Question: Can we start over with Bilaws?

We have an established PTO. Our bilaws are old and has been ameneded many times. Can we start fresh with new bilaws before the school year starts and before members sign up?

Asked by Anonymous

Answers:

Community Advice

lcourtright writes:
I am curious on this one too! Also, how often can or should bylaws be revised?

Advice from PTO Today

Rose H writes:
Groups typically amend their bylaws every few years (some even every year). It is often helpful to have a few volunteers work as a committee to assess the current bylaws and get input from parents about what needs to be addressed. Proposed changes are then put forth to the group for a vote.

As far as starting all over, you might find that even though the original bylaws have been amended many times, the core still stands. So, you might not want to toss them out.

If you need more general ideas of what should be left in and taken out, you might be interested in some of the templates in our File Exchange that are great to work with for creating and amending bylaws. Files such as this sample bylaws document could give you some great guidelines.

Good luck!

Community Advice

TreasPam writes:
Rose C. I understand what you are saying but our current bilaws are 31 pages long and very repetative. We want to start with the core and just bring those amendments to the core. So that we can have a typical short bilaw just like other PTOs.