[Jon Stratis]

For us, everything goes on the mentor's credit cards. We keep track of it all through Google Doc's - a spread sheet with itemized totals and who's owed, as well as a folder for scanned/picture receipts. Those get submitted to the school, and we each get a big fat check at the end of the build season (and usually 1-2 other times during the year to cover offseason activities/purchases).

It's important to work with your school district to determine what works best for your team. Make sure you understand their rationale - are they worried about traceability with petty cash? Do they feel it necessary to have all purchases itemized (maybe to look at improving purchases/purchase power across multiple groups, or to protect against fraud - remember, it only takes 1 person to ruin it for everyone)?

Perhaps a counter-proposal would work: Agree to make as many of the purchases this next year as possible with POs, but leave room for a quicker method of purchase, like reimbursements with itemized receipts. That will give you a great paper trail of what was purchased during the season, and if you keep notes as to why you couldn't use a PO for each reimbursed purchase, it will give you hard data to bring to a meeting next year with the district, where you can work with them for a permanent solution. Remember - you're working with them to figure out what's best for your district and team!