Since your school district has allowed you to form SEPTO then you should go back to the superintendents office and ask what fundraisers the PTO are doing and how many a year. If the district approves your fundraising then the PTO has to work with you. You should remind the PTO that they are their for the kids and they should work with SEPTO for the betterment of ALL the students. Let's face it. special ed parents and children need different things than a regular PTO would even fundriase for. For example, if a school needed a sensory room then that would be great for the SEPTO to raise funds and it would be GREAT if the regular PTO helped you out. Prehaps you can go to the PTO and ask to have a percentage of their fundriasing sells to go dirctly to ours SEPTO. You would need to put that into your bylaws and they would too that they would be giving you money from their fundraisers. The bottom line is they shouldn't view you as a threat, in fact, they should welcome you because isn't this ALL FOR THE CHILDREN????

Hi!! Find out when each school holds their fund raisers & hold yours in between. Bake sales by donations can be held at your local K-mart & grocery stores. Maybe fund raise in the summer since you are community-based. Good Luck!!!

We are not in competition with regard to issues. We do, in fact, have our own by-laws. The problem is that all the PTOs fundraise in their respective schools. Since the SEPTO is community-based, not school based, we are trying to figure out how to fundraise for our programs without being in competition with the other PTOs. They feel very threatened by us and feel that we will cut into their fundraising.

First question is if the SEPTO was given a mission statement from the district.
In my district we have a "Local Advisory Committee" on Special Ed. (LAC) The LAC meets to discuss issues which pertain to special eductation.
The local PTA council has welcomed input from the LAC; because the PTA Council focus is on issues, not fundraising.
Many states have local SEPTA units within PTA.

I would look at by-laws for your SEPTO, and for the PTO Council. If there are none, I would get some written.
If your mission, and goals are not in conflict with the PTOs then there should be no competition.

Our school district has just formed a special education PTO (SEPTO). This is a district-wide PTO that focuses on the needs and issues encountered by our special education students and parents/guardians. We are having a hard time being accepted by the PTO Council, which is comprised of representatives from each PTO for each school (we have a separate school for grades pre-K & K, 1&2, 3&4, 5&6, middle school & high school). The Council members see us as competition for fundraising. They don't want us fundraising in their schools and they don't want to give us a contribution from their coffers. We have tried to explain that we are not in competition, but rather, we are a subset of each school-based PTO, and our "constituents" are students in each of their schools. How do other SEPTO's deal with this dilemma?