We are an independant pto org. The principal is demanding to see all of our financial records and receipts, board mtg min. and agendas and memberships? Are we legally bound to give them to her? We can't find info on this subject matter? Can anyone help?

As I am PTA, we had this problem. I took it to county council; after we turned over our records. We as the board had nothing to hide.
I was told NO, NO, NO.
That the principal/school has no rights to the PTA finacial records. (audits)

On the other hand......the PTO is able to conduct business on school grounds to school parents for the benefit of those students at the pleasure of the school's principal.

Additionally, there is no valid reason why a PTO's activities should not be as transparent to both school administrators and to school parents as possible.

I'm with Jewel on transparency ... and the IRS has regulations about how forms you file for them must be open for public inspection if you're a 501(c)(3).

Agendas should be public. Board minutes, maybe not, but I wouldn't recommend putting anything in those minutes that you don't want someone to read; some discussions don't need to be recorded. Membership ... if everyone in your school is a member (our by-laws say this), then just give the principal a directory!

Now our principal is making it extremelty difficult to have any kind of fundraisers, including spirit nights! We're here to help, she's only hurting our children and the teachers. This is getting way out of hand!

rebeccak - could you provide just a few details so our advice could be more specific? Just a few questions:

Is this a new principal?

If no, have there been major changes that might be driving her behavior?

Previously, what kind of relationship has your PTO had with the administration and school board?

The reason I ask is because it's impossible for me to believe that the principal doesn't already have all of the documents being requested. I've never worked with a group that didn't have the principal as an advisor or an important member of the process. Regardless of the working relationship, the principal should, in my opinion, get copies of the agendas, meeting minutes, budgets and any auditing information. They should be well aware of any group's activities that have an impact on their school.

I guess, overall, I'm curious about what's driving this tension to begin with.