Here's a portion of my letter to Shelly:

First:
--Why the budget shortfall? Is it a case of the school not having enough kids enrolled to make the budget? Is there anywhere else the budget can be trimmed? What measures has the school taken to ensure this will not happen again? What does the school's reserve cash look like?

To make this work, you must be not only comfortable with where the money will go, but also with assurances that it won't happen again. Remember, a Parent Teacher Organization's purpose is to support parents and teachers in their role, not to come to the rescue of an organization that can't take care of itself.

As PTO President, I was given a copy of the school's budget showing where the expenses were. That is usually information given to anyone who asks, so if your school's administration isn't showing the budget to you, then START ASKING QUESTIONS.

Next:
Look at the budget. If you're convinced that there is nothing to be left to trim from the budget, then look at line items that deal DIRECTLY with students and teachers. Is there $10,000 in the budget for teacher supplies? Does the school have budgeted a national conference expense for a teacher or two to attend? Are there other expenses equaling the amount they're requesting from your group?

Part of getting your parents to agree to the donation will likely hinge on their agreement that what they're doing is TANGIBLE and CONTROLLABLE. If they can't see the results, then they probably won't be as likely to get behind your efforts.

Let me give you an example. In past years, our PTC (Parent Teacher Club) gave $6500 in cash to the school to help defray expenses for a copy machine that was used by faculty and staff. At the same time, the school wouldn't let the PTC use the copy machine, and the copier gestapo (we lovingly called her that [img]smile.gif[/img] ) would literally throw things at people who moved into her copier corner in the teacher's lounge. Parents couldn't see a tangible result from their donation, and they were mortified at the fact that we had to spend an extra $400 out of the PTC budget for copies. In addition, there was no option to take back a portion of that money if the school didn't spend it all, and the parents had no say in helping to control those expenses.

This past year, we proposed using $6500 (out of a $9000 total cost) to help the school pay for a school administration system (PowerSchool by Apple Computers) that would accomplish several things:
maintain family accounts for lunch and other school expenses,
an online grading system that would allow teachers to work both at home and school to enter grades, and
could measure the school population in countless ways.
On top of that, parents could log in at any time and see what their kids' grades were, how much money they owed, and any school announcements. The program was hugely popular because it had a tangible result for parents (access to the school) and was controlled (it was a one-time expense).

OK. Long time to make a point, but you see what I'm saying. You have to pick out one or several TANGIBLE AND CONTROLLABLE expenses to present to your families when asking them to pickup the tab.

Good luck with your PTOs, and stand firm when it comes to the school council asking for money. That's not why PTOs exist.

[ 08-31-2004, 12:58 AM: Message edited by: Raf ]

I would also be interested in hearing how others handle this. We take a "poll" of teachers, parents, and trustees for recommendations for use of funds. Then parents vote on the items selected and majority wins. We also have a deficit this year though and I know the board is going to ask for funds to make up the difference.

Your complaint about parents not wanting their money to go to invisible programs and items is exactly the battle we experience every year.

I was the PTO president at a K3-8 Catholic School. The school was facing a $60K budget deficit, and the school thought the PTO should kick in the cash to balance the budget. Here's the problem with that thinking: giving cash to the main budget doesn't take care of the long term problem of why the school is suffering financially, and the school will become dependent on your cash without solving their budget problems.

I have it on good authority (Thanks Tim and Craig ) that PTO Today liked the way we handled things at our PTO. I can probably help more, but I would like to hear more about your circumstances. E-mail me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and I can try and help.

It makes my heart hurt to see a good school become so dependent on the parent group for cash. But schools are full of people who know how to teach children and not necessarily manage cash, people or public relations. Good luck to you!

Sorry, our actual budget that the church counts on us to raise is $40,000. We just went over. That is the number we use to determine how much additional tuition each student would pay if we did not do any fundraising.

Private - Catholic School K-8 270 students. We raised 67,000.00 and ALL of it went to the general budget to be used wherever. Our Pastor makes the budget for the school and church. The school is unable to totally support itself, so the church takes over.

I would LOVE to set a budget and tell the church we will give them $50,000 or whatever and we get to spend the rest, but so far have had no luck with that.

We only have one fundraiser now because parents could actually just pay the addition $100 - $200 that 67,000 represents, but we like the community that having events builds, so we do wrapping paper and the rest of the money comes from events like Friday Family Fun Nights; Breakfast with Santa; Childrens Christmas Store, used uniform sales, Halloween Carnival, Mystery Theatre etc. Events that are fun and bring everyone together without having to slep around the neighborhood selling stuff. It's more work, but our events are well attended and we enjoy the work.

I'll tell you why I direct this to private schools: We have a school board which conducts a fund drive which is called an "Annual Fund". Lots of colleges, etc. do this. THEN, our Parent's organization does fund raisers. Last year, the Annual Fund raised $150,000 and the Parents' Club raised around $70,000. So....the money raised from the Annual Fund goes straight to the school budget to be used as the school needs (salaries, insurance, etc.). Parents, as a rule, don't want the money from our Parents organization going to "invisible" stuff--they want to buy "touchable" items like computers, etc.

This is the problem: apparently the budget is underfunded and the Finance Committee wants to come to our meeting in September to ask for funds. :eek: I don't object, as I know they only have the school's best interest at heart(believe me, there's no profit or mismanagement involved anywhere). I'm anticipating some of the "gripers" to throw a fit.

I'm just curious how other private schools decide how their money is spent:
1) does only the principal come up with a list?
2) can a teacher just come to the PTO with a request without going through the principal?
3) can a parent come up with an idea, without running it by the principal?

Just curious for some feedback from all you out there.
many thanks!
Shelly
PTO President
Private, religious school
400 students
K3-8
in the south