Ditto for our group. Look at your bylaws and see if there is anything in there about it. If not, then consider adding something that states how the money is to be used. She should bring any requests before the board to be considered. If she is needing more money, tell her about KMart School Spirit. They put the money in the general fund.

Ours runs similarly to those described above. The Principal does come to us with requests from time to time. He has control over an "Activity Fund" within the school budget that can be used pretty much at his discretion - extra supplies, teacher training, field trips, etc.

He will sometimes request the PTO underwrite a field trip or a speaker, and ask for funds to cover the request to be put in the Activity Fund. So, in those cases, "yes", we do give the school money. But we are agreeing to sponsor specific activity and basically reimbursing the school. We don't see it as just handing them money. We would not be receptive to a request like you've described.

Our school runs exactly the way PTO Treasurer explained. Requests are brought to the PTO to be reviewed. We don't turn over any funds to the principal unless a specific item has been voted on. You owe it to your members to be able to detail each expenditure. Giving a lump sum of cash to the principal to do as they pleased would seem careless.

Our budget does not "give" the school any money. We have lots of different expense budgets that benefit the school, but the PTO stays in control of the PTO's money. The principal/staff can request allocations from the PTO's different budgets (ex: assemblies, educational items, classroom supplies, etc.) and we vote on them. We may approve them virtually 100%, but WE still have the final say.

See if your bylaws address this issue. If your PTO functions as most parent-teacher support organizations, your PTO is a separate organization from the school and your members make the spending decisions. Now if you all want to vote to make a charitable donation to the school, that's your choice....but I wouldn't think the principal has the right to "demand" anything.

Hi, I'm new to PTO this year and wondering how much of the PTO funds is normally given to the schools general fund. Our school is going to have a fundraiser that made us 40000.00 profit in the past and our principal has asked for 75% of our profits for her general fund. I feel like she is wanting control of our funds. Is this normal to just hand over that much money to the general fund? Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.