Interestingly enough, no one seems to be discussing (in recent posts) the political implications of the National PTA. The second reason we left PTA for PTO this past spring (after keeping dues money within our own school for our children) was that many parents were having to join an organization that takes their money and lobbies for several highly-charged political points of view with which they disagree. A long time volunteer with our former PTA, after hearing the political views of PTA, proclaimed she'd have nothing to do with PTA ever again (and she'd volunteered for years).
One should not have to give their money to such a slanted ideological group in order to partner with other parents in an organization in their child's school. Any thoughts???
After all this time, I just happened to be on the Nevada PTA site today, and the Nevada dues are actually $4, not $3. (Source: www.coam.net/~npta/new/membership.html##main)
And that doesn't even include Council dues.
That's a huge difference and significantly changes the "math" you've been doing on this site for weeks, doesn't it. All along I didn't think your math worked; now it really doesn't work. An average-sized PTA in Nevada is paying more than $850 in dues to state, national and council.
Not worth making a big deal out of this, but it again emphasizes the fact that groups should "do the math" for themselves when analyzing the value of PTA membership.
Yes, I guess the money works in your favor and as long as you don't need (or to hire an accountant-one school under me paid $300 as a PTO for an accountant) training or even assistance keeping your school from being a needs improvement school under "No Child Left Behind" and all the other stuff, as Tim calls it, the AAA benefits than that's what your school and students need. I don't know what kind of coverage you have but if it's NPN's, then the deductible (and I say this as insurance agent) of $1500 for officers liability could hurt you. If there is a claim, (PTA has 12 a day) you may end up paying more as a PTO.
Are you really supporting this as an option? Do you realize what that would do to PTA finances? National gets (and needs) $9,000,000+ per year (yes that's 9 million) in dues revenue. If groups started cheating on their dues payments (reporting just the minimum required members) that would be a killer to National. Might want to rethink that.
Yes, it could be if you are adding things up, have the financial restraints that pals school faced and finding that the dollars that are spent aren't worth it, if you aren't actively participating in other PTA programs and aren't using anything, Are you telling me that by leaving PTA to become a PTO isn't taking away the funds they need to accomplish what they have set out to do?
Originally posted by Michelle B: :confused: In spending the better part of the evening reading through the posts I have seen nothing regarding the cost of insurance operating as a PTO rather than a PTA.
What I am hearing is that the driving force behind becoming a PTO is keeping membership dues at your school rather than paying dues.
But insurance through PTA is under $200 regardless of the number of members.
Aren't you trading one expense for the other? If we took our schools membership and calculated the cost of insurance versus what we pay in dues + insurance, we actually keep more money as a PTA school. And all you are getting for the more than seven times the cost,(just over 4 times more if you join NPN) is insurance. No training, no materials, no real accountability. If you have an embezzelment at your PTO school, how would it be handled? Yes, PTA is a terrific organized National advocate and that is just one reason I prefer PTA but there are financial benefits.
The only thing I can think of is that some PTOs just don't get insurance. Very risky...
When you really break it down, if you are doing it correctly, you're getting more bang for your buck. It's just that simple.
