It's not that hard. At least it wasn't for us. First, we didn't have to give up any money. We just made sure there was no money left when our time as PTA was up. We spent down the budget on things for the school and for the kids. We also started our PTO before that time was up. The fundraisers we did were run through our new PTO. We had the 501(c)3 all done for the PTO by March, even though the PTA was still officially going until June. Check your bylaws. Where we are (NJ) there's nothing that says there can't be a PTO and a PTA at the same time.

I am the PTA President for our Elementary School of about 600 children. I have been active in the PTA for the past 5 yrs and this is my 2nd yr as President. We have about 55 paid members but only about 8 active and that includes the 4 officers.

We have been seriously thinking about becoming a PTO because it is so hard to get parents involved (we're running out of honest parents for officers). What do we have to do? Is it easy? I know we have to give back all of our money but for the people who switched, how did you come up with money for the upcoming school year? Alot of what we do is NOT fundraising and we have to pay for it (ex. rollerskating, holiday bazaar...).

Thanks for everyone's input. You can e-mail me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you want.