If you are a PTA than you would definately be seperated from the school. It sounds like your group may be more similiar to C. Brooks described. If you are a PTA then, yes, you would be paying a portion of the membership dues that you collect to send to State and National.(no PTA's should be sending any fundraising dollars to State and National. State and National generally also do their own fundraising) The bylaws are generally uniform with a few variations state to state. Resolutions or positions are written by members generally at the local level and then taken to the State and then National conventions to be voted on. We recently had a resolution writing workshop for our units. As a PTO you are autonomous and make your own rules to follow. If you are concerned about mingling funds with the school you could seperate yourselves into a PTA or other organization. If it is working well for you then you don't need to switch to anything. If you want to know more about PTA you can go to www.pta.org
JB,
You're not a PTA unless someone is sending in dues. You might be a PTO, but it sounds moe like you're just a group of hardworking parents who are volunteering for the school.
You should use Tim's web address and organize yourselves.
Originally posted by JBrown: After reading through some of the PTA/PTO discussions, I am not sure what our organization is. Can someone please clarify. What is the difference between the two other than the name?
Our group is much like yours. We are called a PTO and have by-laws but in agreeance (sp?) with the school, our funds are held in a separate account by the school for our protection. Yeah is a pain but I would rather have it a pain to recieve $5 than worry about a loose checkbook (that's my thinking though folks and this has worked for YEARS!).
Most times we seem more like a organized voluteering team than the PTOs ya read about here BUT our little group has been able to put on some really cool events for the teachers and students. Like what? We organize donated lunch for teachers during conferences with parents so they don't need to leave; we had several chilren in our school with parents that were out of work so we held a toy drive and made 5 families a great holiday; canned food drive; Staff Appr. BBQ; playground clean-ups; you know like community service kind of stuff. We have a budget of $2000 (the school does it's own fundraising) so we really have to work to make a bang for everyone's buck!
The whole fact that you are involved is SO AWSOME! Thank you!!! PTO or PTA, the fact that you want to be involved with your child's education and school is everything. [img]smile.gif[/img]
A PTA has a national and a state organization component to it. They get part of your money, from dues and often from fund raisers. They have certain rules you are obligated to follow, established by the national and state boards. There are certain services they do provide and they lobby congress. You may or may not agree with their positions on education issues but they (IMHO) really don't care one way or the other, like any organization like this it is really up to the people sitting on those boards to determine the position the organization will take.
A PTO does not have a state or national organization, so you dont have to send them your money. Their rules do not apply to you. You establish your own rules of operation.
Personally, I am satisified with the PTO being in our district because we don't have to answer to a higher authority. It is my opinion that PTO's are better suited for rural areas such as the one I where I live (Don't take that personally PTAers I am not knocking PTA's) I am sure there are other people that will disagree with me. The PTA charges an annual fee for each group, and there seem to be a lot of rules associated with a PTA. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong.
PTA/PTO are not the only parent group acronyms. I am not sure about how anything works in AL, but in KY each school has a Site Based Decision Making Council (SBDM). They are responsible for a part of hiring and firing, some dislipinary measures, field trips, and several other matters. They are required to meet once a month and the board is based on the number of students in each school. We have 2 parents and 3 teachers on the SBDM. They also have accounts that the board have to decide how to spend. Perhaps this is something like your school has.
