Margie Rackley,
you asked "Are there any other schools who operate their PTA/PTO/PTP under a Foundation? Has it been a good relationship?
We voted as a PTO to use the Foundation available in our school district because we were in the same situation. We used the Foundation for the 2001-2002 school year. Without going into the nitty gritty details here, I will just say it has not been a good relationship. If you choose to use the foundation, check into these things first
1)will you have a petty cash account and how much you will be able to disperse from it on a month to month basis - make sure it will work with your current spending habits.
2)what is the turn around time for getting a check issued from the foundation - it can take up to 10 days or more!
3)Make sure no one can dispurse funds from your account at the foundation except those officers already authorized to do so.
4)Are you currently earning interest on you account? It is possible the foundation will keep all interest earnings!

You do have a third option available - you can file as a tax exempt non profit organization (501c3). I wish we had voted to do this last fall!

[ 06-04-2002: Message edited by: MBPTO ]</p>

My daughter attends a Charter School. I am the out going Secretary and when the next school year begins, will be the President of our PTP (Parent Teacher Partnership). At our last meeting, a member of the Executive Board (also the principle) informed us we did not have liability insurance nor did we havea non-profit tax ID#. Two things needed to be legal. He explained we have two options to think about: 1) information was being obtained about a national PTA; and 2) we could act as the PTP under our school's Foundation. The Foundation has liability insurance and a non-profit tax ID#.

I was very concerned about the second option, as this Foundation was established and a lot of parents were uncertain of the role it would play and how it would benefit our school. I am very big on communication, and would like to have information about all options gathered and ready to share to the families at our first PTP meeting in September so that a vote can be made before implementing any changes.

Are there any other schools who operate their PTA/PTO/PTP under a Foundation? Has it been a good relationship?

I would appreciate any feedback you might have. Thank you in advance.

Having read the recent dialog regarding the issue of PTA vs. PTO, I would like to pose a few questions to any experts out there. Before I ask such questions, I would like to caution anyone out there about the pitfalls of making these changes as I am presently caught up in the throws of one school district's decision. For some reason, my contemporaries feel the switch from PTA to PTO means total disregard for any rules of decorum. We have no officers...just board members and a treasurer. At any time the
rules can change, and, if you're very lucky you might get wind of it via the grapevine. I can honestly say that more times than not, I have learned of financial decisions through our only written document... the next month's treasurer's report. There are no majority votes, just everyone "too willing" to please our principal who, I may add, also serves as the treasurer. We pay for luncheons we are excluded from ("Teacher's Only"), fund field trips for some, less for others, and most recently been asked to foot the bill for an after school program that benifits a choosen few. I found this particularly distrubing since I had no forwarning of this issue and no way to check if these few students had parents with paid memberships. I warned other officers that this,among other issues was dangerous territory, but the need to please seem more important at the time. In retrospect, I found that my own child could have, and should have, benifitted greatly from this reading program and I now want my fair share of the pie. Sound like a mess? Wait... it gets better...
Keeping my mouth shut and working every event got me... absolutely nowhere...
I have recently come up for re-election and, guess what- every thing changed again! We have un-nominated candidates running against me... by the way I didn't even know about. We had two positions, no, one position, no make that two positions again until election day... then we were back to one position but another candidate. Our fearless principal decided the only fair thing to do was to postpone the election until October. She called to tell me that I will keep my post through the fall because my opponent doesn't have a child in the school yet, nor is she a paid member. I will go on setting our agenda, calendar, fundraisers, etc. with the possibility looming over my head that I may be replaced. Better than all of this, both of my opponents were unavailable to return her phone call for days, and were not present at our last PTO meeting for the year to hear their fate. Is this fun or what? The idea for working for the common good is no longer something I embrace. I thought my presence in school would be an excellent learning device for my children. The thought of teaching them community spirit and the notion of hard work paying off is no longer a relevent issue in my home. To say I am deeply hurt and sadened is an understatement. The question I am facing now is a "no brainer". I can see that I have no choice but to vacate my position, but how do I make it right? Do I want to right all these wrongs even though every fiber of my being says to fight? Why didn't I speak up sooner? Is it too late to do something, and if so, what? I need comments and opinions from any or all of you, especially someone who may have found themselves in a similar situation.

I guess I don't see how these parents actions would be a primary driver for moving from PTA to PTO. We have a PTO, and there are good reasons for either type of organization. However, how does changing the organization help you with these parents? There will still be a parent group with bylaws and activities. These parents will still be there and can continue to look over your shoulder and do exactly what they are doing. If they are determined, nothing will change.

I'm not saying NOT to become a PTO, just that you might want to make sure you really have a good set of reasons for doing so.

As far as your question of how to go about it, there are some extensive postings on just this topic in this section that you may want to read. A successful approach seems to be to begin organizing the PTO and have incoming funds go to that account while phasing out the PTA. Also, you want to follow every rule in your bylaws about dissolving the PTA. The activities move over to the PTO name, and you spend down the PTA funds to zero before actually dissolving. Some seem to do this in the Spring, so that they can start with a fresh slate as a PTO in the Fall.

P.S. It sounds like you are doing some great work, and I applaud your efforts. Good luck!

crogers, what state are you in? I'd check that thing about the state PTA getting your money. When we changed we found that there was a big difference between what they said had to happen and what legally had to happen. (but I guess you are right that if you just spend all the money first, then it just takes care of everything.)

Barbara
We are in the process of changing from a PTA to a PTO just for those reasons. In our state if we dissolve a PTA any leftover funds go directly to the State PTA. Sooo I would get your ducks in order before you officially dissolve and take the chance of losing any funds you might have left. There is no reason why you can't be setting up your PTO before dissovling your PTA. Good Luck!