Don't drain your bank account! There is a resonable expectation that you carry over funds from year to year. You can solicit a wish list and then pick and choose over the summer and put it into next year's budget.
At this time of year, budgets are strapped and yes, even paper is running out. In many districts, budgetary cut backs are quite severe and the only hope of adding in special presenters - even inservice presenters - is the PTO. We've done it 2 years in a row now and it has beneficial for our teachers and supported the learning goals for our students. (But we never would have had the cash to do that after our first year of existence.)
See a need - fill a need, but don't feel like you have to do it all over night. NCLB has put these tremendous (and whacked out) expectations on all of our schools, but Congress forgot the funding for the program. So, in order to meet the requirements, the district is having to spent more and more money on these programs instead of other areas of need.
Who knows what the school may get approved by next year's budget - if it isn't crucial, don't feel you need to buy it right now so it can sit all summer long. Good luck
Our goal this year is new playground equipment... but one year we purchased bulletin boards for teachers hallways, we also purchased benches that were cemented in by the playgrounds for teachers to rest on while the kids played... we've painted murals on walls in the school and also purchased a die-cutter and additional die-cuts for the teachers to use...
Why not put a letter out to the teachers for a wish list-- let them know you are looking for larger items in need and you would like their input-- then decide what you can afford to do for each grade based on their suggestions and your funds... I agree that the district should pay for staff development and paper--.
Maybe you could pay for assemblies that are educational for the kids... are for transportation for several fieldtrips. Good luck!
It's up to the PTO and its stakeholders to decide. Unfortunately it's a fact of life that the school budget rarely covers all the basics.
Part of the decision depends on your structure and relationship witht the school. In my early days with our elementary school, the PTO 'owned' all fundraisers, but the expectation was that some funds would be turned over to the principal for rather mundane things. (Because the fundraiser really was a joint effort.)
Other times the school had its own designated fundraiser and what the PTO did was truly separate and under its discretion (with input from the principal). Then we focused on programs and materials that benefitted the school What those were changed from year to year.
Still later we moved to a model where the school owned all the fundraisers (PTO provided volunteers) and the PTO focused on parent involvement, volunteer coordination, and teacher appreciation rather than "buying things".
We are a brand new PTO (our school has only been open for a year) and our school needs LOTS of amenities for the kids. Extra playgroud equipment and books, for example.
Our principal was asked for a list of what the school needed. She's asking for crazy things like money for a new 3M Machine (all of our classrooms are equipped with one), money for copy paper (PTO provides our own) and funds toward next year's staff development training. Our school district is certainly not lacking in funds...and we feel things like this should be the responsibility of the district. (They're getting plenty of tax dollars from us!)
What are REASONABLE items that the PTO should be gifting to the school at the end of the year? :confused: Please share your thoughts and suggestions.
