Okay...Just as I was afraid of...In my frustration I made a bit of a confusing post.
--Yes there was money taken, but it was returned..BUT it was while the money has been under booster club control, not district.
--People have talked to other schools in our district and been told that they Ed. Found. has NOT said no to anything they asked for. The booster club fills out a form saying they need X amount to pay for X project or expense. The booster club can keep their own account for up to $1000 to cover expenses that are last minute to avoid going through Ed Found. (based at our district's central office). Once the club has spent that down some, they simply go to Ed Found and fill out a form that they need X amount to replish our regular bank account. This would help to prevent big money being taken.
--I personally feel like this would be a benefit and the club has decided to be strictly volunteers, with no financial involvement. Our principal has said she will NOT be a fundraiser. That is not her job. I agree or there would be no need for booster clubs. We all know the amount of work that goes into fundraisers and how crazy are we to expect our principal to take on that task??
--The other booster clubs that are involved in it now, have not had any problems, but now the current treasurer has got them convinced to not participate, spend down their monies and just be volunteers. At the middle school level, that may work, but in elementary? No field trips? No parties? No snack days? No new library books? No replacing computers or software? Maybe she's right...maybe our egos should give us that power.

I'll play devil's advocate here. If the school were planning to sweep the funds and limit the PTO's access to how they were used, I would also resist. However, if they are stepping in as a treasury function AND if there is an agreed upon process as to how the PTO would still have control of the use of funds - I would enthusiastically embrace the idea.

If the process is reasonable and assured, then you've just dramatically reduced financial risk and liability of the PTO and simplified the financial accounting.

We used to have a poster on this Forum whose school served as 'treasurer'. I don't believe the PTO even kept a petty cash fund as you describe. She loved it. Her PTO still had complete control over how the funds were used; they simply gave up the accounting headaches.

Yes, the PTO is an independent entity. But its existence is in inextricably linked to the school. As wonderful as PTO’s are, they can be quite unpredictable. You can have fabulous, reasonable, dedicated people then you can have a year with officers who don’t seem to have sense enough to come out of the rain. (Be fair – how many of us have complained about the way our PTO’s were run at some point in the past? How many of us have dealt with a flaky officer or two?) For the schools it can be an endless roller coaster ride.

When a PTO experience financial troubles, especially theft, people pay little attention to the fact it’s an “independent entity”. Parents are on the phone to the principal and the school district wanting to know why this group wasn’t held more accountable, how could the school let it happen, etc? And the stigma stays with the school long after the current PTO leaders have come and gone. No wonder schools are looking for more guarantees.

As I said, I would fight to maintain the PTO’s control of the funds. And, I’d also resist any burdensome process for access to the funds. But giving up the bookkeeping function would be a benefit.

Hold on a second, let me see if I got this right . . . . the principal wants you to deposit all of your money into an account that you (collectively) have little control over. You make the deposit then need permission to spend the money??????? If my name were on the records of that organization or the banking information I would not walk to the bank, I would RUN. I would write an official letter of resignation making it very clear that I am no longer a member of the group. You mentioned that there has been more than one occasion when money has been "missing" but it was later returned when it was discovered - WHAT???????????? And anyone in your organization is considering depositing the hard earned money of the group into this account. Not just no but H - E - double hockey sticks NO!

If your group raises and funds $15,000 for the benefit of the school, I think that just one year of not doing this will bring your principal back around to the right side of the fence. During that year you can read to the kids, help teachers make photocopies, cut outs, plan classroom parties (that of course your group cannot fund) or find other ways to help out in the school but do not reach for your checkbook.

In case I was not clear - get your name off any records before it is too late!

(And when you start over, get the NPN guide to start up - it is awesome!)

Basically, we would continue to keep our treasury reports as we do. The only difference would be that we would:
--Run our deposits through the central office
--We would have an account of our own as we do now, with a $1000.00 limit. This allows us to purchase last minute items without needing the superintendant's name on the check. Purchases we made, would be able to be recovered in 24-48 hours.
Before you ask, yes there have been 1-2 instances where people have taken money. (The two I know of were over $10,000 total, but the money was recovered.)

HELP!!!! Our PTO is in a mess! I am the only one in our group standing firm, but the others feel they want to dissolve our booster club. We do not have active parents so there are only a very few of us that help.
We have been told by our principal that if we do not join the "Education Foundation" that the superintendant will NOT authorize us to do any fundraisers. We spend an average of $15,000 a year helping our school and there is no way to do this without a fundraiser.
An "Education Foundation" has been formed and K-5 schools have joined it, but have held off until we had our concerns addressed. Our concerns have been answered and I (one of the most skeptical) am satisfied with the answers. Our super did NOT mention his denial in our Q&A with him however.
I do NOT think it is within our egos to control the needs of 650-700 students because we don't like the way something is handled. I have said we cannot just dissolve...we need to let the parents know of the situation before making such a decision. If those people are not interested in continuing...fine...let them "forfeit" their board seats so they do not have to make the 3-4 extra trips to central office. If the paper trail is there, I do not see the issue of being under an "umbrella" to prevent money disappearing from our booster clubs.
Our board voted to more than likely disband unless the principal takes on the "treasurer" position and we are not involved with fundraising, but totally schedule events and volunteers.
WHAT A MESS???? I wish they could get over it and do what is needed for the students....What do you think?