Question: Principals Funds

I am the new President of our PTO and in the past the principal has asked the PTO to deposit funds into the PTO account and add them to her Principal account. Come to find out that she does this because if she were to deposit the funds into the school account, at anytime that account can be frozen by the district. My stance as the new President is to not allow this practice any longer. Is this wrong thinking or am I right for doing this? Thanks

Asked by Anonymous

Answers:

Community Advice

tnewman143 writes:
I have the same issue with our school. I was always told it was the PTO's money and it went back into the school so we could do more activities for the kids. Now I'm being told that we do not have to give any money back to the school and can use it on the board members to go out for lunch/dinner. I am very confused by this. I thought the purpose of this was to help the school and the students. I think youare right

Advice from PTO Today

Craig writes:
Does your PTO have your own bank account under your own EIN (employer identification number, issued by the IRS) -- and not under the school's EIN? If you do have your own account, you should deposit the money there. That allows you the most control and flexibility in allocating the money. If the principal needs money for her discretionary account, you can decide how much is appropriate and issue a check. From your description, it sounds like you don't have your own account -- the money is automatically going to the school. I'm guessing that the principal sees that the district could take the money at any time -- say for example, another school needs roof repairs. The money that you've raised thinking it would go toward field trips, activities, programs, etc. at your school could be used by the district at that other school. You have no control over the money once it's in the school account. The principal is probably trying to use her discretionary account to shield the money from that possibility. In other words, she's trying to make sure the money stays at your school rather than being allocated to other needs in the district. I agree, though, that's not a great practice. You're better off working out a system that works for everyone rather than trying to get around the rules like that.