Speaking as a county Board member and active on the state level (as well as our school's immediate past president) let me put my 2 cents worth in.
If you did not pay your PTA dues last year- your state probably already has you as "inactive", but they have not revoked your charter yet. To do that they would have contacted your group and let them know it was about to happen. You owe your county (or district) council, if you have one, the courtesy of a phone call to let them know you are going to bring this up to your membership. If you do not have a council, you should call your state office with the information (you can probably let them know via e-mail.
Then you do need to have a board meeting and bring this issue up. (it can not just be you that wants the change). Following a board reccomendation- you then must advertise a meeting- then bring it to a general membership vote.
After that vote. it must be recorded in your minutes- and a copy forwarded to your state PTA office. Following that you are done.
It is also true- that the money raised by your Parent group last year stays at the school. The state and national PTA only want the dues (a portion of your membership money- NOT fundraiser money)to keep your group active. They would NEVER want the money you raised at your school. However- if you do make the change- make it very clear to your membership what happened to the money in the bank account. Let them know you have opened a newaccount, and you will be following the same "money procedures as before" (monthly treasurer reorts and a year end audit)
I myself (as you may have figured out)am a PTA person- but I know of many schools that are just as happy being a PTO. In our county- our council never refuses help to any parent organization that asks for it. We do have mostly PTAs in our area- but a couple have chaged to PTO. I think a lot of it has to do with the personality and needs of your school.
ON a different subject- I hope you are kidding about being a PTA President for the next 10 years.....remember if you stay in charge it does not give others the chance to grow. It will also discourage others from thinking their help or ideas are needed. But, that said- I am sure you will give youe Parent group (PTA or PTO) the good leadership it needs for the next year.

Yeah, you guys are fine.

The PTA could say that your old PTA technically still exists. But that's completely a technicality and won't affect you in the least. There's no money, no officers and no dues going into PTA. For all intents and purposes, it's done.

And you did it just right with your new PTO. New bank account. Own 501(c)(3).

You're all set to do great work. We can't wait to help!

Tim

Well PTA dues were not paid this year and as far as I know we are not active. We have disolved everything in the PTA acct and have opened a new PTO bank acct. We have a new 501(c)3 # from the irs and I think we are ready to roll, we are going to join the NPN and get insurance. The PTA has done nothing, and I mean nothing for us. I am looking forward to all of you, your support and the exchanging of ideas. The school administration, parents and students have made a committment to the PTO, our children and their future.

Originally posted by Michelle B:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Rockne:
Are you sure you *were" an official PTA? Not too many private schools are.

Actually Tim we have private schools that are PTA. </font>[/QUOTE]Didn't say otherwise. The percentage of private/religious school parent groups that are PTAs is certainly very, very low. All I was saying.

Tim

Originally posted by Rockne:
Are you sure you *were" an official PTA? Not too many private schools are.

Actually Tim we have private schools that are PTA. The reason being is that while some school districts may offer general liability insurance, private school's parent's groups will have to have independent coverage, the owners of these school's don't foot that bill. In our state, because like Michael's school, they have a very small number of students comparitively and for them to be a PTA, paying dues and paying insurance coverage is about $100+ less than NPN's group coverage for liability only. That seems to be the lowest insurance coverage available outside of PTA rates that I've seen for an independent group (in NV, full coverage for a unit is only $155 a year with little to no deductibles)
So for a private school with a small enrollment like Michael's, the money works very much in their favor and I'm sure that's the number one reason our private schools choose PTA. PTA has a much smaller price tag than going independent for these schools.

Hi Michael B --

Glad you found us. I think you'll find the site to be a big help. Are you sure you *were" an official PTA? Not too many private schools are. You may be all set already.

Couple of comments/elaborations/clarifications on Blue's message:

Originally posted by blue67ccm:
Well, there is a specific fashion you must follow in order to disband a PTA. You should have all the details in your current PTA bylaws. Notice must be given to the membership, a meeting must be held, a PTA representative must be allowed to speak, etc.

Many of the details are up on the air, depending on your state. The "PTA representative must be allowed to speak" part especially is not specifically in most PTA bylaws.

And I wouldn't say "must" for any of this stuff. Typically, there's a process for disbanding that you *should* try and follow, where it's reasonable. But if the request is unreasonable or the people making the request act unreasonably, then the "must" goes out the window.

Your remaining funds raised in the name of PTA, if it hasn't been spent in the name of your PTA prior to disbandment, will have to be returned to your either local or state PTA office.

I've heard this argument before, and I really believe it's bunk (not to be too harsh, Blue). The vast, vast majority of the people donating the funds (or buying the products or paying the dues or paying the admission fee...) believe they are supporting their kids school (and its parent group). They'd be flabbergasted if you told them that the bank account had to go to the state capitol or Chicago.

All the information you need to begin a PTO is right here on this site. Tim and Company can help you immensely.

This part, of course, I completely agree with

Tim