I've also been reading this with interest. As the treasurer for our group, I've been adding things up for a while. I'll give you our numbers: $1.75 for national. $1.50 for state and $.25 for council. Last year, we had 235 members for a total of $822.50 paid out in dues. Insurance was $275 total for a grand total of $1100. If we were a PTO the total would have been just less than $500 as an NPN group or about $425 (insurance only on our own) as a regular PTO. Insurance is about the only PTA thing we use, that's why I've been working toward getting our group to go PTO. I'm glad aretha and michelle are happy with PTA. I hope you'll be glad for us if we're happy as a PTO.
To be honest, I really hadn't given the PTA/PTO argument much thought until I answered a post about how to disolve a PTA. That said I have been reading all of these posts with interest. When I did the math I came up with these figures last year my PTA paid $1088.55 cents in dues (1.75 nat, 1.00 state and .20 district) Our insurance was another 250. for a total of $1338.55. Had we been a PTO joined the "network" and bought our insurance through the network the total would have been $718. We could have saved $620.55. However, had we been a PTO we wouldn't have charged dues so that $718 wouldn't have been covered by dues money so truly we would have been out that money. By our state bylaws we only have to have 10 dues paying members to receive the benifits of being a PTA. Had we only collected dues for 10 members our total cost would have been $279.50 A much cheaper option.
In response to those who don't like PTA because of it's politcal stance: Who passes the laws to protect children? Where does the money come from for public education? The answer to both questions is the government. As long as this is the case then invlovment in politcs is nessary to provide for children and schools. The national PTA has launched the "Five Cents Makes Scents" Campain to work to get the federal governement to spend at least 5 cents of every dollar spent on education. Currently the governement only spends 2.8 cents of each dollar on education. I am happy to send my dues money to support this effort and many of the parents I talk to are as well. (Our membership is up this year.) The bottom line as I see it every parent who is an involved parent wants to improve the conditions as their child's school. The PTA just sees beyond their own school to try and improve all schools for all children. As a PTA president I am thankful for this site there are wonderful ideas here but the bottom line- for me at least- is that $4.00 is the cheapest, best bargin I've found!
Hi Michelle...Im not taking personal, I just want tosay that for our school PTO has soared. I do believe each school needs to look at thier own individual needs. I was never involved with the PTA as all they did was fundraise, they did a great job with that and bought a ton of stuff for our school. I know that there was a huge stigma within the group and overall you know there is with any parent group. You know how we are all clicks?? Of course the ones that say that are the ones not doing anything. I have been in charge of our group for 20 months(we are 24 months old). My son has been here for five years, at our school when ever pta was mentioned people ran as fast as they could. I have to be honest and say I am not one to delegate nationally for issues when we have so many right here at home. Such as parents who can't read...to us that seems to be more of a real issue. That's why I truly believe that each school needs to look at thier needs. By the way the first five months I took over the old PTA officers would come to an event to see if we would mess up. You have to remember they JUST fundraised and held two bookfairs a year. THATS IT. Last year I managed to get the old president to volunteer at acouple of events, I think she felt funny but she had fun. It's not aboutshowing anyone up it's about the kids and for us this has worked. I don't know the whole story for the pta I was just stunned to see what they had actually paid out in one year. It just doesnt seem like it was worth it...they never did any training or anything like that so other than being under the pta umbrella Im not sure what was the benifit...maybe years ago when pta was strong (im not sure if it ever was) at our school was worth it. I do know our involvement level is at a all time high=)
"When you stop learning you stop growing."
Tim-I used rates for Nevada from your company and from our company+dues. I haven't researched the price for other states and I don't assume they are the same for each state for either company/group. At this point, we will just have to agree to disagree.
Pals-I never used the word stupid and you shouldn't make this personal as this is merely a debate.
As for the involvement of your parents, you stated that you paid over $650 in dues which means that equaled at least 130 members at $5 in dues (using the highest figure). I find it hard to believe that the low level of involvement was purely related to the fact that you were a PTA. There are so many factors that go into how to get people involved. There are leaders who prefer to do more themselves than ask for assistance. What kind of recruitment you used to get volunteers in the first place, how active the core of the group is in arranging activities, there are so many variations that, to place the level of involvement strictly on being PTA, would be shortsighted.
Last year at our school (PTA) we had 5-6 people truly involved. Our presidency didn't follow through with plans, they were difficult to approach and were generally a poor board. This year,(as PTA) we have over 130 people truly involved. The board is approachable, they have enacted many activities and are following through. They were PTA both years. It was the people who made the difference.
You did mention that you had a ton of new events. Why now? You could have done these things last year and asked for help. You don't find volunteers for activities before you have the activities. Also, are you saying that over the years that very few were involved? How long have you been at this at your school? how much history do you have regarding your schools involvement in PTA? Is it just last year, two years, back to when it began? Since you aren't PTA anymore you likely wouldn't have anything left from past years to actually, realistically see how things were done. If you were there, what was your level of involvement? If you weren't how could you judge?
It's great that your school has been successful at what they are doing. So has mine and many under me. Do I see a value in what we pay and what the benefits are? Absolutely. There is no question. After checking both sides and doing my own research, PTA is great. That doesn't mean that PTO is bad, it just means that the benefits of PTA outweighs the benefits of PTO in our situation.
This will be my last post in this thread on the money thing, as you are honestly the first and only person I've ever run across who claims that PTA is generally less expensive than PTO. It's simply not true. On a national message board in a general discussion about PTO v PTA, it makes no sense to use the single cheapest description of PTA costs (very few members, very low dues, very low insurance rate) as the basis for comparison.
Better, isn't it?, to use average costs. Average PTAs have more than 200 members. Average PTAs pay more than $3.50 per member in dues and average PTAs pay more than $200 for insurance (all in). It's not spin to say that the average PTA winds up spending well more than $850 for membership plus insurance.
Key thing is that I think there are groups for whom that's $850 well spent. I just happen to think that there are other groups where it is not.
Yes Michelle Im not stupid enough to believe that because we are not a PTA that membership would go up but the ironic part is now that PTA isnt attached to our name we have gone from 4-6 parents to 40 parents. This doesnt include ones who voluntere at our events. With more parents we have added a TON of new events such as a Holiday shop, fall fest, read across america celebration, etc. We have parents who tried the PTA Had hated the formaltity of the group. As A PTO we answer only to ourselves and principal, so yes In our case I do believe we are better off.Even with insurance costs.IM just curious what happened with all the money our school paid over the years for the few who were involved. I do know when they dissolved it wasn't a pretty site=(
"When you stop learning you stop growing."
