I have just read all of the items posted about PTO's. Our PTA voted last night to change to a PTO, now how is that done? How do we regester? Do we resister? Do we need bylaws? Where do I get any info on this.

OK, did you put the cart before the horse?
Those who suggested a change must have had a reason, they should have done their homework.

First; Depending on your by-laws and those of your State PTA you may have already become a PTO.

Second; Because all PTO's are independent groups, you can do as you please. If you want by-laws or not, elections or not, it is up to the group.

Third; You should register your new group with the Secretary of State, Tax division and any other government requirements.
You may want to establish non-profit /501(c)3\
status through the IRS so that donations are tax deductable.
(as a PTA you are automatically a 501(c)3 under the National PTA)

Hi Idler --

Not sure who you called or emailed, but much of our staff was in Chicago for a couple of days for our annual conference out there.

You don't have to register with anyone to be a PTO. PTOs are independent groups.

But you can do one or several things at this point. There are tons of resources on this web site (and in these message boards) for you.

A couple of thoughts:

1. Think about our PTO Today Plus service/membership. It's a great, comprehensive resource for all groups. www.ptotoday.com/plus/index.html

2. Also think about our "PTO Start-Up" expert guide. (You can get it free with a Plus membership or buy it singly). forms.ptotoday.com/store/product.html?id=1001

Here's a link to our FAQs page for some of your other questions:

www.ptotoday.com/ptofaq.html

Good luck. Let us know how we can help further.

Tim

I have just read all of the items posted about PTO's. Our PTA voted last night to change to a PTO, now how is that done? How do we regester? Do we resister? Do we need bylaws? Where do I get any info on this. I have sent emails to a few people and left messages, but have gotten no response. Can you help?

Originally posted by Bertha:
We did it and YES! it was worth it. You can email me with any questions and I'll be happy to help you.

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Hi Critter, Sorry it's taken so long to answer your questions but I've been away on business-

To answer your questions, let's start with compelling reasons that swayed us to switch:
1. Saving $1,500 per year in dues. With people not participating as much with fundraisers(and we will only do 3 per year) we felt we wanted to keep "our" money in our school. Call us selfish, but that's what we wanted.

2. Being able to spend "our" money in a way that our general membership votes on spending it. If one of our classes are lacking in free-reading books and we as a group vote to give the teacher money to purchase the books for her classroom, PTA has no right coming in and telling us that we are breaking all the rules. Which by the way, our crazy PTA reps did!

These were our major reasons for making the switch. Plus the fact that if I didn't do it, it would never get done. Our PTA had been talking about doing it for 6 years before I decided I would just do it. It's very time consuming and a real pain in the a** but it needed to be done. County certainly didn't make things easy on us. Even after the deed was done they were calling me and hounding me for different books.

As to my reasons for being reluctant:
1. There's no real support group out there. If you're having a problem within the group or with the Principal(we haven't faced this yet but there are groups out there that have) there's no one to come in and fight your battles for you.

2. Training! Say what you want about PTA but they offer you some really great training classes and to me that's priceless!

Tim;

Appologies accepted.

I don't remember ever seeing a policy statement on daylight savings though.

As you and I know from being there, National PTA resolutions are openly debated at conventions.

But as I say, I think it is important that someone represents children and parents in Washington and State Capitals.