Advice from PTO Today

Craig writes:
There are two ways to give money to teachers. One is to give them each a specific amount to spend on whatever they feel they need to make their classroom better, teaching easier, etc. In that case you can suggest guidelines, but in fact you're leaving the decision entirely up to the teachers themselves. Teachers, naturally, love this. For one, you are saying you trust their professional judgment. For another, they won't have to spend a block of valuable time filling out paperwork and justifying whatever they want to purchase. The second method is to give teacher "grants." Teachers come to you (or fill out paperwork) saying they need, for instance, a new set of math manipulatives to help teach certain lessons. These teaching aides are beyond the regular school budget, and they'd like help from the PTO to purchase them. You then vote thumbs up or thumbs down to fund the request. In this case, you have a lot of control over how the money is spent, but the system is not as friendly for the teachers. One note: For either system, it's important that you collect receipts from teachers for whatever they purchase. These become part of your financial records in case of an audit. Many PTOs, for that reason, ask teachers to make the purchase themselves, then reimburse once they receive the receipts.

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