I appreciate your perspective, but disagree on the "lack of ethics" point of view for the disbanding process that mom24 described.
The PTA's disbanding language is required by the IRS of any 501c3. The IRS' concern is that remaining funds of a closing 501c3 go towards the stated charitable purpose or get donated to another 501c3. IRS doesn't want those remaining funds to go to a particular person or to a non-charitable purpose.
There are clearly times when -- through discussions and networking -- a group knows that it's about to disband. The final vote hasn't been taken, but the results are predictable. That happens often -- on other issues, typically -- in any voting organization.
If a PTA is in that position but yet has a large bank balance remaining, holding off on the final disband vote until the bank balnce is near zero isn't doig anything wrong. Good work is still being done for kids. The 501c3 dollars are still going toward 501c3 purpose. There's nothing ethically bad happening there.
If the final vote surprises and comes up a "no" on disbanding, no harm. The PTA remains and goes forward. Not like the dollars went somewhere they weren't going to go anyway.
Starting PTO without disbanding PTA shows a lack of ethics. When a unit is chartered by PTA, it is because the parents at the local school have requested that - no one forced PTA upon them. They made agreements regarding bylaws and relationship as part of a national organization. As a PTA, whether or not the parent volunteers are actively involved in each issue, they are speaking for children who have no voice, speaking on their behalf whether it is at the local school board, the state or national government. PTA does not just speak in the best interest of the children in one school, they speak for the best interests of ALL children. National PTA started as a Congress of mothers and one father from around the country working together to remove children from working in factories, to provide food for the children at school, to help parents secure the health care their children needed, and to help parents become an active partner in their children's education. The decisions that affect a child's life and education are seldom made at the local school. There wasn't a single message about hoarding the money to buy playground equipment or air conditioning for the principal's office or teacher lounge. When the parents decided to affiliate with the National PTA, they agreed to certain principles and they agreed to follow estabished guidelines for disbanding which include providing the funds, after paying their current bills and satisfying any contracts they may have, to an organization in agreement with the PTA mission and basic policies. If a group wishes to change their PTA to a PTO and address only the needs of the children in that school, they should at least be honest enough to follow established guidelines.
We're thinking about switching to a PTO next year. Rather than formally disbanding the PTA, we are going to start the PTO now, and spend down the (small amount of) PTA funds over the next few months. Then any fundraising income/membership would go to the PTO next year, and all the activities would be run through the PTO. This would leave the PTA pretty much dormant next year, but it would still be there with a handful of members (the officers).
If there is anyone out there who has done that, do you have any tips/warnings? Did you have the same set of officers for the PTA and the PTO? Did you give people an option to join the PTA if they wanted?
