i got two dogs to touch on the "isn't the district suppose to be supplying those things?" It really depends on your district, yes in an ideal world they should all be paid for by school taxes, yada, yada but the truth is alot of schools are depending on their parent groups to supplment alot of things that they didn't use to. Maybe your principal sees those areas that are needed and that the district doesn't have the funds and that is why he wants it.
I am lucky that so far our parent group has been able to concentrate on free family fun nights and not into buying supplies and equipment.

" i.e. playground equipment, TVs and VCR for all the classrooms, new lighting system on stage, microphone and amplifers for all classrooms, etc. Aren't these the sort of things the school district should be providing? "

i agree it seems the taxpayer money should be used, at least, seems logical. our school pto even paid for kitchen equipment!!!! that certainly is not a discretionary purchase, but we parents footed the bill. it all comes down to what the princiapl wants, i think.

Our elementary school prinicipal had the same policy, which our PTO respected. In that case I don't think it was an unreasonable requirement.

While the PTO may technically be a separate entity, it (and its fundraisers/expenditures) are closely linked to the school.

Back then, our principal explained what a delicate balance he had in trying to make sure the teachers thought what was spent on each grade, each area, each class was "fair". But there were often extenuating circumstances where, of course, more needed to be allocated one place versus another.

Items funded by the PTO (or teachers doing solo fundraisers) had to be considered in this mix as they did have an impact.

There were times teachers might approach us informally, some instances where we might have even paved the way. But all teacher requests ultimately needed the agreement of the principal.

[ 04-18-2006, 06:25 PM: Message edited by: JHB ]

Our principal requires all teachers to approach him about any expenditures before talking to the PTO committee. Teachers are reluctant to ask PTO for anything and are not interest in attending meetings because they have no say. Do other principals operate this way? I asked him about this and all he said was it has been this way for a long time and it works. (Yeah, for him!) Do other schools operate this way as a norm or is he just being controlling? We are trying to encourage more teachers to come forward; however, the principal is not in favor of this approach and has said that we would be opening a Pandora's Box by letting all the teachers come forward. He said that it is better to use the money on bigger and more visible projects, i.e. playground equipment, TVs and VCR for all the classrooms, new lighting system on stage, microphone and amplifers for all classrooms, etc. Aren't these the sort of things the school district should be providing?

Is the principal's approval really necessary for the PTO to approve an expenditure?