If you don’t currently charge dues, then you aren’t faced with the annual busywork of badgering parents for a few bucks, tracking which parents and teachers are members and which are not, and explaining why parents have to pay to volunteer or vote in the "parent" group at their own children’s school.

If you do charge dues, why? Is it simply because it’s always been done that way? Is that a good reason?

My full column recommending that groups not charge dues is here. The crux of it for me is that there’s a fundamental conflict within groups that -- on the one hand -- beg and plead for parents to volunteer and get connected, and then -- on the other hand -- charge parents to do so. Does Target charge you to shop? Does your church force you to pay before you can sit down in a pew?

I’d love for you to read the column, and love your take on whether and why your group charges dues. We’ve started a discussion thread here for this debate. Look forward to your thoughts.