It's that PTA requires membership be open to all (even no school connection) and then requires that all decisions be made by "membership" (with the cardholder as the member), as opposed to by the parents or families at that school.
In effect -- and I've seen this happen in several instances -- 15 parents from other towns completely could join the XYZ PTA. If a contentious issue came up, then those 15 parents could show up at meeting (even if they'd never set foot in the school before and had no children in the school) and tip the scales their own way. If your meetings generally get 18 attendees, then 4 or 5 of these voters could easily tip the scales on a close vote.
Heck, I'm a member of 3 PTAs in states far away from my home in Massachusetts. I don't vote, but should I really have a say in what happens at the ABC School parent group in Tuscaloosa? No.
That's why I like bylaws that define members as "the parents and/or custodial guardians of the current students at XYZ School". Just seems like the right set of folks to decide what the XYZ PTO/A should do. That's the oddity, that PTA rules don't work that way.
Originally posted by KayCee: About the "one person one vote" thing--what if a family has 2 parents and 2 stepparents? Do all 4 get to vote? Do only those present get to vote? Is there any absentee voting allowed?
If you're an active PTA, you should be using membership cards and membership cards are *supposed* to be sold to individuals, not families. So technically, it's supposed to be one vote per card. If a certain family has purchased 5 memberships (grandpa, grandma, mom, dad, stepmom) -- then that family could have 5 votes. Another oddity of PTA rules.
About the "one person one vote" thing--what if a family has 2 parents and 2 stepparents? Do all 4 get to vote? Do only those present get to vote? Is there any absentee voting allowed?
And about the differences between PTA and PTO, PTA does a lot of lobbying with the money you pay in dues. Your school may or may not support the causes they support, and in some cases may even oppose what they support. Knowing that PTO does not lobby is very comforting to me personally.
