PTO Today

Hello there ! I am the President of a local PTA unit and was wondering if anyone knows if a local PTA's budget and other important information can be legally Concealed from the parents ? We started out this year being very informative. We explained how the Dues were divided and how only 25 cents stays at the local level, "wanted" the budget published, etc. etc. Its not working out as we had planned.

You should check your bylaws, but in my state, the bylaws require that the budget be approved by a vote of the general membership, that the treasurer present a detailed financial report at every PTA meeting, and that the treasurer present the final year end audit results to the general membership. In addition, if you are large enough to be filing a Federal tax return, that tax return must be open for public inspection--which means it has to be open not only to your members, but to anyone who wants to see it.

So, it's unlikely that what you are proposing is "legal."

As a member, a person has rights to see the budget, see the bylaws, see any ducument pertaining to the rights of members (incorporation documents etc.) and minutes of any general meeetings (and executive minutes if voted on by majority of members!)
With the exception of expulsion of officers and other board members or negotiatiion of contracts (items for closed door board proceedings), there should be no info that shouldn't be available to the public- and I mean even non-members.
Your 990 is a public document. Some school districts demand more "transparency" from parent organizations than the IRS or the state in which they are chartered or incorporated do.
My question would be -"why do you want to keep them secret?"
FYI:Every PTA requires the budget be approved by the general membership. Every PTA requires annual audits. These are commonalities of every local unit PTA.

Basically it is illegal to withhold finances, budget information from membership. All transactions/business needs to be approved by the majority of the general membership.

WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO HIDE???

The only PTA left in our town always hides the finances. They are not at all forthcoming. And the best part of all is that when someone went to county PTA about this,all county had to say was "well, you know". Seems like PTA isn't as wonderful as Michigan mom makes them out to be!

AMomof3- Welcome to the boards!

I'm a little confused by your posting, but it sounds like you don't want to show the finances. Mum24 has it right. To be honest, as annoying as it is to have someone questioning your every step, it's just easier to be forthcoming and answer the questions. As soon as you look like you're hiding something, even if there isn't anything to hide, people will never trust you.

It should be basic to any well run parent group, PTO or PTA, that budgets are public record to the members!

Bertha, not sure what "well, you know" means but I do know that state and most local by-laws require open reporting. I cannot imagine the Michigan PTA not responding to their members requests.

It's not the Michigan PTA that I have a problem with.It's the way michigan mom states her facts, sorry but not every PTA is as wonderful or honest as sh'ed like us all to believe.

One of the County PTA's in Northern NJ has a huge problem. They are far from wonderful, they like to pick and choose who they will help and what issues and problems will be swept under the rug.

When County PTA can to our dissaffiliation meeting they said a lot of things about following the rules, whats allowed and whats not, etc.We have this other school in townand they are going through some problems. The county PTA was called and all of the sudden this County Rep is now back-peddling and changing her tune. She's willing to sweep a lot of stuff under the rug just to keep them PTA.

All the other schools in town jumped off the PTA boat and since this school is the last PTA in town and this so-called Rep is from our town, she feels it would be poor reflection on her if she loses this school too.

At what point is it ok for a PTA, or any group for that matter, to think they are justified in covering up and hiding things from the general membership? What makes it worse over by us is that the County Rep is allowing it to happen.

And to think, this is what we pay dues for? They really make you feel like your getting you monies worth! They're always there when you need them, NOT!

Any group organization can be run by individuals who are underhanded, corrupt, or just plain bad leaders. It does not matter whether you are a PTA or a PTO, or any other PT other. The PTA does offer support, workshops and training, if a PTA does not take advantage of it, they have no one to blame but themselves, and maybe they should not be in those postions to they should not be in those type of positions, begin with. By the way that michiganmom was right, we cannot speak for other states, but the Michigan State PTA has a wonderful support system.

Lyon- count yourself as one of the lucky ones. Here in NJ we must have all the corrupt or really stupid ones on our County level.

Yes, PTA does offer workshops and training sessions, at a cost. Is it worth the money, I went to the training sessions for 6 years in a row, each time leaving with the feeling as "that was a complete waste of my time". They didn't offer any inspiring information or insight. Informative? No, not really. I got more information from their website than I did at the training sessions. I kept going back thinking, this time I'm going learn something new. Never happened!

As far as support goes- never saw any type of support over here. Please don't give me that "is there, but you need to take advantage of it" garbage. Over here, there is no suppport what-so-ever. We decided we just weren't getting what we were paying for. Not to worry, NJ State PTA is well aware of our problems as well as the problems with the other PTA's in our area.

You see,One bad seed can really ruin it for all!