs are still able to participate, he added.

Mr. Baker’s new method of creating a fee schedule and sending letters home tells parents what’s expected of them, Mr. Chandler said.

None of the other band directors in Arlington high schools solicits donations in lieu of fundraiser participation, Mr. Chandler said. He added that a few other school districts in the area use the technique.

‘Sometimes it’s a drag’

Allison McCullough, vice president of the Bowie Booster Association, praises Mr. Baker’s efforts to get parents to donate. She also knows that many parents don’t share her view.

“Right now it’s so hard to get participation,” said Ms. McCullough. She added that the same parents participate repeatedly while others don’t get involved at all.

“Sometimes it’s a drag to do it, but if your kid is going to be in the band or football or basketball, you’ve got to sell,” she said. “If you can’t come out to help with the fundraisers, I think you should pitch in money to help out.”

Other Arlington parents agree.

David Shuford, president of the Lamar Instrumental Booster Club, said the group’s role has shifted from spirited support in the stands to an everyday piece of the fundraising puzzle.

“I feel sorry for the directors because they’re trained to educate kids but have to spend so much time raising money to keep the programs going,” Mr. Shuford said.

Michael DeGray, president of the Arlington High School band booster club, said his group is still struggling to get people to help.

“We keep putting it out there. We beg, and we plead,” he said.

Part of the challenge is a change in the Internal Revenue Service law that regulates the way nonprofits can go about fundraising. Parents used to be able to raise money exclusively for their child and credit that money to the individual account. Now, whatever money is raised must be shared among the group, Mr. DeGray said.

His group doesn’t ask for donations in lieu of fundraising because it fears that that would alienate people or that people would write checks instead of participating, which might reduce the total collected.

Mike McMahan, vice president of the Martin High School band booster club, said parents aren’t as motivated to help as they were before the IRS law change. Some parents would rather write a check than participate in a fundraiser, he said.

“We do a lot of talking to try to encourage them to join the booster club and get involved,” he said.