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In short: Districts evaluating activity fund platforms tend to spend most of their attention on the payment screen, but the forms side is where a school office actually spends its time. Look for forms that build themselves from event details, connect required fields to the legal document, distinguish between forms that must block checkout and ones that don’t, and keep add-ons, volunteer sign-ups, and signed records inside the same event. 

Most of the attention in an activity fund platform demo goes to the payment screen, understandably, since that’s the part tied directly to revenue. But the software staff actually touch most often is the forms side: building a permission slip for a trip, tracking who’s returned it, and answering a parent’s question about what they signed. That part deserves at least as much scrutiny as checkout, and it’s often the part districts spend the least time evaluating before choosing a platform. 

This post draws on insights from the webinar See SchoolDay Live: A Demo for Canadian K–12 Finance Leaders. A quick note on terms: this is often called a permission slip in the US and a permission form in Canada, and both refer to the same document. 

What a static permission slip actually costs a school 

A paper slip, or a PDF template filled in by hand for each trip, works, in the sense that it eventually gets signed and filed. What it costs is time: someone rebuilds the same template for every event, fills in the specific date and venue by hand, prints it, sends it home, and then tracks who’s returned it, usually with a paper folder or a spreadsheet checked manually. Every one of those steps depends on someone remembering to do it correctly, and none of them happen automatically. 

Permission forms built automatically from event details 

SchoolDay builds the permission slip directly into the event itself. Once an admin sets up a trip with its date, venue, and cost, the system uses that information to generate a form that’s pre-filled with the parent’s and student’s names and the specific event details, alongside the district’s standard legal language. Nobody rebuilds the document for each trip. The same underlying template gets reused, and the specific details populate automatically every time. David Parisi described the purpose plainly: making sure a parent is giving full informed consent, even though the form is digital. 

Mandatory fields that link the web form to the legal document 

When building an event, certain fields are flagged as required, marked with a red star in the interface. Those same fields carry through to the permission form itself, so what a school marks as mandatory when creating the event is exactly what a parent has to complete before the form is considered signed. The web form and the legal consent document are built from the same structure, not two separate things that happen to look similar. 

Which forms should block checkout, and which shouldn’t 

Some forms have to be signed before anything else can happen, a waiver for an out-of-province trip, informed consent for a higher-risk activity. Others don’t need that weight at all: a responsible use policy, a media release, a short survey, a volunteer sign-up. SchoolDay treats these differently. A standard event form can be required before checkout completes, while a separate forms tool lets a school build open-ended surveys or requests, with short answer or multiple choice questions, that aren’t tied to any purchase at all. A district evaluating forms software should ask specifically whether it handles both cases, since a tool built only around waivers won’t easily double as a survey tool, and vice versa. 

Add-on purchases and permission forms in a single checkout 

A permission slip and a payment don’t have to be separate transactions, and they don’t have to be limited to just the base cost of a trip either. In the demo, a canoe trip event let a parent complete the permission form, then add optional items tied directly to that same event: a life jacket rental for a family that didn’t have their own, and a t-shirt with a size selection. All of it, the signed form and every add-on purchase, happened in a single checkout, presented to the parent right at the moment they were already engaging with that specific event. 

This matters because it removes a separate step schools often build around manually: a second form, or a follow-up email asking who still needs to order a shirt or rent equipment. When add-on items live inside the same event a parent is already signing and paying for, nothing requires a separate reminder or a second system to track who ordered what. 

Volunteer sign-up forms built into the same event 

One version of an optional form is worth calling out on its own: volunteer collection. Rather than a sign-up sheet or an email thread a parent coordinator has to manage by hand, an admin can attach a volunteer request directly to an event, using a standard form set up in advance, such as one for volunteer drivers. Parents respond through the same event they’re already interacting with, and the school approves or denies each volunteer from the same screen. 

Permission form recordkeeping that survives staff turnover 

Every signed form gets archived and tied to its specific event, kept for the current school year plus one full year after. If a question comes up months later about a specific trip or a specific parent’s signature, the answer is a search, not a search through a filing cabinet or an inbox. Schools are generally advised to export this archive at year-end as a second, redundant copy, which matters for both routine record-keeping and anything that surfaces during an audit or a dispute. 

Questions to ask when comparing permission forms software 

A few direct questions help separate a genuine forms system from a signature box attached to a payment screen: 

• Are forms built from a reusable template with fields that populate automatically, or rebuilt manually for each event? 
• Does the software distinguish between forms that must block a purchase and ones that don’t? 
• Can the system handle open-ended surveys and requests, not just waivers? 
• Can optional items (merchandise, equipment rentals, add-ons) be attached to the same event a parent is already paying for? 
• Is volunteer coordination built into the same event, or handled separately? 
• How long are signed forms retained, and how easily can a specific one be found later? 

What actually matters when comparing forms software 

A payment screen is the easiest part of this software to compare between vendors, and often the part that gets the most attention in a sales conversation. The forms side is where a school office actually spends its time, week to week, and it’s worth evaluating with the same care as the payment experience. 

If you want to talk through what this would look like for your district specifically, our team is happy to walk through how SchoolDay handles forms and payments, and how the two connect. 

Frequently asked questions 

What’s the difference between a permission slip and a permission form? Nothing functionally — permission slip is the more common term in the US, and permission form is more common in Canada. Both refer to the same signed consent document tied to a school event. 

What should schools look for in permission form software? Look for forms that generate automatically from event details rather than being rebuilt by hand each time, required fields that carry through from the event setup to the legal document, the ability to distinguish forms that must block checkout from ones that don’t, and the option to attach add-on purchases and volunteer sign-ups to the same event. 

Can a permission form require payment before it’s considered complete? Yes, and it should be configurable rather than one-size-fits-all. Some forms, like waivers for higher-risk activities, need to block checkout entirely. Others, like a media release or a short survey, don’t need to hold up a purchase at all. 

How long should signed permission forms be kept? At minimum, the current school year plus one full year after, with an exported copy archived at year-end as a redundant record. That way a question about a specific trip or signature can be answered with a search rather than a search through a filing cabinet.