almostusedup: You carry over start up money from the last school year for that. Membership fees for us are not collected in full till November anyway. The amount is miniscule and it is not for the purposes of startup money. Without going into the whole spiel of memberships. check out all the threads on membership dues to see why people do and don't have membership dues...
Curious...If all of your schools don't have a membership fee, how do you raise funds in the begining of the school year? Do you have alot of fundraisers instead?
Our membership drive raises about $2500 and we would be hard pressed without it.
I wasn't going to post since I no longer have a child in elementary school but since all the previous posters are not PTA's, I'll add my two cents. At my son's old elementary school, we were (they still are!) a PTA, all of the teachers were PTA members, our Principal made sure that they had 100% membership. We paid each teacher $100/year but it was reimbursed and they had to submit receipts before payment with a short note explaining the purchase.
While I don't think you can change your policy at this point in the school year, I don't see why you can't send a memo out next year when you do your membership drive stating that any teacher that would like to be reimbursed will need to be a member of the PTA. Along with that statement, I would include everything that your PTA pays for and perhaps the mission statement.
We ask that one rep from each Pod (4 total) come to meetings and offer 2 additional spaces for other staff not including the admin to sign up for. I couldn't picture how crazy it would be if all of our teachers showed up since we have 25 classrooms and that doesn't count the reading and math teams, PE and music departments. I also understand how little our teachers get paid and sympathize with those that have to work another job to make ends meet. It's always easy to say that the staff is wanting more, but I've learned that when a group shows that they care and aren't asking a lot, it becomes more of a team effort and not we vs them. I could just be that your teachers think you do a great job and don't feel like they need to attend. When the next school year rolls around, post a sign up for a few teachers to come and between now and then, talk to the teachers and let them know you need them to attend because it doesn't work without them. Good luck.
The irony of commitment is that it’s deeply liberating-in work, in play, in love. The act frees you from the tyranny of your internal critic, from the fear that likes to dress itself up and parade around as rational hesitation. To commit is to remove your head as the barrier to your life. --Anne Morris
We also do not charge for membership, parents or teachers. We have a $75 reimbursement offer to the teachers. Surprisingly so far this year only 1/2 of them have taken advantage of this offer. We keep reminding them though.
We are a PTO. We did dues one year and decided the effort wasn't worth the little cash it brought in and this way everyone is a member and subject to be called on to help. They can't say they are not a member!
