I am completely aware of the tight budgets and mundane items that principals must spend money on. My mother is a high school principal. She does amazing things with no PTO to raise money. Thanks for the input. I have enough information to take to exectutive board so that they can vote.
One other point, our former elementary principal was completely ethical and honest. But he sometimes wasn't eager to broadcast exactly where the discretionary funds went. (They were all accounted for and annually audited.) But he had a constant challenge with perceived equity at the school. Did he spend more on Kindergarten than 2nd grade? Why did teacher X get to go to a particular workshop? Why did one grade get to spend $4 per student on (fill in the blank), but another grade only got $3.50?
"Full disclosure" (so to speak) can open up a whole other can of worms. So do be aware of that.
We all know how tight school budgets are. My guess would be that the principal isn't being frivolous, that if he had reason to count on those funds, he had already earmarked them. If he knows that the teachers may have to do without the workbooks (and if he's a reasonable, competent principal) that may mean whatever is on his list is a higher priority for the school. For instance, I know our principal uses some funds for extra staff development. If he already committed to bringing in a trainer or sending someone to a workshop, it would be hard to back out of that.
It would be nice if he could tell you WHERE the money is going so that you could count those purchases as part of your year's achievements.
But note - principal's often spend necessary money on very mundane things. Since we had to market the PTO more than the principal had to market the school, ours was always very generous in allowing us to claim what we funded. In a joint program, we'd rather claim the dynamic speaker or science equipment or workbooks rather than copier paper and extra cleaning supplies. Many of the things "extra" funding goes to are not glamorous.
At the end of the school year when we know how much money the PTO has, we have a "Wish List" process that we go through. Parents and Teachers write in what they would like to see the money [img]smile.gif[/img] purchase or support. We compile a list and it is voted on by everyone. Our Principle asks for a small amount to fund his programs, but it is always reasonable and up front. Our treasurer does a great job keeping track of that. This process allows everyone a voice as to how we spend the money and everyone is informed.
I agree that it is a partnership. Please don't assume that I'm being difficult. Our PTO already pays for RIF breakfasts, RIF awards, we get volunteers for RIF book days. We also pay for and work at DARE graduation,Veteran's Day celebration, field day (including purchasing all of the awards). This past year there was not enough money to purchase workbooks that the teachers have used for several years. We are a Title I school, so the teachers did not feel comfortable asking parents to pay for them so they came to the PTO. The only way we could afford to pay for them is if theprincipal did notrequire the $1000 he said he never got from our last fundraiser. I asked him if we could keep that money to pay for the books. The total was about $3500. He said no.
I agree that anything like this should be done openly, and it's always a good idea to be able to tell parents why you are fundraising and how the money will be raised.
With those two things addressed, this type of situation can be portrayed very differently, just depending on the words used and who is doing the telling.
If it is set up as an open, planned project, I would consider it the PTO and the school agreeing to partner on fundraising and splitting the proceeds. The principal/school is contributing in supporting the event, allowing classroom time to promote it, sending information home in backpacks, encouraging teachers to help with it in the classroom, etc.
In my mind, it's not parent group "giving" the school money. It's a joint effort, a partnership.
