SAFin RI;136926 wrote: The grass may look greener, but lack of committment is present in both PTO's and PTA's.

I absolutely agree with SAF that there are under-energized/less-than-stellar PTOs and PTAs around the country. Just like there are PTOs that face embezzlelment and PTAs that face embezzlement and PTOs that do amazing work and PTAs that do amazing work. That's been kind of our point from day one.

But the big difference is that one acronym costs roughly $1,000 per year and one acronym is free.

Tim

Mary;
If your group lacks committment from parents, changing from A to O will not relly change their committment.
You have attended training from Texas, have you offered so send others?
What else have you tried to energize these parents?
The grass may look greener, but lack of committment is present in both PTO's and PTA's.

My elementary school is starting to discuss changing to PTO. Did anyone use the startup guide and was it helpful? Our PTA lacks commitment from parents and often I am the only person handling all the task. Texas PTA does offer training, which I have attended, but no real support. If you changed from a PTA to a PTO in the last year, please give me any pro's and con's and guidance/suggestions to follow.

Thanks

moms5;136824 wrote: Tim

Youre PTA /PTO comparison is outdated pretty much now, I can forward some newer ones that Ive seen.- same as this old thread. Im guessing by the time you factor in the cost of becoming a nonprofit and perhaps paying for tax help with that 990 and some other legal issues that units face that PTA dues arent looking so bad .

Please feel free to clarify here.

Couple of key details, though. State PTA dues have by-and-large gone up since a lot of our numbers were first reported. Oregon, for example, recently raised state dues to a whopping $9.

RE: the fees for becoming an independent nonprofit. First, that's not required. Many PTOs operate more as adjuncts of the school and do just fine. We recommend formal independence, but it's optional. More importantly, the fees to become a nonprofit are one-time-only, as opposed to annual PTA dues -- so that difference becomes increasingly large over several years.

Tim

Tim

Youre PTA /PTO comparison is outdated pretty much now, I can forward some newer ones that Ive seen.- same as this old thread. Im guessing by the time you factor in the cost of becoming a nonprofit and perhaps paying for tax help with that 990 and some other legal issues that units face that PTA dues arent looking so bad .

Juanita;135514 wrote: I am the treasurer for our schools PTA. We just got a new principal this year and he is in favor of switching to PTO, but none of us really knows what all that entails. We have a very successful fundraiser in the fall. I've been told that if you are PTA your incoming funds are no issue(as far as filing tax returns), but if you are a PTO and have "profits" of say $12,000 or more, you are required to file tax forms. Can anyone give me info on this?? Or, give a source of who can clarify this??

I also read above that switching from PTA to PTO requires you to spend out your on hand funds. Does that mean you have to spend everything and completely start over at a 0 balance?

If the only benefit is that you get to keep $4.00 per member rather than send it to state and national agencies--I don't see how that could be the answer for us.

Please advise.

Juanita

Wow, Juanita --

This is an old thread (last post = 7 years ago). Brought back some memories reading it. The most importnat memory is of some of the scare tactics in this thread; I'm glad to say (and I think these message boards have a lot to do with it) that many of those scare tactics aren't even tried anymore, because they were made to seem so hollow and see-through.

So... a couple of key clarifications from your post:

1. On this: "I've been told that if you are PTA your incoming funds are no issue(as far as filing tax returns), but if you are a PTO and have "profits" of say $12,000 or more, you are required to file tax forms. Can anyone give me info on this?? Or, give a source of who can clarify this??"

That's simply bad information. There is no difference at all tax-wise between a nonprofit PTO and a PTA. None. Both PTAs and PTOs have the same requirements of when they should/must file tax forms. And $12,000 isn't a dollar number that has particular relevance anywhere -- not sure where that came from.

2. RE: spendding your dollars to zero. It's not a must-do; it's a recommended do. Basically, it eliminates the only possible bone of contention between a state PTA and your changing-over local. I've yet to see one group (even if they didn't spend down funds) lose a penny in making the switch, but I still think the easiest thing is to gett he PTA budget to at or near zero before formaling you're disbandment. But it's up to you.

3. A few key things about that $4 per member: 1) Average unit has more than 200 members, so that's more than $1200 per year. 2) That $4 has been going up rapidly in some states. Oregon just went past $10 per member, for example. 3) That's an annual cost. There are some start up costs to becoming a PTO, but they're nowhere near $1000 and they're just one time. That PTA dues bill comes due every year.

Hope that helps. You'll also find a host of additional insight at: www.ptotoday.com/ptovpta.html

Good luck,

Tim