Let me just add, if I walked into such a situation (i.e., I chose to put my children in that school), I personally would want the PTO to be an arm of the school rather than a separate entity. Yes, you can still do "extras" like teacher appreciation or whatever. But when a group is doing fundraising to "keep the lights on", the primary organization has to be able to control those funds. To me, it's no different thant the fundraising committee of a church or the "friends of the library" group.
You are most likely talking about big money and paying for complicated things (repairs, roofs, saleries, equipment). In my opinion, it wouldn't make sense for the PTO to be a separate legal/financial entity and possibly have liability, management, and tax issues related to those. Just save yourself the headache.
Sure, I'd like a reasonable amount of input into how funds are raised and used if I'm going to put in effort. And I like the idea of perhaps agreeing up front that X amount or percent goes to these core items, and then the remainder can be spent as the parents collectively wish (i.e., the PTO). To me, it's all about finding a solution to meet the needs of the school and the kids AND communicating the roles clearly.
My children also attend a small private school in a middle class community. Our fundraising is used in a very similar manner. In fact, your wording of the situation sounds very familiar. We are hoping to establish a parent organization next year and the fundraising question is huge. The biggest question is who controls the funds, the parent association or the board of trustees? Are fundraising dollars used for budgeted or non-budgeted items? Should fundraising dollars have a "specific purpose" attached to them or go into the general operating fund? I have been doing a lot of research on these questions. What I can tell you is that what your school is doing is not unusual. Most non-profits, whether a school or not, use fundraising dollars for operating costs. One way to give your PTO more input into how the fundraising money is spent is to put aside a minimum percentage each year. The membership then votes on what project/item that money will be spent on.
THANKS FOR EVERYONE'S INPUT. IT SEEMS TO ME THAT HOW OUR PTO WORKS IS NOT AS OFF BASE AS WHAT SOME MIGHT BELIEVE. THE LATER POSTS SEEM TO UNDERSTAND IT. WE HAVE TO MAKE A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF MONEY TO FULFILL THE SCHOOL BUDGET, IN ORDER TO KEEP TUITION DOWN - IF WE CHOSE TO NOT MAKE THAT BUDGET, AND USE ALL FUNDS STRICTLY FOR WHAT PTO WANTS TO USE IT FOR, THEN THE SHORTFALL OF THE BUDGET WILL HAVE TO COME FROM SOMEWHERE, MORE THAN LIKELY IT WOULD HAVE TO BE SPLIT UP BETWEEN THE NUMBER OF STUDENTS FOR NEXT YEAR. AN INCREASE IN TUITION IS NOT WHAT WE NEED! THANKS FOR EVERYONE'S INPUT. IT HAS HELPED ME TREMENDOUSLY.
My limited experience is with friends who have children in private schools and others with whom I've corresponded. I'm sure there are lots of models, but what you describe is typical for at least some of them.
In many private schools (especially church related or small ones) it seems that the overall goal is to keep tuition down to a certain level and possible to also provide X amount of scholarship slots. In some ways, the school itself is a type of charity - perhaps even a 501(c) organization.
Thus the difference between incoming tuition fees and true expenses must be made up with fundraising. And this fundraising is often handled by parents of the students. So it really is a different situation than many of us face in most PTOs of public schools. If this is the model - and everyone has agreed to it, then the PTO is an extension of the school, not a completely separate entity. And there's nothing wrong with that.
If the majority members want this situation to change, then you'll have to consider the options: tuition rises, the school finds other sources of income, the school reduces expenses (and possibly services), or the school creates yet another parent group for its own fundraising. The last option, as you'd guess, would likely involve the exact same people in the PTO, so you are sort of back where you started.
As essential as we think PTO's are, for most of us the school would continue to operate without us. We provide "extras". Your situation is different, the school's revenue model depends on the additional fundraising.
It is very important that both sides understand and agree what the model is. The problem I've seen is that a situation rocks along for years with one way of operating, and then suddenly a new crop of officers decides it's "not right".
I think the key here is good communication and keeping your mind open to the unique needs of your school. Whatever you do, look for the "win-win" solution.
How much is this website paying you to get everyone all riled up?
Our parents are under no such assumption. We're very up front with our parents in the very beginning. Let's face it, if we charge what it really takes to run the school, no one would attend. The costs would be sky high. We tell them that to keep tuition costs low, we need to fundraise to help with the operating expenses of the school. We reiterate this each and every year. Anything over and above that is for the kids. You may not agree, but that is how the private schools stay afloat in our area. We are a very small, middle class school.
In other words you are helping to float a private business who may or may not be a non profit organization with donations.
Let me put this another way. You are being asked (or is it a demand, you seem to have no choice) by a private business because they are not making enough of a profit, to provide money to help their bottom line.
Ok wait I can get this one - Your PTO was formed with the intent to keep the private business in a positive financial position by asking mostly people who are already paying for the services provided by the business for extra cash that they assume was being asked for to do other things for their children that the private business was not contracted to do.
I had a granny once who kept telling me if it smelled like a fish, swam like a fish, tasted like a fish, and laid eggs like a fish - then it was probably a duck. I never really understood that until now [img]smile.gif[/img]
