Question: Switching from PTA to PTO - starting the process

For those of you who have successfully switched from a PTA to a PTO, how did you start the process? Can you please provide insight on how to transition seamlessly? How did your state PTA handle the transition? (We have concerns about the fact that the WI PTA bylaws indicate that we cannot have any money in our account or we forfeit it. Not only do we usually carry over a balance of unused budget from year-to-year, we also have a CD which is our safety net if we have a bad fundraising year.) Also, we just submitted revised Bylaws for the next three years because they were due so I don't know if that affects anything. Please help. Any info or advice is greatly appreciated!

Asked by Anonymous

Answers:

Advice from PTO Today

Rose H writes:
These are questions we hear often. With regard to issues of money, we have heard of groups spending down the account before disbanding the group or donating the funds to the school (which is where the fund would be going/would have gone anyway.) There's a lot of information on this topic on our site. I'd point you to this article, Switching from a PTO to PTO as a good starting point. http://www.ptotoday.com/pto-today-articles/article/864-switching-from-pta-to-pto. Also, you will find lots of great conversations going on with parents who are involved in this process or who have been through it on our message boards. Check out this forum: http://www.ptotoday.com/boards/14-pto-v-pta Good luck!