Carol,
How should our homeschool co-op should handle classes where there are nonconsumable items purchased? We had a class where Lego kits were purchased for a class. Students shared kits and we charged a small fee. Now parents think they should get half of the kits or that future classes should have to pay for the kits and they receive a credit each time.
We have never done that with any classes in the past. It has always just become property of the co-op. It sounds like it would be a bookkeeping nightmare.Thanks for your input,Becky in KY
Becky,
You’re right, tracking the LEGO kits sound like a bookkeeping nightmare. I like to keep things simple but as fair as possible.
We had a similar situation in my homeschool co-op with Spanish books. The teacher bought a curriculum to use and was planning on spreading out the cost of the teacher manuals and CDs over two years of students. It took some guess work to figure out how many students she would have this year as well as future years. In the end we decided that this year’s students would end up paying for a portion of the teachers books and CDs. The rest of the cost was absorbed by the co-op as a whole. The co-op then owned the teacher books and CDs. Future Spanish classes were charged a small supply fee so that the co-op could recoup the cost of the teachers books and CDs.
I think the co-op should own non consumables, not the individual parents. Sounds like that’s how you have done it in the past. Parents pay a supply fee, but are not entitled to the equipment afterward nor a credit from future students.
So maybe instead of charging the current students full price for nonconsumables, your co-op could try to save up some money over a few years and purchase nonconsumable equipment that will be owned by the co-op. Or have a fundraiser to buy the equipment.
Carol Topp, CPA
