Hi,
I am the secretary of PTO for a catholic K-8 school. I would love to talk with other Catholic school PTO members. Thanks!

Hi Suzanne-

If you have particular concerns or areas of interest, perhaps you could post a specific question and get feedback. There are lots of folks on the site (from both catholic and other schools!) who are full of good ideas.

Tim

Hi Suzanne:

I have 3 children in a small Catholic school in RI. We have a student population of approx. 200 students, Pre-k thru 8. What sort of fundraising activities are you involved in, and what part of the country are you from?

Gail

Hi Suzanne, me again!

Is your school required to raise a certain amount of money to offset the parish subsidy? Our amount to be raised is $14,000; I have a feeling it is less than other schools.

Gail

Suzanne & Gail- I am a PTO rep at at Catholic elementary school of approx 400 students K-8. Our PTO is required to raise $ to fund our school guidance counselor's salary ($15K). There has been discussion as to whether this is something we should be required to do. It does take a lot away from our being able to offer enrichment type programs such as visting authors or improve the library. Are your PTOs required by the principal or parish priest to fund a school staff member salary? Are we subject to function under the direction of the principal because we are a Catholic school? Some of us feel that our only purpose is to work for the principal's agenda and not the programs we feel are important for our kids.

We too need to raise money but this is coming from our Pastor not Principal, fortunately, our principal is the best. Wants whats best for the school and sacrifices a lot to see that the school flourishes. It is like it is the school vs. the church which seems so unfair. Right now we are being asked to subsidize like 100,000 to help the school operating budget, we are lucky if we can earn 40,000. Our biggest fundraiser just netted us 25,000. I guess time will tell.