There is a situation at our school regarding new schools opening and rezoning of students. When a new school opens and about 1/2 the student body leaves a school to attend the new school is the pto obligated to split ending funds with the new school? What if the pto officers are all parents who are going to the new school and they make the decision of how much will be given to the new school? What if last year it was already decided to give the new school money (which was done) and this year since they have not left yet they want still more money (split ending funds)? I think that they feel since they were here to help raise the money that they are intitled to it. I feel that money is raised for one particular school and any money that might be "gifted" to the new school should be done by next year's board after the budget is completed.
What do you think??

Really sounds like you may have to wait for next year. If it was not in your budget for this fiscal year (check you bylaws as to the fiscal year) and if there are no more meetings scheduled before next year how else could you get a vote from your assembly? We do not raise funds unless it is earmarked for something specific. If that is also your case then they should have realized where the money was intended to go before they supported the fundraiser. Let us know how it turns out. Best Wishes

We had a similar situation in our school district this year. Normlly when a new school is opened, all the PTO's in the district (There are 7 PTO's currently) will vote to send about 500.00 each to start the new school's budget.

With redistricting, about 3/4's one school's population is being sent to the new school. The majority of PTO officers wanted to take the entire budget with them. They sent a survey to the entire school, and eventually voted to send 1/2 of the money to the new school.

I personally believe the money should stay with the old school.

I agree with you Carrie. I do not see how anyone could assume otherwise. They must have known about this change for awhile if they allocated money to them last year. What did they do with it?

After reading your words, you are all scaring me. Our district will be in the process of adding additional schools. (Yes, the suburbs are finally consuming the farm land.) When this comes, what do we do? Common sense would lead me to believe that if your child is going to the new school then your fundraising money should go to the new school. Am I placing too much common sense to this? I know this would cause additional paperwork, but it appears this would be the most politically correct way to handle this. (Boy, do I hate political garbage!)

Taylor, as in most cases you know in advance what will be happening-which is a good thing! So now would be the time for the PTA and PTO's to make some decisions on how they will handle the new schools situation. You may even have time to organize a PTO for the new schools before the first day of classes. It would be they who make the plans for that first year and know how much start up money they will need and figure out how to raise that. This is not to say that the existing PTO's will not help. Of course they can. Just try to establish these things now so you are not in the same position as childrenfirst. Some thoughts on that would be: an additional fundraiser; the present schools giving up a fundraiser; or a monetary gift (with the amount established) at the end of the year. No matter how you go about it the present PTO can let everyone know where their fundraising dollars are going on the get go. I know our local PTA's carry over only enough money to get through business until their first fundraiser. Depending on the size of the school it is usually about $1,000.00. (enrollment beign between 250 and 450. Best Wishes!