A student representative last night asked the Shaler Area school board to address shrinking class funds.

Student Matt McKee told the board, "there doesn't seem to be any policy on how class funds are spent."

The Shaler Area senior told the board the 2010 class has about $23,000. But the junior class has only about $12,000 while the freshman and sophomore classes have about $4,000 each.

Dr. Donald Lee, Shaler Area superintendent, agreed that lack of a districtwide policy could be part of the problem because parent and other school-based groups have used the class funds, raised when most of the current students were in the fifth and sixth grade.

While Dr. Lee said the board could enact a policy designating that a percentage of money raised by school-based events be saved for class funds, he added that "we're trying to avoid that at this point. It's something we have to work on."

For the past 10 years, class funds have been used to provide seniors with free caps and gowns, low-priced tickets to the senior dinner dance and the prom.

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