When we looked into making the switch, we decided to set the PTO up as a committee of the school, get an EIN from the IRS (that's free), and then hold a fundraiser with checks made out to "School PTO". We wanted something small, since we only needed to raise a little over a thousand dollars. We'd then take our money and checks to the bank and open an account with it. That would give us the start-up money that we needed to get our 501(c)(3) and incorporate with our state. Once that was done the PTO would be independent of the school.
Is their money involved in getting a 5013C status, as well as the IRS forms?
If so where does this money come from if we can not use our current PTA money? How do we open a bank account without any money coming from our current PTA checking account?
