PTO Today

Here is our scenario...........We have not had an official PTA board in a little over a year. A group of parents who will have students at the Jr. High next year found out there were funds basically left abandoned by previous officers. We went through all the PTA processes to re-instate our PTA this last month so that we can access the $$ which ended up being smaller than what we originally thought, but money none the less.

Several of us on the board would really like to convert to PTO and the principal is 100% for converting to PTO.

Which brings me to my question.........................

Since we have a small dab of money a few of us officers were discussing the steps to dissolve, plus deal with issues left behind from former officers (such as no tax return filed etc.)

We contemplated donating ALL funds to the principal to spend at his disgression, leaving us with zero balance. Instead of going through all the "official hoops" of disbanding (especially considering it so late in the school year) we just let the PTA die out.

If no more dues are sent in within a year we become inactive anyway....right?...there will be nothing left to seize. Do the current officers installed this last month need to resign??

The current officers would really like to get the groundwork laid for beginning the PTO...................

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks........kidd5

Hi kidd --

What you described is certainly a possibility. It's the little-discussed back door to getting out of PTA. PTA often tries to make it seem so complicated, but if there are no funds and no members and no activity... then you're basically out. PTA will call you inactive when they don't receive they're dues... and that's basically that.

Do you have to resign? No. You don't have to. That would be up to you.

There is no prohibition whatsoever from the existing PTA officers working on starting up the PTO while the PTA is still alive. This is not Burger King and McDonalds (two competitors) -- it's two nonprofits. Technically, it would be like the officers of the soccer club also starting up a cancer research group/nonprofit. Perfectly fine.

Tim

Wow, Tim. I don't think I'd agree to quite that exact simplification although I definitely support your overall point. Kidd5 can certainly proceed along the route suggested, just let the PTA die out and start the PTO.

Yes, legally they are completely separate entities. And there are even rare situations where an active PTO and PTA can co-exist. But let's be real - in most situations they are competitive solutions for a single campus. It's not McDonalds and Burger King because those are both franchises of large formal organizations. To me, it's McDonalds and the local mom-and-pop burger place. Different entities, different business structure, but very similar menu. After all both organizations do have the same general goals.

The only reason I quibble with the analogy presented is that the organizers need to be aware of potential perceptions and pitfalls. I believe the majority of school families don't understand the difference of PTA or PTO. They just think "parent group". There may be no opposition, no one may even notice. On the other hand a staunch PTA supporter may come out of the woodwork. Or - more likely - there may just be some confusion. "PTO/PTA/parent group - why are we starting a new one. We already have one?"

Again, I agree with the plan, just not relaying these are two totally unrelated, non-competitive scenarios.

Thanks for all of both of your input.

I agree JHB that most parents will not fully understand the difference. However, we plan on educating parents about those differences.

Our main concern is that several parents wanted to start a PTO.......but parents with older children knew about the small amount of funds left by a previous PTA that basically went by the wayside a year or so ago. That is the main reason we went through the motions to get it active again...........obtain the funds so that we could
A - use those funds to start a PTO
or
B - just donate it to the principal and start the PTO from scratch....which is the way we are leaning because it just seems to be the most simple solution. Plus we figure once we donate the money to the principal there are no assets for the PTA to threaten to seize etc.

Thanks for your advice!

Hi JHB -

I'm not sure you were getting what i was trying to say. A lot of folks have the mistaken impression that a PTA officer can have nothing to do with a PTO or setting up a PTO, as if there's some kind of legal stricture against that. There's so much made of "PTO v PTA" that almost has the image of a McDonald's employee giving trade secrets to a Burger Kind employee.

That's not the case. In all legal senses, they are just two nonprofits. Folks can be involved with as many nonprofits as they want.

But I agree with you that having both at one school can lead to confusion or even more. And when group's start one before ending the other, i often recommend that those behind-the-scenes thing be just that 9behiond-the-0scenes) so as not to confuse the general parent population.

I was assuming that kidd5's group has explored the issues and has basically already decided to have a PTO. Now they're just trying to figure out the simplest, most efficient method to do so. And I just wanted to point out that it's perfectly OK for the existing PTA officers to technically still have those positions even if they're also working on a PTO.

Tim

I realize I'm somewhat new, but I have been working with non-profits for years and just started research about PTA vs PTO, Incorporation, etc. for our school.

So... my question is...wouldn't this be covered in the by-laws? Either at the school, state or national level of the PTA? Also, was the PTA ever incorporated? If so there should be articles of dissolution outlined there or referred back to the by-laws. What you suggest may be one of the options in the by-laws but I would check that out first to make sure you don't get yourself into a mess.