We are blessed to have a brand new school so much of our equipment is state of the art. I almost feel guilty about it when I look at the other schools. So we are doing the smaller enhancements before our big money is needed to update things (probably in 3 years). We fund teacher and staff appreciation, programs for the kids (like visiting authors/illustrators), lasar shows, really fun stuff (I know--I'm sorry cause I understand that some folks are trying to fund music etc and we seem to be in such a better place). Aside from that, we are now starting a development program for our three outdoor quad areas that will include an art sculpture garden, a math and science garden and an outdoor classroom. It's very exciting. We also do some contributions to families in the fall that have a hard time of it. We are an interesting dichotomy of very well to do families and very rural families. We also purchase games and fund programs for before and after school programs oriented on Thinking and Games (TAG). That means purchasing chess boards and math games...but this year the quads will take the bulk of our time and money I suspect.

all of our funds go back into events such as Fall Festival, Craft Night, Spring Fling, Grandparent Luncheon, Staff/Parent volleyball with a pizza party afters, Sock hops, luau, the school store (they earn coupons for) Read Across America, Movie night, monthly student guessing contests, staff appreciation, author visit, etc. We do all of these things free to all so that is where our funds go! with the fact that we never charge anything the families see where the money goes

[ 10-22-2005, 11:35 AM: Message edited by: pals ]

We just voted for $2,000.00 to go toward a projection system that goes with computers. The intention was to mention it just incase we would have to go in on it (the majority of that money is coming from other funds). As soon as I finished the sentenced everyone jumped on that bandwagon to approve it. So now if that money is needed we can get those things faster. We are very excited about the this purchase.

One of our mom's wants all the money we make to go toward our playground. We are starting from scratch. We are going to have to have bulldozing done and the whole 9 yards. It is gonna be very costly. It is hard for her to understand that we have to use some money for: attendance and academic incentives, small purchases (we are new so we need little odds and ends all the time because we don't have any kind of stashes), fun days, and other things that may came up. I would really like to have a dye cutting machine. A dye cutting machine can be used to make bulletin boards more inviting and used for some projects the students have to do throughout the year. I believe that one of the main goals of a PTO should be encourging parental involvement. Door prizes etc. have to be paid for most of the time. I'd like to have a good enough account to purchase alot of school supplies at the end of the year for the next year. Both my boys will be at this school next year and I don't want to have to take out a loan to buy their school supplies.

At the elementary the PTO had purchased things like a sno cone machine, popcorn machine, button maker, cotton candy machine, and a badge maker. These are major money making things at times. They are also used for student rewards.

We post ours at the beginning of the year.
Vison Clinic, Field Trips, Books & Beyond Reading Program, Enrichment Classes, School Store, Teacher Grants, SockHop, Back 2 School BBQ, Homework Club.

We have our 1st mtg of the year as the "where does the $$$ go and where would you like the $$$ to go," and will have it soon posted on our website on an excel spreadsheet.

[ 10-22-2005, 04:26 AM: Message edited by: Shawn ]

This year we are purchasing air conditioning units for each classroom and 27" tv/dvds with wall mounts for all of the classrooms too. WE will be sending out a teacher request form..i cant wait to see what they suggest LOL

We have a budget that our money is used for and anything additional goes to purchasing things for the school itself ...i.e.last year, we purchased a riding lawn mower for our custodian and the accelerated math program for our students in addition to everything that is budgeted. . ..

If we didn't have a PTO and didn't fundraise, the teachers and principals would not have start up money, many events would not be held, the students would not get rewards for their achievements (perfect attendance, honor roll, good citizen ship) ...

There is SO much that the PTO pays for that each year, I send a copy of the budget along with the first school newsletter so parents can see WHY we fundraise throughout the school year . . .it really has helped as parents are clueless if they are not active in the PTO and we get a higher participation in our fundraisers because of it.