This is a situation at our school too and one where a bylaw change is currently being considered. We changed the wording to something like...all parents and faculty are eligible to become members, those eligible to become members can pay their dues and be given voting rights and the ability to hold office, those who choose not to pay the dues are given an honorary membership which allows them to participate, but not vote or hold office. I realize our situation is different, our students either have their tuition paid by our parent companies or by scholarships (in Venezuela even public schools cost money) so our general membership felt like dues were no big deal. I brought forth the change in our bylaws so that it really wouldn't be a big deal! I didn't want anyone not to join because of the money, and several of our teachers without children wouldn't join in the past, but they still got all the benefits! I have also heard from administrators, teachers and parents alike that sometimes the "not joining" is from pure disinterest. Understanding that our PTO has its hand in every single activity in this school the "disinterest" is hard to accept. But you will always have those kind of people anywhere in the world where you have a PTO/PTA/HSA/etc.
Boy was this topic timely for me. After having had our membership drive, awarded the pizza party etc., the Principal feels we need to make ALL families/teachers at the school "members". Our quandry is how to do this without alienating the ones who've already paid their dues---and without having to refund too many.
The Principal feels that we can recognize those who've paid as benefactors or contributors or something along that line. We can understand where she's coming from since we DO have a large number of Title 1 families who may be hard pressed to come up with the $5 BUT in our case, the ones who are complaining the most are non-member(at this point) teachers. Our policy has been to grant teacher wishes based on membership--members first, others next. Most have wish lists well over the $5 and we feel that it's not asking too much.
Any advice to make the transition less sticky would be appreciated.
We are not a PTA, but we did eliminate our PTO dues this year. In the past, a family paid $10 to join the PTO. For your dues, you got voting privileges, the school directory, and a note to school pad. This year, dues are $0 (our bylaws allow the Exec Board to set dues, so we didn't even need to take this to the members), thus making every staff and parent an automatic "member".
To make up for the dues $ shortfall, and because people want a school directory, we are selling a Family Back To School kit. The cost is a bit more ($12), but we include a few more communication tools. The response has been overwhelmingly positive. We didn't do this to get more people at meetings, or even to increase volunteerism (directly). It was more to recognize that ALL our parents and staff are important, not just the ones who cough up the dues money. Thanks for the idea, Tim.
If I'm not mistaken, the dues section of a PTA's bylaws -- especially the state and antional portions -- aren't really changeable. I think you'd have trouble getting your bylaws approved by your state PTA if your bylaws were written in this new way.
So, basically, I think you'd have to be a PTO to have that kind of open membership policy.
How about some ideas about how I can convince my PTA to stop requiring dues and start asking parents to become "members" by their presence? We could find the $$ to pay state and local dues for these parents, but we need to get them involved without their first thought being that they'll pay $5/person to get involved in their child's education. I know i'll get a bunch of flak for suggesting this (Our PTA is kind of clique-ish, and I'm part of the "outsiders", hence my nickname- "PTA Renegade", so I'm seeking some ideas from the group. THANKS!
