PTO - what does it mean?

[novillero]

My question concerns the money raised by the PTO. Maybe someone out there is as uneducated on this topic as I am. Probably Ted, Andy, Brian or anyone else in the know should field this question.

How many functions does the PTO raise for the schools? (however it can be broken down, by Park Ave, FLC, whatever...)

How much does these functions raise?

How is the money distributed? And is there any state laws about how the money be granted?

Anything else that you think the public should know about the PTO?

[admin]

mysite.verizon.net/flcpto/index.html

[richardkelsey]

I can't answer specific questions about the PTO in Freehold. I will say this, I helped draft the by-laws for my elementary school PTO. I have been involved with PTO's in multiple jurisdictions, both in setting-up, volunteering, researching, and attending events. In particular, when I bought my first home here, I not only researched the schools, but I researched the PTO's.

Why? PTO's play an invaluable role in raising money, raising school spirit, raising expectations, and contributing to both enrichment programs, and in some cases core classroom products. The vibrancy of a PTO will usually be reflected in the success of a school.

Parents who take an active role in the local PTO should be applauded for the service they provide -- when so many others do not participate at all.

Sadly -- great PTO's often are found in great and wealthy schools, and the reasons for that are many. Mostly they have to do with the number of parents focused and concerned about education, the money int he district to give, and the time available for those with more resources to volunteer. In essence, the rich to get richer -- but they work hard at it.

More ironically, schools that need that PTO push the most, tend to have natural barriers to entry such as economics, cultural, language, and time constraints. This leaves schools scrambling. That is why schools with strong PTO's actually broaden the gap between schools without strong PTO's, as those schools tend to be the same haves and have nots.

For districts that struggle -- parents in those PTO's ought to be even more greatly commended as the work and donations fall on fewer and fewer, and the "free-riders" are a much bigger portion of the system. In essence, this means that fewer people work harder, and those people's children actually see less of the benefit. Of course, in reality, the children of caring, smart, engaged children always do better on average, because of the parent involvement.

Your local PTO is essential to the school success, and if you have children in the public school you as a parent should be contributing to that PTO in some way. And, if you are truly unable to contribute your time, money, or otherwise, you ought to contribute your thanks to those who give so selflessly to keep all the kids afloat and to try to enrich the schools.

The wholesale dumping of cold cash into schools is not the answer to academic success. The answer is involved parents. Parents involved in their children's studies. Parents involved in the children's schools, and parents there to make boundaries, provide encouragement, supplement learning, and encourage academic and creative enterprise in children. PTO's are the front line of ordering that type of involvement.

Join your PTO today -- and help them help the kids.

[phyllisdefonzo]

Novillero,

I'm curious as to what prompted your question about PTO funds. But having been very active in Freehold Borough's PTOs for most of my parental years there, allow me to share some thoughts and caveats.

I agree with Rich that all should be involved, and it's only to the betterment of our schoolchildren. It always astounded me how few parents actually were. If nothing else, it's a great way to network with parents, see the parenting of your kids' friends (or lack thereof), and to discuss what's going on and get information.

That being said, there is some wiggle room with these PTOs, and it is up to the membership to hold them accountable.

Generally speaking, each school's PTO is a separate entity, with their own bylaws and own boards and activities. Each year they should submit a budget and planned activities to the principal of their school. Each month at their meetings a treasurer's report should be presented. For awhile there, each PTO had a representative at the Board of Ed meetings to present their updates, but I don't know if that has continued. There is also supposed to be an audit committee, to check the books of the PTO at least once a year - that wasn't done routinely in my day.

Key to their nonprofit status is the filing of the 501 (c) (3) paperwork with the government. I personally handled the filing of this paperwork and got it in order for the Intermediate School PTO, since it had never been done before. I had to submit the required accountings to the government. Everything was tightly in place when I left. I do not know if each and every PTO is current with this paperwork, since they have to continually update it with both the state and federal governments in order to retain their nonprofit status.

