PTO Today

Can the PTA membership fee be _mandatory_ for all the families of a school?
How does it work with PTO?

I have zero PTA experience so I can't comment on how they handle membership dues.

PTOs are all different. It's up to each parent group to decide for themselves.

I've been in three PTOs. Two of them had no membership fees. All parents/guardians of enrolled students were automatically members. One PTO charged dues. Any parent could volunteer but only paid members could vote and run for office.

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not at a public school, fees are never mandatory, to pta or o.

i should have added, no pay, no vote. BUT yu can still pariticipate without paying dues.

Membership Dues (ie $5) mandatory to join - as Beignet said above (ie $5 to get a vote (as a member) but NO Public school can make it mandatory to Join PTA (a Private Non Profit) -- although I know a school and PTA that seem to be trying IMO

Some do have restrictions on nonmembers (ie No pay $5) - no vote and cant hold an executive board position

Most allow nonmembers to volunteer, hold chair positions, etc

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What about in private school?

Thank you all for the info.
I know a school and PTA that did it...

I'm just curious as to how you would police who pays and who doesn't. I personally would like to do away with membership fees and just ask for a small donation at the beginning of the school year to jump start the fundraising for the year. But thats just my opinion.

oh well, what 'da rules' are ., and what the practice is, are two different thjngs entirely. just like in life in general.

techinically, a public school cant ask a parent to PAY in order to volunteer (they just cant vote, maybe) but as there is no PTO/A police, what each org REALLY does, might very well varie from school to school.

Was going to try and quote several of the messages above and reply to details of each, but got too complicated...

My take: Important to make a distinction between "volunteering at the school" and "volunteering/joining the PTA." (And all of this presumes a public school setting, as private/Catholics have some different factors in this discussion).

You must pay dues to belong to a PTA. It's a mandated part of the bylaws of every PTA. From there, PTAs can vary. Some require that you must be a member (pay dues) to hold any elected office or chair position. That's fairly common. Some require that you be a member (pay dues) in order to volunteer for any PTA-specific program/effort. Other swill take on any volunteers, but only allow members to vote.

PTOs do not have to charge a membership fee at all. Some choose to. Some choose not to. Those that do charge a membership fee probably act very much like PTAs (maybe have to be a paid member to hold office, vote, etc.).

But the point is alos true that -- in a public school setting -- there should be other ways to volunteer besides joining the PTA. The PTA, as a separate entity -- can demand payment to belong. But the public school should not be able to do that for general volunteering. That said, I have heard of principals who basically outsource all volunteer efforts through the parent group, and therefore -- if the parent group at that school is a PTA -- it's possible that paid membership could be required to volunteer.

That confusing enough for ya? (sorry -- lot of variables)

Tim