Question: spending pro funds for gifts

Our PTO wants to purchase e-readers for each student. They would become the students personal property and not that of the school. This sounds unethical to me. Is this allowed? They wanted to purchase smart boards for the school, but the BoE said no because every school in the district doesn't have them. There is a large amount of money in reserves that needs to be used. Thoughts??

Asked by Anonymous

Answers:

Advice from PTO Today

Rose H writes:
A few thoughts come to mind. First, parent groups do give gifts to students. They can also donate equipment like e-readers to the school that would be kept on-site for use by all students. An e-reader for each student is certainly a big gift but isn't unethical. Secondly, I'm not sure about the money that "needs to be used.'' If there is money in the PTO account, it can be carried over to the next school year.