Originally posted by ademom74:
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Teachers at our school are constantly asking the PTO to re-landscape and beautify the exterior of school. Yes that would be nice but who pays for the upkeep... the replacing of dead plants, mulch, weeding, trimming...? You can see how that original cost can spiral over time and I ask the question...Is that what we are here for??

We decided this past spring to take on this project. For us, we are proud of our school & did not think the state of the front of the school showed it. There is not money in our school budget to hire grounds keepers or even to pay our janitors to do it. We feel like it is something small that we can do to show that we aren't just fishing for handouts. Although we do soo much more, I think little things like this are what we are here for.

CC- gifts to school (from ANYONE, not just parent group), should be under finance section of your school board policy manual, ask the principal where the manual is. you have every right to see it and make copies if you want.

it clearly will indicate the status of ALL gifts to school from all sources and all types, cash or goods.
typically gifts become property of district at the time they are received. a gift is a gift. period. what happens after that, is the receivers problem. unless youve gifted them a maintenance contract too, i cant see that the repairs are your responsibilty as gift giver. sounds absurd to me, but check the policy manual. its a treasure trove of infomraiton about how the school and district finances are handled.

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The gift becomes the schools responsibility as soon as it's received and the invoice is paid by the PTO. If it's something that needs painting or regular upkeep, then it's the schools job to handle. Teachers at our school are constantly asking the PTO to re-landscape and beautify the exterior of school. Yes that would be nice but who pays for the upkeep... the replacing of dead plants, mulch, weeding, trimming...? You can see how that original cost can spiral over time and I ask the question...Is that what we are here for??

Our PTO has given countles computers and printers to our school and have NEVER been asked to also cover any routine maintanance or cartridges for them (and believe me, they have asked us for some pretty petty items in the past). As you say in your post, it's easier for the teachers/staff to ask the PTO for the money...especially if you have a good year and are flush with funds. I would stick to your guns, tell them sorry but that ship has sailed and they are on their own for upkeep of previously gifted items.

Something else to consider is to amend your by-laws to include a clause regarding school gifts. This can be easily done and voted on at your next meeting. That should take care of any other issues like this further down the road.

Hope this helps.

I'm curious to hear how other groups manage gifts that have been given to the school.

For example, my last group wanted to give a laminator to the school. The school was grateful but said they'd have to decline the gift because the school budget cannot afford to buy the film every year. The PTO agreed that the gift would include an annual $1500 allocation for film. That arrangement has worked well for many years now.

Recently, the school approached the PTO with a request to buy about 20 printers. We agreed only after insuring that the purchase was just the printers and not a long term commitment to continue purchasing ink cartridges, paper, etc.

Now I'm told that a piece of equipment bought many years ago is in need of repair. Since the equipment was originally donated by the PTO, the school is asking the PTO to pay for the repairs. The purchase pre-dates any current PTO officers and even the principal and asst principal so nobody knows for sure, without slogging through ancient minutes, what the original agreement was. I believe the school has enough money for the repairs but it's become an all too easy habit to ask the PTO for money. The PTO does have a long term playground account that has more than enough money to pay for the repair. But the original intent for that account was to buy new equipment as sufficient funds were saved.

I know, I've taken the long way to my question but here it is:

At what point does a gift to the school become the school's property and responsibility and no longer a financial obligation for the PTO?