I don't think the PTO should be responsible for paying for the teacher's Holiday Party! The PTO is responsible for paying for activities for the STUDENTS and extras for the school that the district can't or won't pay for. Our PTO controls our money not the principal or the teachers, they can put in requests, and we vote, but we control where and how it is spent. We also feed the staff on occassion, for example for National Education Week we got a six foot sub for half price from Subway,$32, a box of assorted small chip bags, $7,
a case of soda $6, and a case of bottled water $8, for a total of $53. I wouldn't even think twice about denying a request of $40 a couple!
If you can't control how your PTO is spending your money, you might at least see to it that an end-of-the year report showing how it was spent is circulated to all the parents and staff--and perhaps a bit more widely within the community, as well.
At the beginning of the year, everybody at our school gets a copy of the PTO budget, and at the end of the year they see a report showing how our spending tallied with that. Those reports are included in the first and last PTO newsletters of the year. Anything as out-of-line as an enormous Christmas party would get quite a reaction, especially if a few fired-up parents were calling those items to everyone's attention.
You can't change what is already done, but I would make it a priority to discuss this first thing with your budget for next year. I brought up many things like that at the beginning of this year and have stood by those decisions not to support certain things and to promise that money to other groups such as repairing music instruments vs the several staff lunches done the last few years. Then if the money is later requested, you can say you don't have it. In the end, if you do have the money to support these things and the pressure to do so, then pick you battles but your opinion does matter.
The irony of commitment is that it’s deeply liberating-in work, in play, in love. The act frees you from the tyranny of your internal critic, from the fear that likes to dress itself up and parade around as rational hesitation. To commit is to remove your head as the barrier to your life. --Anne Morris
We are in a Charter school system. The Executive Dir. called our President into his office to say that the other 2 school's PTO's were paying for the staff Christmas party and we were to do the same. Our president always supports admin over the PTO. Even though some disagreed w/ her we paid for the party. We also paid for the teachers to receive a catered lunch this week. We felt that was enough. Now we will probably not have enough to pay for the luch we had planned for Teacher Appreciation Week. We don't even know what to say. It doesn't seem to matter any way.
$40 a couple. Hmmm... let's see... $40 times, let's say 25 teachers, equals your entire budget of $1000 for the year... yeah, the parents and children will understand...
NOT!
I say lay it out on paper with the numbers for them. Even the most wasted education will understand that it isn't in the budget.
I was just thinking about when I suggested that our group 'underwrite' spirit T-shirts by $2, so that the price would be $5 and everyone could afford one... everyone thought I was nuts... but then again, I am...
OMG! Kammom, your response what sooo funny that I almost spit coffee all over my keyboard!
I'm glad to see that everyone supports the idea that the party is too expensive and should not be paid for with PTO funds. I can't beleive that they had the nerve to actually ask for the money. But that may be another story.
Is it too late for a vote at your monthly meeting? That way it wouldn't look like you're the bad guy. Then again as a parent I would look at the teachers differently from here on out. Do they have the best interest in my child? Are they really that greedy? They should know by now that PTO funds are for the school and children and not to be spent foolishly.
OK, I'll get off my soapbox now, but I think they have some pretty big ba@@s to ask for that kind of money.
