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This is the season for those dreaded school fundraisers. Fundraisers pulled in an estimated $1.7 billion for schools last year. That's a lot of cookie dough, candy and nearly useless coupon books, I'll tell you. But fundraisers don't bring in the kind of money they used to -- even though some schools depend on them for essentials, not extras.

Washington Post columnist Michelle Singletary reported recently that, nationwide, fundraiser sales dropped 11 percent from 2001 to 2005. People are just worn out with getting constantly solicited to give -- often with no clear goal for what the money is going toward. Singletary wrote:

School administrators dislike fund raising. A majority of elementary school principals would end the practice if they could, according to findings from a survey of nearly 700 principals released in 2000 by the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP).

Although the principal survey is a bit dated, fund-raising fatigue isn't.

From collecting labels and box tops to traditional fund-raising events, parents -- especially parents of elementary school students -- are tired of everybody's hand being out, admits Vickie Mabry, associate director of the Association of Fund-Raising Distributors & Suppliers.

"I think there are a lot of school groups that do a lot of fund raising for the sake of fund raising and get away from the idea that there is something specific they are raising the funds for," Mabry said. "People have to make sure the parents know what the goal is."

So some schools are trying a new idea. This week I attended my daughter's middle school PTA meeting to learn that we would no longer be selling candy or wrapping paper and such to raise money for field trips, classroom supplies and such. Nope. This year the PTA would like for every family to just send in a check for $60. Part of me is relieved not to have to ask friends to buy stuff they don't want or buy stuff myself that I don't want so I won't be a "bad parent."

But $60 is a bunch of dough -- especially to a lot of the parents I saw sitting in that school lunchroom where the PTA made its announcement.

We already paid cash rather than sell wrapping paper at my son's elementary school this year.

I asked my Poynter colleagues Jeannie Nissenbaum and Vicki Hyatt, both good mothers, what they thought of this cash buyout deal. They both disapproved saying it sends the wrong message to kids that parents will pay for everything and kids need not do anything to help their school.  Yeah, right, like I would let my kids go out and sell stuff. I also won't let them hit up my colleagues at work or friends at church. So you know what happens, Mom and Dad have to buy the junk anyway and then half the proceeds go to some wrapping paper company.

The Waco (TX) Tribune called this time of year the "scholastic shakedown."

Fundraising. It's a three-syllable word that makes parents cringe, kids disappear and family members, neighbors and business associates run for the door, especially this time of year.

Schools, sports teams and campus clubs raise money by touting the wares of such yearly staples as Sally Foster, Coca-Cola and Little Caesar's.

For most families, one fundraiser is enough, but with multiple kids come multiple fundraisers.

"We're doing seven fundraisers right now," says Lennie Diaz-Granados, mother of two. "You just have to prioritize the most important recipients of the funds."

Diaz-Granados says she faces the same challenges as many parents with active children. Intramural soccer, school clubs and other activities add fundraisers atop a growing list of things to do for her and her two children, Spring Valley Elementary School student Sam and older brother Noah at Midway Intermediate School.

Janyce Haskett, whose daughter, Kennedy, attends WoodwayElementary School, agrees. With so many fundraisers and only so many friends and family, Haskett says, parents must be shrewdly systematic in how goods are marketed.

"It's hard to sell the products because there are so many fundraisers out there," she says. "We've only sold to family right now. We hit them first, and then we'll go door to door. And, honestly, I've been selling them for her."

The Duluth News-Tribune points out:

Gone are the days when fundraisers paid for the extras. As districts' budgets tighten, school fundraisers increasingly pay for necessities and more basic luxuries. Principals and teachers rely on the tens of thousands of fundraising dollars to pay for computer labs, playground equipment, field trips, musical instruments and more.

Students -- often with the help of their parents -- push catalog or candy sales at doorsteps and workplaces. It happens before the first exam is given or teachers can memorize their students' names. And when one fundraiser ends, another one starts.

"You can get overwhelmed by all this (fundraising)," said Nancy Mock, who has one son at Stillwater (Minn.) Area High School and another at Oak-Land Junior High in Lake Elmo, Minn. "You get school supplies, then fundraisers, then Christmas."

School fundraisers paid for nearly $1.7 billion in school-related equipment or services across the nation last year, according to an Association of Fundraising Distributors and Suppliers survey.

The Fundraisers Distributors and Suppliers association found in its survey that:

• 50 % of school fundraising sales are made by elementary school volunteers

• The most popular products are, in order: cookie dough and other frozen/refrigerated batter; candles; ornaments/novelties; magazine subscriptions; candy/confections; other refrigerated/frozen items; and candy bars

• The average product fundraiser generates more than $2,500 for schools and non-profits; programs that yield $10,000 or more are very common. 

Easy Money for College

So once you have finished paying for your kid's "free" public education what do you do about college costs? Here is a neat piece about several new programs that kick money into college funds much the same way people accumulate airline and hotel reward miles. You just do your regular shopping, gas purchases and drugstore runs and retailers kick money into your kid's college fund. I am signing up.

You Are Getting a Tax Rebate

Dude, you are going to get a little money from the Feds at tax filing time next year. Recently, the IRS decided to stop fighting a long running legal battle over a tax on long distance phone calls that you have been paying. Turns out, you should not have been paying it. (The tax was actually imposed in 1898 to help pay for the Spanish-American War. Gee it could not have been much income considering how little telecommunications they had then. The phone had only been invented 12 years earlier.)

So, when you file your taxes next year, you will get a rebate of $30 and, for every exemption you file, you get another $10 up to $60. The exemptions will be right there on the tax form, no need for a lot of hassles or even recordkeeping.

Involuntary Tips

A former waiter has formed a group that is pushing restaurants to include tips on your bill automatically. It is a way to fight cheapskates who won't tip. Is it tacky or an act of necessity?