We are currently going through the same issue. We are a Charter School also, and this is our first year with a treasurer. At the end of last year our ledger was lost and now we have to estimate how much we had in the account. We cater our meetings and need to get checks at the leisure of others, cash them, and then we can get whatever we need. The process usually takes a few days. Now they want to control what we spend PTO funds on. Its beginning to become ridiculous. That being said, this year the PTO Board and parents have decided to separate ourselves from the School financially. That means getting a tax id number and bank account.

Now about the bylaws. If you're not sure about having bylaws there is a good chance that you don't. The first thing you need to do is set bylaws. You can find mock bylaws on the PTO Today site.

Many PTOs (and all PTAs) are independent organizations affiliated with a school. As an independent organization, the entity should have bylaws, an identity with the IRS, officers, and is responsible for its own operations and finances. There are likely some school rules/policies they must also observe.

Others - especially in private schools - exist more as a committee managed by the school. These type of PTOs usually have officers and some autonomy in planning but are more subject to the school/principal's authority and the school controls the funds. How much autonomy the group has could be very clearly laid out or quite murky.

Then there are groups that just sort of evolve over time and don't really have the lines drawn as to WHAT they are.

So the first question is - are you an independent organization or a subsidiary of the school. Frankly, I think either can work.

I wouldn't be willing to run a PTO where we mindlessly raised funds and hosted activities subject to the whims of a principal. But if we had a PLAN that everyone agreed to in advance as to how funds were managed/used, processes for deciding events then I'd be happy to have the school handle the funds.

We are a new charter school, 2nd year in exsistance. This is my first time on a PTO committee. We had a PTO meeting the other day and the principal stated all fundraising money had to be deposited into the general school fund and kept on a different ledger line on with the acct.

It was brought up that we all thought there should be a different acct. for just PTO with the treasurer and President have access to. I'm a little confused because now we have to ask for money when we want to do anything and it is hard to get information from the school that is needed to keep acurate accounting of the books.

can someone please give some insight on this issue. As I was reading other things on PTO's I was noticing we are supposed to have bylaws also. I'm not sure we actually do. Thank will be my next question to ask the school.