We had a principal that abused the funds in our school, and while we don't write our own checks, we are in control of our money. The principal who abused the money is no longer with our school. The only reason our funds go through the school is because (at least from what I have been told) is so we can be on the schools insurance policy in case an accident occurs at an event.
Do you have a set of by-laws? Ours state that as president, only I can approve any expense that is not already in the budget. And, any member can at any time put a request in for discussion to fund something they feel worthy. Non of these require the principal's approval. Now, we keep him in the loop and work with him on funding events, materials and technology. Our district doesn't say what we can use our money on or interfere in any way that I have ever seen. As far as our district is concerned, it is a parent and teacher organization. If we can spend money on teachers materials, then why not teacher appreciation?
One thing I didn't mention when I previously posted: Find out exactly who set the rules for how your groups funds are handled. I guarantee it's not the state board of ed, more likely your local district established the policy. It could be the policy was established to help protect those funds from abuse-perhaps there was a past incident that brought this about.
It does sound like your group gets to make decisions on which educational projects you will fund-"Then we, the PTO Exec. Board, votes to approve or deny." You just don't have the freedom to do anything beyond what the principal deems an appropriate purchase.
I still think you should have a meeting with your principal and find out exactly who set up the "rules" and see if there is some leeway in there to let your group do a little more.
Sounds to me like somebody likes to have control over funds.
(principal) If they sign all checks they know how much of YOUR
$ they have to spend on what THEY want to spend it on.
Personally...I'd consider getting off of the board sooner than planned.
If your NOT on the board, and bad endings with $ can't come back to
you...because you are Supposed to be in charge of PTO funds.
It sounds like you're not really a PTO the way the term is used on this site, but rather a PTC, parent-teacher committee, since you don't write your own checks.
I'll echo some of Luv's ideas; we have a "baking committee" that provides cookies for holiday thank-you trays and various events (first pto meeting of the year, halloween party, etc.)
My first thought as I read your post is that you should look to your parents and your community for help with the things you are discussing. For example, is there a local bakery or grocery store that would be willing to donate some cookies for your parent workshop? I'll bet there is! If not, maybe there are some parents who would be willing to bring a batch or two of cookies for the event. I love to bake and would happily contribute to something like this at my school. I'll bet you have parents who would do the same!
As for Teacher Appreciation: Does your group do anything? What about a potluck luncheon/ breakfast with items supplied by parents and local businesses. That's how we do ours for the most part. At the elementary where my children attended we budgeted $50 for Teacher Appreciation Week and barely ever spent it because parents and businesses in our community were more than happy to help.
If you don't think this will work for you and you have to have money:
Have you spoken with your principal about the boards feelings? Perhaps there is a way to designate a set sum each year for things like the cookies and teacher appreciation. It never hurts to ask.
I am the President of our PTO and took office on August 27th of this year. I am writing to ask for your advice as to what to do about a certain matter.
Our PTO does not get to handle and disperse our funds at will. What happens is that a teacher must fill out a PTO request form, then give it to the Principal. If she approves it, she will sign it and give it to me. Then we, the PTO Exec. Board, votes to approve or deny. Then the school secretary writes the check and has the principal to sign it. This is a good thing though because no PTO officer can misuse funds. But our problem goes much deeper than this.
We, according to either the County Board of Education, or the State Board of Education, cannot spend the money in anyway but for the students. We can pay for field trips and pizza parties, and buy supplies for the teachers. But we are not allowed to buy refreshments for PTO meetings, or, in this case, cookies for the Parent Workshop we are holding together with Title 1 before the school Christmas Program. We are also not allowed to buy teacher appreciation gifts of any kind and we cannot buy a gift for a teacher who is leaving or retiring. We wanted to buy an appreciation gift for our custodians who stayed late with us, helping us clean up after game concessions. What gets me is that the PTO board before me done this and got away with it, although the rule is one that has been in existence for quite some time.
My officers and I are in total dismay that we can't even buy 4 trays of cookies to serve to the parents next week for a one hour workshop. We can't show the teachers that we appreciate them but only with a simple, "Thank you." I have talked to my officers and we all feel that there is simply no purpose to our PTO, other than we are one small fundraising machine. We work very hard to raise money to make life for everyone better at the school. We raise the money but have very little say as to how to spend the money.
Does anyone have any advice for us? We are totally discouraged.
