I guess it would depend on what kinds of things you are being asked for and what the membership is willing to spend money on. There have been many things our PTO has purchased that the district probably should have and either couldn't or wouldn't. We purchased hard bound dictionaries and encyclopedias as well as all the books and tests for our Accelerated Reader program. We have for the past few years have purchased all of the new books in our library. You would think that things like dictionaries would be a district thing but their budget did not include that and the kids need them so instead of waiting for them we went ahead and got them. I suppose that if what is being asked for directly benefits the kids and the membership agrees to spend the money then you can't blame a person for asking.
I am very interested in knowing where other groups draw the lines when it comes to requests. What types of things do you feel are the responsibility of PTO's and what responsibility should lie within the school. I am beginning to feel like we are not looked upon as a Parent Volunteer Program, but rather as a bank.
I am all for doing anything that we can for helping to keep our classrooms up to date and for doing what we can to help our students succeed, but, I think we are being asked for some things that possibly the school should be picking up the tab on.
