i think parent groups were formed in part for parents to be involved in the school process, its only in todays budget cut world that fundraiasing has become such a big part of it all.
but the parent group is just that, a PARENT group, thats probably the bottom line of why the presidentship does not belong with the person running the school. they need to manage the kids and staff and that is one tall order. they dont have time to manage all the parents in addition! just ask any principal.

I don't think there is anything wrong with a principal being the PTO President, but why on earth would a principal want to take over the position in the first place? I don't see how a principal could even fit all of the PTO duties into their schedule.

Probably for the same reason that the President does not write laws or interpret them. There has to be a "balance of power" so to speak. If the principal were the leader of the Parent group then it's not a parent group, it is a school. I think there would be some serious tunnel vision.

When I read the subject line I cringed! Yes 99% of the time principals can control that final decision in one way or another. The question I ask if the principal is in charge is this giving parents the opportunity to at least express what they would like to accomplish. I mean the principal sees over so many comittees every day in their building, would the mission of your pto get lost.

Any parent group should be able to work effectively and closey with a building principal, does it mean that you always agree? No, and you shouldn't but when you come together to meet in the middle that is always making that home school relationship stronger. My former principal and myself disagreed on so many things, we were always mentioned to have that love hate realtionship going on, bottom line is no matter how mad we were we always met half way and to this day I know I am better leader and person because of that challenge.

Does that mean if your principal controls your group now that you should hand it over? No, it means that as parents we need to find a way to make that connection and make them see we are valuable to that school community. Actually at our school the principal has no vote power. Bottom line they may have power over you but that connection needs to be at least attempted.

If PTO's are there to help the school and basically enhance what the educators do, why not just have the principal serve as the president of the organization. The principal should be working in the best interest of the students anyhow and has final say in what the PTO can and cannot do (veto power).
Why not just make the principal the leader of the parent group?
It seems, there is a lot of conflict with principals that have agendas that do not match what the parent groups want to achieve.

Having the principal as the leader would make it easy: they have direct access to the teachers everyday, they know all the rules and regulations of the school, they know what needs to be funded and what is frivolous, parent volunteers could be recruited for only what is necessary.

It seems that no matter if the PTO is a separate entity (501c3) or if it is just an extension of the school, the principal can support or stop anything the PTO does, even the formation or structure of a PTO. In groups where the principal is open and responsive it isn’t really an issue but in situations where the principal is close minded and stubborn, it seems that it would simplify things to have him or her act as the PTO president.

You could change the name of the organization to – XYZ School Support Group (since few parents volunteer and even less teachers volunteer).

Of course this is a little sarcastic, but I would like to know what the down-side would be to having the principal as the PTO president?