When we were raising/saving money for our playground, we showed those funds collected on our yearly budget as "playground funds". This helped any new parents who were coming in to know that the group had set this goal in a previous year and had funds earmarked for that project. It took us a few years to have the funds we needed, plus we were waiting for a construction project on the school to get completed.

It all falls back to that old problem of "failure to communicate". You have to keep the membership updated on the group's goals and the status of reaching those goals. If we hadn't done that, we surely would have had parents who were upset that the checking account balance was so big, but we were talking about having a tight budget.

It is common to save for something that had been voted on in the past. We did that with playground equip. also. But it was voted on to do this. As for the pres. & principal deciding to spend $$$ on something else that WASN'T voted on then I would say "NO WAY". It has to be decided & voted on for it to happen.

I think this is common, when our old Pta was dissolved they left the school some money to purchase some more playground equipment and that is what we did with it. If parents took part in fundraisers earmarked gym equipment they might be very upset if suddenly it is used for something else. There will always be "better" things but sometimes the "fun" things are needed as well

Well, it really depends on your particular groups situation and their plans. Many groups save money for years for certain things like playground equipment. This would not be uncommon at all. Was this the case with your group? Was it a long standing goal that they were working on to provide this equipment?

Are you upset because you really do not think they needed the gym equipment or do you just think there are more important things to spend the money on?

I have moved to a new area and this is my son's first year in school. I have never worked with a PTA/PTO before. Our first meeting was to eliminate the PTA and establish a PTO. I joined the board as fundraising chairman and in two months they had the had the highest balance they have ever had. At last months PTO meeting the president announced that we now had the money for gym equipment and he would be ordering it that night. As it turns out 2 years ago the PTA agreed to buy these items and just now has the funds. Is it common for debts to be carried from year to year when the parents that voted are long gone? Should we only vote when we can immediately disperse the funds? Where can I get this in writing to make it stop? I just busted hump to pull off another event at that last minute to find that the president and principal had already decided how the money would be spent. It wouldn't bother me so much if they were actually trying to save money on these purchases that are much needed.