I would like some input. Our principal decided she would like to merge our site council, which deals with improvements to our school, etc. and the PTO which deals with things that would benefit the students. The site council helps decide what items the principal uses her funds for. The PTO has their own funds. Has anyone heard of any school doing this? I have been on PTO boards for 9 years and have never heard of any school doing this. I really see problems with this situation. Like to hear some opinons.

Ronda

For anyone not familiar with these groups, here's a (slightly dated) overview by state. http://www.ecs.org/clearinghouse/61/13/6113.htm

What state are you in and are you currently a 501(c)(3)?

In Texas, our groups are called CAACs (Campus Academic Advisory Committee). Like many states, this group is mandated by state law and has very specific responsibilities. But it's much more of a strategic and advisory role that the the typical parent group which is a more operational group typically focusing on the year in progress.

I'd have a hard time seeing the two merged. It's difficult to imagine how it would work, but maybe your state operates differently.

I think your first step might be researching exactly what your state laws define the site council to be and what it can/can't do. Surely your prinicipal knows if there are any limitations, but I'd check it out for myself. You may find a very simple show stopper. For instance, in our state the group must be comprised of a specific mix of community members, teachers, and parents. I'd think those percentages would be hard to replicate if it were a combined Site Council/PTO because your percentage of parents would be too high. Then again, maybe you wouldn't have "members" like you do for a PTO.

But in essence, if he does this, he's abolishing the PTO as an independent group and reforming it as a school committee. So any funds raised would indeed be the school's. To be successful, I'd think the PTO would still have to meet separately, have subcommittees, etc. I don't see how you could combine the agendas of two such different groups. So I'm not clear what he hopes to accomplish.

Thanks for the information, it will be very beneifical. I went to the website and found out that our state is one of the 17 that mandates site councils. So I would also have to say that you cannot merge the Site Council and PTO.

Thanks again

I agree a Fed or State mandated oversite/management group cant be merged with a private nonprofit, I have served on School Site Councils, School Based Management groups that have had a reserved spot for the PTA/PTO/Parent Booster representative plus 2-5 parents (usually they are also PTA/PTO parents) depending on mandated percentage of parents (ie 51%) to school employees (49%)

I'd kindly inform the principal to gather more info, bet informed legal advice, district advice before he/she inadvertently does something illegal (although if they dont know they difference between SSC, SBM, CAAC's and a private nonprofit maybe I'd give 'em enough rope to hang themselves and be quiet )

I don't want to be a downer, but it's probably too simplistic to say he "can't" merge then. What I meant above was that it was difficult for me to imagine how he'd have this one group that meets monthly (or whatever) to fulfill both purposes.

However an advisory group might have subcommittees devoted to specific tasks. In his mind, "merging" might essentially being spinning the PTO off as a school committee and its issues being a line item on the Site Council's agenda just like school safety or academic performance.

I wouldn't call that "merging", but he might.

A strategy might be comparing the two as a question (after you've done your homework):

In our state a, site council has this purpose, meets X times a year, and has to be comprised of __ parents, __ community members, __ teachers. And the primary actitivities are ____. On the other hand, a PTO is primarily a parent group devoted to school programs, volunteerism, ... Ours has always operated independently.

How could you envision combining these two very different efforts?