We give each teacher and resource person (as identified by the principal) $150 per year to use however they see fit. We don't ask for teacher "funding applications" -- for which I am glad. How do you decide you will approve one and not the other?? Our budget is pretty well defined so it doesn't leave a whole lot of discretionary money, but where there is leeway, we rely on the principal to act as spokesperson for the whole school (i.e. teachers).

I know it is so hard to get just the simpliest question answered in a timely fashion. What we do is each classroom in given a $200.00 check for their supplies or whatever they may need. We do pay for Weekly Reader subscriptions seperatly from those funds though. I send out a notice to the teachers that basically states...we need to know if you will be purchasing a magazine subscription for your new class next year and which one you want, Weekly Reader, Scholastic News etc. We MUST have this information by a specific date. We regret that orders not submitted by this date cannot be paid for by the PTO. After that is stated you'll be shocked at how fast you'll receive your responses:)

I am a first time PTO President and we are about to establish the budget for the next school year. This involves a Request for Funds form and letter to all teachers. In the past the letter has only included a due date for the forms to be returned to PTO. Our PTO Board would like to ensure consistency for items requested funding for, e.g., Weekly Readers for all grades, not just one or two grades. Would sure like any input on how you tactfully tell the teachers we'd like to fund items across-the-school instead of a few grades asking for funding and the other grades having the parents pay for items. Hope this question makes sense...many thanks for any help!!