We of course did our homework as to how we could support the referendum. Since you cannot support a candidate or a political party we were within our rights to support the referendum as a referendum has nothing to do with either of those things.
We of course held a vote to see if there was any opposition to our supporting the referendum, and there was not. Our only expense was about $30 as we purchased vibrant colored paper to urge people to go out and vote. Our paperwork only gave the facts of the matter and urged people to vote. Nowhere did we even tell people to vote "yes". A few days before the vote we went to the main shopping hub in town and just passed out flyers and just urged people to go out and vote...again not telling people to vote yes.
On some things we will have to agree to disagree. As I stated in my original post everyone's situation is different and in some cases the referendum may not really be needed. In our case our school had been neglected for about 50 years without anything major being done to it and we had a huge overcrowding issue. This is why the mass majority of people supported it because everyone knew how badly we needed it. In our state (I don't know how other states work and they may be different) the state inspects the schools every few years. Once you fail inspection you also begin to lose funding from the state. The only reason we passed our last inspection was because they knew we were going to vote on the referendum in the next few months. If the referendum had failed the school would have failed at our next inspection and the funding we get from the state would then begin to get slashed. So again, we can agree to disagree, but as a Parent organization we are there in the best interest of the students. The best thing our group has probably ever accomplished was getting this referendum passed for our children and the future school children to come.
I am not a lawyer nor a tax specialist, but I know how hard we worked to get Non-Profit recognition and I would not want to do anything to jeopardize it.
The prohibition for a 501c3 organization is not only on endorsing or working against a particular candidate, but includes "influencing legislation". I may be overly cautious in my interpretation, but I believe a referendum on a town budget falls under "legislation".
Pretty sure your interpretation is wrong on this, Phil. While there is an outright prohibition against supporting individual candidates, the regs regarding lobbying/influencing legislation (especially in areas that fit your mission) aren't as balck-and-white at all. In fact, lobbying is allowed -- but it just can't amount to an overly significant % of your efforts or dollars.
As an example, the national PTA is a 501c3 and has a lobbying office in DC. Nothing technically wrong with that.
Supporting a bond referendum locally would be akin to a national 501c3 supporting more education spending in the federal budget.
I am not a lawyer nor a tax specialist, but I know how hard we worked to get Non-Profit recognition and I would not want to do anything to jeopardize it.
The prohibition for a 501c3 organization is not only on endorsing or working against a particular candidate, but includes "influencing legislation". I may be overly cautious in my interpretation, but I believe a referendum on a town budget falls under "legislation". I am glad that your referendum passed and the school building problems will be addressed, but IMHO having the PTO formally endorse/support it was skating on thin ice at best.
Note that this prohibition on the PTO does NOT prevent any individual from exercising their 1st Admendment Right of Free Speech to speak our for or against the referendum. On your own time and with your own private money, you can do what you want. I see a line crossed when PTO money is spent in support of a referendum, or when a PTO votes to formally endorse a position on one, or even when a PTO board takes time from a meeting to "encourage" their membership to vote one way or the other - I think those activities should be avoided.
Obviously everyones situation is different when it comes to a school referendum vote and clearly there seems to be very strong opposing sides in the original posters case and it would appear that by her posting that many of the parents are not in favor of this referendum. I do have one question though as I am curious as to who this pro referendum group is that is asking for money?
That being said...A referendum is not a political position or support for a political group. It is put together by the BOE and in many cases the towns political parties do not even voice opinions on these things. Our referendum got passed last year and our Mayor and council took no position on it whatsoever. They left it in the hands of the people and said if you want it vote for it, if not don't vote for it. So if you want to somehow support your schools referendum you will not be in violation of supporting a candidate or a political position. However, you should have the support of the mass majority of your membership in my opinion if you choose to back a referendum.
In our situation our school was badly in need of repairs and overcrowded to boot. The state was giving us in excess of 5 million dollars to offset our expenses but we needed to pass the referendum in a specific time frame in order to get the money from the state. Our PTO did support the referendum as the mass majority of the parents and townsfolk were in favor of it and our referendum passed by a huge margin.
Your instincts to remain neutral and NOT spend ANY PTO funds on the referendum support group were right on.
If you are a 501c3 Non-Profit organization - or are considering becoming one - you are treading on very thin ice (actually falling through) if you donate money or otherwise support a political agenda. The PTO can discuss the referendum in meetings especially if you have representatives from both sides of the issue making presentations to the group. However, the PTO as an organization cannot take sides. For example, our Charter says (and most of the wording came from the IRS's own example):
3. The MacArthur School PTO shall not participate in nor fund propaganda, nor otherwise attempt to influence legislation. The MacArthur School PTO shall not participate in, nor intervene in (including the publishing or distribution of statements) any political campaign on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate for public office. At PTO meetings, issues directly related to the educational experience of the children of the Douglas MacArthur Elementary School and/or the Waltham Massachusetts School District may be discussed, however, the MacArthur School PTO shall not take any official position nor encourage any specific action on the part of its members
Thank you. I feel staying neutral is the appropriate thing to do and the only way to do that is to not even allow the subject of donating money to a referendum committee be a part of a PTO meeting Agenda.
