Crew Chief - I in no way was putting anyone down. I asked a straight forward question. In our school and in life many people "think" they know facts about their school, PTO or heck even their neighbors when in fact they do not. I encourage all to only spread facts. I also encourage all to seek out facts.
No harm intended and many apologizes to those who were offended. We must always do our best not to spread rummor or opinion and only discuss facts.
We have a K-5th grade school, 670+ students. Our annual budget is about $$25K.
The big tickets are:
$9K cultural enrichment;
$1.7K academic activities i.e. speakers;
$4.1K classroom grants - $100 per class room;
$4k Kids organizers;
$1.5K hospitality - bulk for teacher appreciation throughout the year;
<$1k general business -$400 insurance
Total Funds raised are over $36K this year which is similar to years past. The surplus has gone for such great things as establishing an in-school tv station; security cameras for front entrance and an ice machine for the kitchen ...neither considered a necessity by the district; and playground equipment.
We also have several self-funding activities which aren't included above, mainly: Directory, Foreign Language, Holiday shop, yearbook, spirit clothing, Family Fun Night.
We have a core group of parents that not only give a great deal of time to the PTO, but foot the bill on lots of incidentals for which we are very fortunate. I think we do well with our budget getting the most for our money. We are always looking for best price or donation of goods or services.
We distribute financial reports at every PTO meeting, have most all i's dotted and t's crossed -can never be 100% in a volunteer organization - and still have a few unrelenting parents that don't appreciate the PTO, and challange and question everything to no end .... Gotta say having PTO liability insurance, really gives us peace of mind ....$400 which could be spent on the kids and school, but with the liticious socity we live it helps us sleep at night!
It is amazing when reading all the threads, I'm glad to know we aren't alone out there, but sorry everyone has to deal with unreasonable people. As a volunteer, I sometimes wonder why I do it, but I have to say the good does outweight the bad in this world! Keep strong PTO's!
Wow...80% free or reduced lunch students. That is well over the majority of your school. My school is 5% and half of them probably don't qualify (but that is another story).
You can google search for information on title 1 schools and you also may want to contact your state education board as well as see what your BOE has to say. In the meantime you can probably call your superintendent in the hopes of maybe getting some quick answers. Good Luck!
