Question: Legal rights of County Board of Ed control PTO

I am in a tight spot and not sure what options I have. I am the treasurer of our PTO. I am also the school secretary. The CFO of our local Board of Education has sent us a Booster/Club Agreement. If we sign it, it will give the board control of our funds, and control of any fundraisers or activity the PTO conducts. I presented the agreement to the PTO offices and it was unanimously voted against. We did not sign. Now the CFO is asking for all of our financial records (which I gave him) and stating that he has the signed agreement giving him the right to get the records. He does not have that agreement since we didn't sign it. But I am feeling really pressured into signing even though the PTO voted against it. Do we have legal rights to say "no, we're not giving you control of PTO assets'? We are a new PTO and do not have our 501(3)C non-profit status yet.

Answers:

Advice from PTO Today

Rose C writes:
You are in a tough spot. The school doesn't have the right to simply demand you sign these documents or hand over all paperwork. Instead, your group should be able to interact with the school and negotiate a solution. In terms of signing away any control over fundraisers and activities, this could be one to dig in your heels and assert yourself as an independent body. No, you don't have 501c(3) status, which would give you a little more clout, but you are still an independent parent group. Your group could point out to the school, for example, that by taking away all your independence, they could be doing themselves a disservice. It's pretty common that when a group loses its autonomy, parent involvement drops off significantly. People want to feel like they get things accomplished; if there's too much red tape, they'll stop volunteering. And needless to say, less involvement typically leads to reduced fundraising results. I feel for you in your particular situation. It's great that you're serving as PTO treasurer, but the I'm sure your two positions are putting you in a difficult spot. If this is a situation where you need to step back and let others do the negotiating, that certainly would be understandable.