OneandOnly;133969 wrote: Leeann, You may be confusing having teachers as members with having teachers as Executive Board members. Our PTO has teachers as members of the PTO. However, they are not on our executive board and only attend as teacher liaisons to our meetings. We have several as contacts for community service projects or grade level projects, but they do not act as chairpersons. It's OK that teachers can be members of the PTO, but I do understand the concern with them being board members holding positions on the PTO.
You need to have detailed discussions with Administration to clearly state all expectations and also check with other schools within the district as to how they are set up.

No I am not confuse about teachers as members nor teachers as officers. I t was about a Principal taking over our parent group and turning it into a PTA after we told her no, and bringing in the District to scare us into changing.

Hi, I thank you two for clearing up my questions, I was so angry when I wrote the message. Now that I have gone back to the principal, and explain that we are a parent driven organization and our by-laws clearly state that we are asking for a teacher rep and that she MAY sit on the executive Board, she still try to take over. We are about to have elections. We have sent out notices to all the parents and ballots, we are now waiting for response. She went behind our backs and made up PTO memberships cards and gave them to everyone walking through the doors. She was told as a principal she is not to interfere. Now we will be able to rest until September, because with her interfering our election will take place in the begining of the school year. If any one have any suggestion for me please e-mail me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Regarding the bylaws and losing tax exempt status....I've never heard of the state or the IRS revoking tax exempt status due to an overdue bylaw update. If your bylaws haven't changed, they don't need to be updated in the eyes of the IRS or state. It seems overly harsh for PTA to threaten to revoke a legal status based on an overdue bylaw update. And it seems to be outside their control if your original tax-exempt status was filed correctly, even as an umbrella of national PTA. Just speculating, though, I've never been involved in a PTA myself.

"Tax exempt" is a label used both by state (exempt from state sales tax) and federal (exempt from federal income tax, i.e. IRS). The term "non-profit" isn't really a federal label, but rather a term applied by a state based on the organization's status as a federally-recognized tax-exempt entity. We all use the terms interchangeably, but they mean two differnt things. For example, in our state, we can be incorporated as a non-profit entity, but not yet registered as a federally-recognized tax-exempt charity. It's a bit confusing, but sometimes important to clarify.

And regarding teachers as members of the PTO...all our teachers (AND parents) are automatically members of our PTO according to our bylaws. We don't charge dues. We have many teachers who are also parents in our school, but in 10 years, I've never seen a teacher run for PTO office, whether or not they are a parent. I don't worry about our teachers taking over the PTO.

Leeann, You may be confusing having teachers as members with having teachers as Executive Board members. Our PTO has teachers as members of the PTO. However, they are not on our executive board and only attend as teacher liaisons to our meetings. We have several as contacts for community service projects or grade level projects, but they do not act as chairpersons. It's OK that teachers can be members of the PTO, but I do understand the concern with them being board members holding positions on the PTO.
You need to have detailed discussions with Administration to clearly state all expectations and also check with other schools within the district as to how they are set up.

tax status;133965 wrote: Your 501c(3) status as a non-profit with the IRS is usually granted under the umbrella of the State PTA. This could be what they refered to.

Agree that the 501c3 status is under the PTA umbrella, but if the PTA dues were paid and the group was still a PTA, PTA can't go back and retroactively say that you weren't a 501c3 PTA for X time period. That's the bunk part. Just doesn't work that way.

Tim

"We weren't aware and suddenly got a letter from PTA saying that our tax exempt status was cancelled for the entire past school year. Is that legal? We have been very careful to keep the accounts seperate and the only time we used our tax exempt status when purchasing items was from the PTA account."

well not sure, but tax exempt and 501c(3) are two different items! Most states have a "tax exempt" for re-sale and charitable groups. This means you don't pay sales tax. This tax exempt is not usually controlled by the State PTA.
Your 501c(3) status as a non-profit with the IRS is usually granted under the umbrella of the State PTA. This could be what they refered to.