I can't believe your principal put you in this uncomfortable situation. Your board is going to have to tell the principal that all major purchases have to be put to a vote prior to the purchase. You have a budget to maintain and until all fundraising money is collected you can not consider allocating a portion to his/her project. In the future you will be happy to discuss any possible "needs" that the school might have for further funding.

The principal certainly can not force you to write a check and if you start it now, what's to stop them from continuing this practice down the road?

Our principal has made a major purchase for the school and has stated he expects us to fund a portion of this purchase. We did not vote on this expense, nor did we have a say in the amount we would contribute. He assumed that we would fund the purchase according to the balance we reported in our budget. He did not assume however that money was allocated for the upcoming year. (He did recieve an estimated budget for the upcoming year in May.) We can only hope one of our new fundraisers is successful and will allow us to remain in budget. Our board needs a diplomatic approach to this situation. I don't feel fighting with our principal solves anything. But I also do not want our board to be viewed as "pushovers". Anybody have ideas?