The association "Nele und Hanns Bittmann e.V., Hilfsfonds für Kinder in Not" supports the city of Aachen in setting up a school book fund to help families in need to purchase school books by covering their own costs. For this purpose, the association is providing a sum of 6,000 euros.
The City of Aachen would therefore like to thank the association "Nele und Hanns Bittmann e.V., Hilfsfonds für Kinder in Not" for its support in setting up a school book fund, as described in more detail in the following regulations.
Regulations for the management of the textbook fund of the association "Nele und Hanns Bittmann e.V., Hilfsfonds für Kinder in Not" by the school administration
Preamble: The death of Nele and Hanns Bittmann in a tragic accident on April 24, 2006 has caused deep sadness and helplessness throughout the Aachen region. The singing group 'Jonge vajjen Beverau', which emerged from the court of the carnival prince Hanns I. Bittmann in 2001, has been collecting around 60,000 euros (in words: sixty thousand) for the 'Menschen helfen Menschen' campaign on a voluntary basis for many years. The fate of the children Jana and Florian Bittmann was the trigger to found this association to help children in such and similar emergency situations. In this way, the 'Jonge vajjen Beverau' and the Aachen region will remain permanently connected with Nele and Hanns Bittmann and create a worthy memorial for them.
The aim of the association is to provide one-off or repeated financial and/or non-material assistance to children in emergency situations. Special attention is paid to children who are affected by an accident or the death of one or both parents and who live in the Aachen region.
A regular education for children is very important to the association. The lack of financial resources in families to purchase school books is also an emergency situation in the sense of the statutes.
The city of Aachen and the association are therefore countering such emergencies by setting up this school book fund.
§1 In a first step, the association shall endow the fund with a sum of EUR 6,000.00 (six thousand euros). Should the fund be exhausted, the City of Aachen shall have no claim to a further contribution. The association, the city or third parties can enable the fund to continue to exist by making further voluntary contributions.
Should the city or third parties make further contributions to the fund, the allocation guidelines will continue to apply.
A change is only possible in accordance with § 4.
§2 The City of Aachen shall decide on the allocation of the Association's funds in cooperation with the head teachers of the Aachen schools on behalf of the Association. The beneficiaries of the fund have no legal claim to benefits from the association on the basis of these statutes.
The following can apply for a benefit from the fund Parents for children in education who
- receive benefits according to SGB II or XII or
- do not receive benefits in accordance with the aforementioned legislation, but whose family income exceeds the corresponding requirement rate in accordance with the aforementioned legislation by a maximum of 5%.
§3 The City of Aachen takes over the processing in cooperation with the Aachen schools as follows:
- Parents entitled to benefits in accordance with the provisions of § 2 should contact the school management of the school their child attends.
- the school management verifies the neediness according to § 2 by submitting corresponding benefit statements or by having the family's income situation presented in an adequate form. This will be documented in the school in a suitable form.
- The school management decides at its own discretion whether a benefit should be paid from the textbook fund and requests the corresponding amount in writing from the City of Aachen.
§ 4 Any amendment to these award guidelines requires the express consent of the Association.
§ 5 The City shall render an account of the use of funds to the Association once a year by February 28 of the following year for the previous calendar year.
Background
In the past, the municipal school administration, the school committee and the children and youth committee, as the responsible specialist committees, have looked for a solution to finance the legally prescribed personal contribution to the purchase of school books from municipal funds for families in need.
Unfortunately, this was not possible for the following reasons:
By law, the parents' prescribed contribution may only be paid by social welfare recipients (SGB XII). Unemployment benefit II (ALG II) recipients are not covered by this statutory regulation and must finance their own contribution from their own funds.
However, many ALG II recipients are not in a financial position to do so. There are also many families with too little earned income to finance their own contribution without getting into a financial emergency situation. Nevertheless, the city of Aachen is not allowed to pay the legally prescribed contribution for such families. As a municipality that is subject to the budget protection concept, the city of Aachen is not allowed to take on any additional voluntary benefits. However, the assumption of the own contribution for ALG II recipients is such a voluntary benefit.