Guidelines for Giving to Teachers

December 1, 2010

To:       Room Parents

From: Cummings and Fort Banks

Re:      Teacher Gifts

With the holidays upon us, many Room Parents have expressed interested in coordinating group gifts for their respective teachers, however there is concern about the gift policy for public employees established by the state Ethics Commission.

In an effort to be consistent and ensure that no one is inadvertently put in an uncomfortable situation, we wanted to provide you with some information that you can use should you wish to solicit donations toward a group gift.

Effective December 2010, teachers have been granted an exception to the annual $50 gift maximum imposed on public employees. Below is an excerpt from the regulation which grants this exception:

A public school department employee is not prohibited from accepting a gift, or several gifts during the school year, from public school students and/or their parents and guardians, with an aggregated value of up to $150, if any such gift is identified only as being from the class, and the identity of givers and amounts given are not identified to the recipient.  Parents may also give gifts to the classroom or the school in accordance with the rules of the school district.  Gifts received pursuant to this exemption are not required to be disclosed because the givers are not identified to the teacher.  Public school department employees must disclose gifts received from individual students, parents, and guardians that are not class gifts as explained in 930 CMR 5.07.

Some teachers have expressed concerns about accepting any gifts, however the policy is very clear that there is no impropriety so long as group gifts that directly benefit the teacher remain below $150 for the year or group gifts are made with the intention that the teacher would use it toward the purchase of item(s) for the classroom (which then become property of the school) or the school. Ultimately, though, the decision to accept gifts is theirs.

This means you:

• Can request donations for group gifts, however any gift that directly benefits the teacher (i.e. isn’t intended to be used towards classroom supplies) must not exceed $150. You should consider any plans you may have for end of the year gifts, if any, as you plan your holiday gift.
• Should identify personal gifts as being from the class, and don’t individually identify donors by name.
• Can give gifts “to the classroom” in any amount, but you must make this clear to the teacher so that they can follow proper protocol for documenting the purchases associated with these gifts.
• Can give a combination of personal and classroom gifts, so long as they are identified appropriately. For example, if you receive $160 in donations, you could opt to give $100 as a personal gift and $60 as a classroom gift. This will leave $50 available for the class to give at the end of the school year, if they wish.

If you have any questions, please contact Cindy Silva at csilva8462[insert @ sign here]gmail.com.

Click here for State Ethics Commission statement.