If you are starting a new PTO organization from scratch, I would first try and gauge the interest in this type of group. Think through what a PTO would do for the school (different schools have different needs), talk to the Principal and get his/her support. Invite the parents and staff to an information meeting and solicit ideas for how a PTO would operate and do for the school.
Once you know you have enough interest and drive to make it worthwhile, the next step would be to keep meeting and start planning some activity (fundraiser). This early in the process, for example, you might want to ask the Principal if he/she would be willing to handle the money you raise as part of the school. Technially, the Principal controls the $$ and could decide to do something else with it, but there would be no tax implications for your group.
At this point it should still be relatively small and informal. You (or someone else) will need to act as the de facto President of the informal group.
Once you have some momentum, a small success, and a couple of meetings under your belt you can then start thinking about generating a Charter (or by-laws) to become an official organization. At this point the PTO would get it's own EIN (tax number) and bank account and could consider getting IRS Non-Profit status if you are raising more then $5,000 a year.
As you can tell, I am a believer in starting small and building on success.
Maybe the first step, after you get enough parents interested, would be to put by-laws in place. Otherwise, just use your old by-laws for the election process, with the group's ok, then work on the by-laws. Good luck!
We are forming a new PTO. How do you go about having an election and filling the board positions within a new group?
I do have some PTO experience from being a board member at my child's former school, but we had bylaws in place that we followed for our elections. I am at a loss when it comes to starting from the beginning.
