We did advertise the meeting about switching over to be a PTO, noone came to vote but the regulars. No, 400 people did not come to vote, but the vote was all in favor, not one person wanted to stay PTA. A couple years ago was when I served on the PTA state board as a District Director. All the cliques and the he says she says stuff made me get out and get out quick. As District Director I had units dropping as PTA's left and right to go PTO. That is when I started looking into and researching the difference in a PTA and PTO. When ask if the state would come speak about a topic in our school, we were told you had to have 20 people present. Well what about the 5 of us that make a difference in our school? The state needs to worry more about their local units and less time worry about who is going to lobby next. Michelle it is a shame to say but these days more people are concerned with their own children, in thier own schools. We have come to realize that in our own school. There are other PTA's in our district that are doing great as a PTA and thats wonderful. All I'm saying is we are saving a whole lot of more money by being a PTO, and we are very excited to have made this change. Also Tim the PTO show in Philly I attended in April was a wonderful show. I really learned alot from the speakers. Cant wait for next years show in May. [img]smile.gif[/img]
If you had a contract with State Farm that stated you must contact them before a change-ie bylaws, then you would wouldn't you? My question is, if it all worked out the way you said it did and it was a benefit to switch then what are you afraid of by making sure you get all pertinent information before you switch? There may be other factors, you may not know that need to be presented from both sides. You may just want to double check your own information to make certain you are making the right choice for your school and everyone involved in it? Did you have a meeting with all 400 members? Did they have a voice in the switch. I would be pissed if someone made any decision for my child without my input.
As for why waste their time, IT'S IN YOUR BYLAWS, and you didn't follow them.
Why have rules anyway? Right?
As a parent, I say PTA is definately the best option. It is money well spent and I am proud to do it. I get more for my money than a couple of bumper stickers and a bingo night. I can sit down with my grandchildren one day and say I helped make this happen.
Tim- you can't use an average(200 as an average is probably about right) when doing the numbers. You need real numbers for your situation.
I just wanna speak on behalf of our unit which has just converted over to a PTO from a PTA. We are in the process of changing our Incorporation Name now, which will cost $50.00. The next step will be to become an independent unit with the federal goverment, in which they will remove us from the umbrella we were under being a PTA. We will keep the same federal tax id #. The state does try to scare you into thinking you will no longer be tax exempt. You just need to contact the federal and fill out the paper work and the fee to do this change will be $500.00. For the 2002-2003 school year our unit had around 400 members, at a cost of $5.00 to be a member. Our unit sent the state PTA $1400.00 in dues last year. For what??? Yes we have to pay the federal for a one time change, and the insurance for PTO is higher each year than PTA, and we pay to belong to the NPTO Network, but eventually every year we will be saving over $1000. The only thing our unit ever got out of being a PTA was a National Reflections contest. We are very excited to have changed to a PTO, everyone was in favor of it, (did we follow the by-laws and let the state come in to speak?) NO we didn't. If we voted and everyone was in favor then there was no need to waste their time and ours. Example: If you currently were insured by StateFarm for auto insurance and Nationwide offered a cheaper rate, would you bring in both companys to speak to you before you made the switch? No, most people would look at their options and go with the one that would save them more money. We as a unit are looking forward to keeping so much more money a year in our own unit to use on our children!!! Being a prior State PTA board member I didn't think I would have ever said this, but today PTO is the way to go.
The subject of this topic was how to disband, not why you should. I used an example of one of the PTAs under me as to why you need to have someone from PTA present to make a decision and why following your bylaws protects the members. To be fair, you can't use an average of 200 members because I have units with 400+ members and I have units with 81. The difference is vast. As for comparison purposes, I wasn't comparing. It is an example as to what facts you may be missing out on when you only get one side of the coin. The point in this thread is that both sides need to be represented to make an educated decision.
Follow your bylaws, do it right. I can't say it enough. If you skip some of the steps you may be doing your membership a disservice.
