"If the Executive Board from a PTA is pro-voucher then they are doing the wrong thing"
We weren't doing the wrong thing. Most of our Board was for vouchers, but we didn't go talking about it. I was just trying to point out one good reason why we left, our volunteers were all on the same page on the important things like what to do for our school but National PTA had all this other stuff that we didn't even care about or a lot of us disagreed with.
About vouchers- National PTA is against the use of public money being taken away from public schools and given to private schools. If the Executive Board from a PTA is pro-voucher then they are doing the wrong thing. As a parent you can have your own voice and views, but when you are going to represent the organization you must remember to take your personal opinions out of it--THIS IS TOUGH FOR ALOT OF PEOPLE AND THEY CAN"T DO THAT----
There is nothing secret in national PTA , state PTA or local PTA's you have access to where they stand on each and every issue with either a click of the mouse,a phone call, or just by reading the volumes of literature sent to each local president weekly. It seems to me that the 1 of the problems was that the people who were elceted to your prev PTA boards were not the right people for the job- They may have been better suited to be a PTO exec board member where they can push their opinion onto every one else. PTA units have one voice where 2/3rds majority of their membership decide the vote. But as parents they each have an individual voice also which they can use when they vote at an election or contact their congressmen/legistalors. I am all in favor of PTO's because they can handle the things that we a PTA are being asked to handle and should not be handling. (civic and charity work). PTA's are a child advocacy and educational organization. We are forbidden by IRS regulations from donating to another non-profit organization, and are not suppose to be donating $$ to the school when they shoudl be making sure that their budget is met by all the taxpayers intheir district. We also should not be donating to individual families for services that we are providing that are completly volunatary(sp) (Example school photos, yearbook etc) All PTA sponsored programs and events that fall in the guidelines of advocacy and education are free and available to ALL of our students/paretns/guardians, and community.The stuff we do as what I call the Fluff becuz the school won't do it are the things like school pictures, yearbooks, etc and these are only organized by our organization noot FUNDED by the PTA yet people insist that we fund these events for them, when we can't becuz of the IRS regulations. OH FYI-- by the way NYS law states that a child who cannot pay to go on a school field trip that is sponsored by the school taken place during the school hours and is of educational basis cannot be denied the trip becuz they can not pay. the school must pay for that child. This was information we were just passed on because alot of PTA's in NY were being asked to pay for these children, and we should never have been asked to begin woth. I just thought I would pass that on- maybe people in other states should look into this also to make sure that their funds are not being taken advantage of.
"Remember one of PTA's mottos is by joining PTA you are doing more then you know"
Why am I not surprised that this is a PTA motto? It's like saying "join us because, um, well just because, um, trust me, um, it's really good." Is it some kind of secret or something? That's why we left. We were spending a ton of money and getting so little.
Susie, that voice on legislation thing sounds good but it's much differtent in reality. We're a PTO now, but even when we were a PTA almost everything we did was based onnour school. We aren't a big fundraising group but we have people at the schoolboard meetings and we have a family event every month and none of that had anything to do with national. The couple of times we did try and get into the national voice it just seemed like a waste. On the board alone I remember that 4 ladies were pro voucher and 2 were against vouchers so what's the voice then. Yes we have insurance yes we have national information.
But you must remember you may be saving dollars, but at what cost- you have given up your voice and memberships voive on important children's legislation.You mentioned insurance savings- are you protected from personal liability?, do you have a national organization advising you of pros and cons of fundraisers, tax liabilities, legal issues, and issues in legislation.. Remember one of PTA's mottos is by joining PTA you are doing more then you know. You have a voice that can be counted in legislation (providing your PTA is doing the work of a PTA and not a PTO in disguise). We are a PTA in our school and we wish that the parents (very few) who complain becuase the PTA will not fund certain free gift items to elementary graduating students would start a PTO so we could let them organize and fund all the events they demand the PTA pay for. They have no interest in fundraising to pay or offset the cost of the items they demand free they just want someone else to pay for them and do all the work to make them free.
Hi friend. I just want to say that I disagree. We did use the Reflections program and we went to convention. Thing is now we do our own art program and it's just as good (kind of the same) as reflections ever was and it costs us nothing (or matbe $100 when we include prizes and materials). Thing about convention is that convention costs extra, so that's not even counted in dues. We were sending more than $1000 to state and national plus what we paid for convention and trainings plus what we paid for insurance through PTA. Total was more than $2,000. Now we spend $300 on our own insurance and our group is just as good and maybe better and we have $1700 that we're not wasting.
