Everything makes sense and again...it boils down to the parents. Who is willing to be or can be involved at school and who isn't or can't.
My main objective was to find out if everyone was considered a member and no dues were paid, would that increase the sense of ownership in the group and school thereby increasing volunteers? I guess not. Back to the ole drawing board.......

I have to agree with Tim on his last point about free vs. paid resources. I discovered this site and its message board about three months into being a PTA mom. The information and help from here has been immeasurable.My ratio of PTO Today to National PTA info used is 99.9 to .1. And I did pay for that PTA info with my $5.00 yearly dues.
Although our PTA is a Plus member on this site for this year, I am not using that much of that info/forms/resources with a + beside it. Most of what I use is available for everyone.
Thanks again to all who responded.

I have a question and need lots of input. Our PTO has refused to share its minutes or expenditure records with members of the public who have requested them. They are claiming that because they are a "private business" they have the discretion to manage their business records as they so choose.

How ethical is that? We donate funds, we fundraise. They use our children to raise funds, but they now don't want to tell us what happened to the money? Do you feel it's fair for anyone to be able to review the meeting minutes and expenditure records?

Are PTO's not subject to the same request for public records that normally apply? Can PTA's get away with saying they aren't going to release records? From my perspective, this would be the last time I think the school district should approve any fundraiser with an organization that would do this.

I need your feedback. Who knows the law and what is your reaction?

Unregistered;127497 wrote: If involvement is the biggest goal, and ancronym dosen't matter...
And one group provides volumes of FREE information and tools to help opperate your group and the other acronym charges for each guidebook and even more to become a "plus" member????

Hey, I honestly believe that PTA is right for some groups and PTO is right for some groups. I really do.

But you don't seriously want to make the PTA case based on the amount of free stuff/resources, do you?

We send a 75-100 page magazine free of charge to every K-8 group in the country 6 times per year. We have numerous programs (example: School Family Nights and 2 Hour Power) that are completely free to all groups. This web site has more than 200 different articles on it (fewer than 25% are behind any paid/Plus curtain). This message board has more than 60,000 posts (available to all).

Virtually none (maybe some parts of PTA's website?) of the PTA's tools are available free. They are almost all member-only or paid. I don't even think that's bad -- PTA is a membership organization, its benefits should be for its members. But you can't say PTA's "volumes of information" are free. It just doesn't hold water -- you have to pay (often sizeable) dues to access those resources. How is that free?

Tim

Now for an aside:

With that as the conclusion, though, it does beg the question: "If 1) involvement is our biggest goal/challenge and 2) acronym doesn't matter and 3) one acronym costs us $1,000 per year and one acronym is free......?"

Just a thought.

Tim

Just another thought...
If involvement is the biggest goal, and ancronym dosen't matter...
And one group provides volumes of FREE information and tools to help opperate your group and the other acronym charges for each guidebook and even more to become a "plus" member????

2 sides to every story...

"RESULTS> Why I've gotten a lot of results! I know several thousand things that don't work!"......Thomas Edison

My take on this is that if a group is faltering good leaders are needed to fix it. These leaders might see the structure as a part of the problem and seek to join/leave/form a PTA or PTO.

If these leaders do a good job, their success makes the type of group they formed look good. (I believe this is what happens in a lot of the PTA to PTO success stories.) If they don't, the structure might look bad.

I would think that after 3-5 years of existence, if the structure is no longer an issue and the group works, then that structure is ok. This can happen in either type of group.

The leaders make the group. As long as the structure matches the group culture, it is not so important.

Unregistered;127429 wrote: Tim, where do you get the 250 members per unit?

I've looked at the numbers in my state and they don't come close to 250 per PTA.

5.7 million total PTA members in 23,000 units = 250 members per unit.

Actually, PTA often uses 6 million as its membership number (which would make the average 260), but it hasn't been 6 million for some time.

Tim