Once you get nonprofit status, you do not have to pay taxes on purchases - for example, when getting supplies from Staples. I saw PTO money being wasted on tax, however, when someone simply didn't bother to get the tax i.d. number to use for their purchase - but these little things do add up.

Now, recognizing the hard work these parents put into PTOs (myself included), I feel it necessary to address the continuing concern I always had with regards to the wiggle room.

In my early years at the FLC PTO (mid-nineties), there were some things I was rather uncomfortable with. The PTO board did what it wanted, and did not want to answer to anyone. When I questioned them about it, nothing changed. Not many other people were paying attention. When I brought my concerns to the then principal of FLC, she chopped my head off and didn't want to hear anything about it, and refused to do anything about it.

I realize the PTO is an independent arm of the school, but if something untoward is happening, where is the recourse? Especially if this group is using school grounds and facilities!

In later years, still at FLC, after much hard work and fundraising, one year the PTO decided to just blindly hand over a check to this same principal made out to the "Student Activity Fund" for $5,000.

?? Uh, I said Okay, now where does the money go? (This was the end of the year, activities/class trips had already passed.) The PTO could explain nothing more than student activity fund. I also believe there were funds budgeted, at least at that time, elsewhere in the school district for school buses for trips, etc., so maybe our big check wasn't entirely needed for this purpose at that time. I didn't know. I simply wanted to know.

At a school review meeting I asked the same question of the principal, about what the $5,000 would be used for. Again, she chopped my head off for asking, and then ranted and raved how they didn't have to provide us with a nickel and dime accounting, etc., etc. It was a disgraceful display. I repeated that I would like to have at least an idea of what it went to - a second grade trip? A fourth grade picnic? Whatever. These PTO parents are volunteers, and are presenting a nice sum to the school. I never got a satisfactory response - no less a thank you for having turned over such a large sum!

At the intermediate school, I was the treasurer. At the end of one year, the music teacher asked the PTO to pay for refreshments for a school concert. Okay. Then it happened again with another teacher for something else. Okay. Finally after the third time, I did speak up and said to the rest of the PTO board that these funds are supposed to be for the children and school outings or expenses for the *kids,* not refreshments at the school's social events. It stopped after that, but only because I spoke up.

There is a lot of wiggle room with these PTOs. There was nothing in their bylaws at that time, for example, to require a vote by the membership to approve expenses over a certain amount. So if the board wants to agree to something, no matter what the cost, so be it. No, I always felt after a certain dollar amount it should go to the membership for a vote. You should not be able to just blindly write large checks without answering to your membership.

I'm hoping things are a bit better these days, with the different principals. I'm just citing what could happen, and what did happen. And at no time should blanket checks just be blindly handed over. And 100% of the funds raised should go to the kids, kids, kids.

I'm sure there are other things that will come to mind, but caveat emptor when contributing. With many fundraising companies that the PTOs use, they offer perks or freebies for the volume of business transacted with them. You want to see that these are declined, and that the value of the perks are added back in to the return, where the money actually goes to the kids...so that there is not a free gift floating around somewhere that the kids will never see.

I hope this helps to shed some light on your question. If you have any specific concerns, feel free, I'll try my best to address it from experience.

Phyllis

[novillero]

Phyllis,

thanks for the response. I forget the exact reason for my question, but it was obviously bolstered by my own ignorance. (there was no ulterior motive in my question)

I assume I asked based on one of Andrew's responses elsewhere and probably from the recent luau, and it was also probably one of those nagging questions I've had for years.

I would hope that the Bd of Ed would be accountable, not only to the PTO itself, but to the parents and the community regarding how that money is spent.

I hope these answers haven't closed the doors to further answers to the original questions.

[candy]

Novillero - The PTO isn't part of the Board of Education although it is created for the benefit of the students that attend the particular school. The Board of Education can't control what the fund that are raised are spent on. Phyllis is correct in that a PTO needs to be registered as a charitible organization if it is to not pay income taxes, sales tax, etc and must file an annual tax return. According to state statutes, the principal of a school has control of the student activity fund for that building but funds should be spent on something that benefits the entire student body.