I am the president of our PTO and I asked in a formal entry to our minutes that I be authorized to spend up to 75 dollars per month on small cost items without the boards approval and with a report back to them when I have done it to make sure that we all stay honest. It is not cumulative. Perhaps at the next meeting/board meeting you can introduce something to that effect only lowering the amount of money that can be spent without approval. Sometimes it is just an immediate yes or no situation (can you pay for the child that forgot his school trip money or whose family cannot afford it). Can we get plants for the front entry for the fall -- those sorts of thing. Since my board trusts me (I'm pretty sure) they had no problem with it. But I built the trust before I asked for hteir indulgence. Good luck...d

Well maybe you can come at this from the direction of just being concerned about the low funds. Ask them at a meeting about doing things to bring in more money and controlling spending until your funds are stable. Do you have a budget each year? Do you know what your operating budget for the year is? What kind of money do you need to provide what you do for the year?

The President should not just have money to spend without getting it from treasurer. She must have gotten the $100 for the directory from the treasurer or she took it from cash that came in.
I too would be concerned with any spending when your account only has $800 in it! Also you just learned a lesson when you gave the president the money...don't do that anymore. If she can't be trusted give it to the treasurer only when the President is not around and then you can hope it makes it into the bank account.

Thus far is anyone else concerned about this?

Our pres has an attitude towards money that really bothers me. She spent $100 to print our student directories, which was not authorized by the board. She insisted they had to have color copies of the cover, which we never discussed in a meeting. Keep in mind that we only have like $800 in our account. At our meeting yesterday I handed her some misc. money I had, some other people gave her money to deposit since the treasurer was mysteriously absent, and after the meeting I jokingly said,"You're going to deposit this today, right? And not drive around with it your car for a week." She said yes, then said well, tomorrow if not today. Then she offerred me some of the money to buy some items for our upcoming silet auction, after a week of complaining we have too many items as it is! I just stared at her and reminded her that we have enough stuff.

I find this attitude very unsettling, because we have had financial problems in the past with embezzling and have put into place some very strict money handling procedures, some of which she suggested and is not following herself. And I don't know what to do about this. She treats our account like it is her own money, not spending money on herself, but spending money on whatever she thinks money needs to be spent on without talking to anyone else.

I don't know what to do. I am new to the board, as are all the other members except for her. Last year she had no board members except the treasurer, so she is used to doing whatever she wants. She and I don't get along personally and fake nice with each other in public.

Do I remind her of our financial policies privately and make an even bigger enemy of her than I already have? Do I bring it up in a meeting, and if so, how? She obviously doesn't get hints and subtlety.

I am just so tired of PTO acting like a bunch of chicks running things. Our meetings are a joke, no sense of order, no following the agenda. I am frustrated and would just like to quit, but I am afraid she would run totally wild if she has no checks on her. And I am tired of being the *heavy* all the time, too. I am the concerned about getting a reputation as a trouble maker with the other board members and principal.

Any advice would be appreciated and thanks for letting me rant.