[JesseK]

I think the above points are probably the best way forward for the OP's specific situation. I agree that usually the school tries to maintain complete control of assets created by money donated to the school. It seems to be borne from the desire to maintain control of something "just in case" rather than any vision for what to do with what's kept.

A tangent -

Money, space, and time (in the building for 6 solid weeks, and out of school time for March/April) are the 3 major sources of contention between public schools' administration and their FRC teams. Money is solvable, but space and time are not in FRC's current format. I wonder if removing the bag and tag requirement would alleviate some of the pressure for being in the building during a specific window, thereby giving more flexibility to the average team in a public schools. This assumes we set aside the other pros/cons for bag-n-tag.