Anybody have difficulty getting teachers to participate at school carnivals? At my school the teachers seem to think that they need to be paid if they participate.

It would be great to have teachers participate in all PTO and PTA events, but unfortunately that doesn't happen. In truth, I don't blame the teachers. They have their own families and private life to worry about, and chances are at least some of them have their own children in other schools where they would like to be involved. When you meet the kind of resistance that it sounds like your group has, you're better off moving on. Focus on getting teachers to help you in the most key ways -- distributing your communications in the classroom, helping you collect fundraising money, working with you to plan field trips and other curriculum or enrichment-related events. You might try to get a teacher representative at your events, but from your description I doubt there's anything you can do to get broad attendance from teachers. Read the articles Let Teachers Teach and Get Teachers on Your Side for more on this topic.