I've been told that she called the district in to do an audit on the account because she thinks the secretary made some errors. Our secretary had to have surgery, so our other secretary paid some bills, and we are thinking that she paid some things that were already paid for. Handling budget issues is not her job. Lack of communication is a big problem at our school.
I'm generally a big supporter of the principal, but I'd be hard pressed to support this idea.
Balancing the budget at our schools is really tricky because the school year bascially runs July - June (when you think about it from an expense point of view). But the state's budget cycle is September through August. It makes for some crazy accounting.
But even so, that's the principal's job to balance the budget and make it work. A loan from the PTO would not be appropriate.
That being said, if there were some totally unforseeable expense (like there had been a fire or water damage) that threw things out of whack...if it were a case of everyone pitching to help...then I might look for other solutions. For instance if the PTO had excess funds and ONE of the things the principal needed to buy with the activity account was something they'd support, maybe the PTO could pick up that expense. There are times when it's not a case of mismanagement but just extenuating circumstances. But I suspect that's not the case here.
I have to think I would stay away from this one with a 10' pole. Sounds like she didn't manage the funds in the best way to begin with, now wants a loan and who is to say she won't mismanage that as well.
I would try to ask for a sit-down with her, some pto board members and a district offical as well - to try discuss the money situation and to inform them all of how a fall fundraiser run by her will ultimately come back and bite them again, in the long run, because it will affect your ability to get the most out of the PTO's fall fundraiser if they're run at the same time as I assume this same principal/school will be asking for PTO funds for something else down the road.
IF...if... it's something the board did decide to approve, a loan, then I would have a document drawn up to make sure it is paid back correctly and quickly.
"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it" - Ferris Bueller
Where does her student activity money come from? Wouldn't that be from the district budget? If so, that is where she should seek money from. but I guess she is embarassed to explain that she cannot manage a bank account.
Explain to her that all expenses must be voted on by the PTO board and you do not have that authority to just loan out money. Especially several thousand dollars!! Seems to me that there is more to the story because it seems that she is seeking to cover more than just bank fees!
She did contact you directly which is very unprofessional and as you said an example of her resistance to work WITH the PTO rather than around/against them. Personally, I would have told anyone that called me that the Principal should be making this request herself and leave it at that. If the Principal then called, I would tell her that according to the bylaws, I was unable to release any funds without a vote.
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