Question: Too much money carried over...

My son's PTO has $18,000 in their bank account and $29,000 in a CD. (It is the end of April) The money in the CD is not ear-marked for any specific purpose. They are "saving it for just in case." I think they have lost sight that the money is supposed to be spent on the kids! I really don't think parents would appreciate that they are almost "hoarding" the fundraising money. Is there some non-profit rule about keeping so much money on hand?

Asked by Anonymous

Answers:

Community Advice

JessicaAFM writes:
I think it really depends on how much they are actually spending on the children. They may be doing quite a lot and the excess is in reality "just in case". There are a number of things that could come up and if they spent every last dime through the rest of the year then they wouldn't be able to take care of it. Now if they aren't spending anything on the school and children and just saving it all then there might be a problem. I would suggest you start attending all the meetings to see where the money is going or ask to see their minutes. These should be available to the parents and school officials.

Community Advice

donnag writes:
Attend a meeting and ask what the by-laws say about carryover. Some ptos have rules about the amount needed to carryover year-to-year. $29,000 sounds like alot of money. However, if enrollment is declining or costs are increasing, that money may be used in the upcoming years. You can also ask to see the budget and ask what the balances are in the pto accounts.

Community Advice

mustangpta writes:
I'm not sure what the procedure is regarding carryover either, but I'm wondering how they decided to put the money into a CD? How was that decision made, perhaps that would shed some light on how to proceed?

Community Advice

Karenv writes:
I do attend all the meetings- I just got upset when they declined a request from the librarian for $400 worth of stuff that would benefit all children at the school. They said their "Grants" were used up for the year... but clearly there is money left over from other line items. It just made me take a closer look- I am not suggesting they empty the CD, but I think since it is so built up- a stipen for each teacher next year would be nice... just a thought...

Community Advice

luresa writes:
I suppose this is less of an answer and more of an additional plea for information....The PTO at my child's elementary school has managed to "hoard" away almost $400,000.00 in different bank accounts and this money has been building from mine and other parents donations which have been reported to be for our children's educational enrichment over the past 5 years that I have been at this school. Here's the real rub...while this huge "surplus" hangs out in the banks....I have teachers each year asking me for tissues, wet wipes, pencils, erasers, paper, etc.etc... I still cannot find the answer to how to deal with this...