Who signs has been a topic of discussion several times, so you may want to go back and view old postings. I think all of us agree that the PTO should control the checkbook and allocation of funds (except in schools where it's part of the district policy that the school essentially serve as treasurer and administer - not control - the account).

And I think it's also a "best practice" that the checks should have two signatures.

Where some people take different positions is whether the Principal should be one of those signatures. We have the President, Treasurer, and Principal all as authorized signers. For us, it works out great. The Principal is a member of our Board and is usually the easiest "second signture" to get. Our treasurer physically controls the checkbook and the PTO decides on all expenditures. If the Principal wants something, he brings it to us as a request at a meeting.

We have a Treasurer and the President is also able to sign checks. We present a line item budget at the beginning of the year that covers most items we typically spend funds on. Anything else gets put to a vote by the membership. We have had a few cases where it was an "emergency" and I contacted as many board members as I could and got their approval. These items were all under $100. Depending on how much the school controls your PTO operations can effect how you operate. For us, we have elected officers who research, discuss and recommend to the general membership on what and how to spend money, but the membership has the final say on if the check gets written.

This is not necessarily the right way - certainly not the only way - but it's our way. (And written out in our bylaws to avoid confusion.) All checks require two signatures - the treasurer and president. We have the other board members on file with the bank in the event that one of these two are not available for some reason. The executive board can make spending decisions up to $499.99. Any expenditure over $500.00 must be voted on by the general membership. Our members do not pay dues - and member is defined as "parents and guardians of students attending XXX, as well as teachers, school administrators and comunity members who have an interest in the well-being of the school and its students.

I personally don't like the idea of administration having signatory powers on the $$$, but that's just me.

Boy - when we wrote these things I thought we were being more A-type than necessary but reading the discussions makes me so glad I have them to fall back on.

Hope it all works out for you!!!!! [img]smile.gif[/img]

I am placing this question in need of input. who should have the say so in a PTO? who should control the check book and the way the money is spent? It is important to have the school administrator involved but should the principal be the one to sign checks? I want to know if this is a common practice and/ how involved does the individual school administrator get?
please give me some feed back. :confused: :confused: