In our state the PTA provides a plethora of training materials, extremely worthwhile training opportunities and support. It has worked really well for us.

The benefit I see of having dues ($5/yr - that's less than a movie ticket!) is that it creates some buy-in and the parents do feel connected and make it a point to 'get involved.' I purposely did NOT say 'more' connected because I do not have experience with non-dues paying PTOs.

We also utilize the community businesses to provide 'Membership Perks'* to reward parents for their involvement-- this provides an opportunity to get businesses involved as well. Again-- I'm not saying PTO's can't do the same. I'm just saying that the PTA has worked well for us, and the $5 is MORE than re-imbursed through our Parent Perks. This year we are focusing on literacy and parents will actually be able to save the $5 over and over again every single month by saving money on the purchase of books-- a double bonus! Promote literacy, promote parent involvement!

Again-- PTO's could do the same if they wanted to. IMO, the training, resources, programs, etc offered by the National-- or at least our State PTA Office is well worth the investment. I'm sure not all PTA's, or PTO's, run as well as ours does, though. We had over 60 youth on our PTSA Youth Leadership Board.

*You can see what our 'Membership Perks' are at Logan Council Membership Perks . We are just getting started-- we hope to add many more before school starts. If you want information on how they have set this up you can email our Council Board at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

In all PTAs, paying dues is a requirement for voting and holding office. In many PTAs, paying dues is also required for many volunteer roles.

Tim

leeann from Rochester Ny;134160 wrote: Do you mean you have to pay to vote?

I think what was meant was that with most parent groups that have dues (PTA or PTO), the group's activities tend to benefit the school in general and all families. Paying the membership would be required to vote as a member or hold office. But otherwise, most families could benefit from the organization without formally joining (paying the membership fee).

I belong to both a PTO and PTA. Both had dues. So I agree with that statement. Even with the PTA, the only restriction I saw was that for a senior to apply for one of the PTA scholarships ($500), their family had to be a PTA member by the Fall deadline (months earlier than the scholarship deadline). But this was clearly spelled out during the membership drive as one of the benefits. So I had no problem with that policy. Otherwise - events, volunteer recruitment, teacher appreciation - anyone could participate in the PTA activities.

Membership was certainly encouraged, but it didn't become a members only clique.

With PTO's the group has a choice whether to require dues or not. If they have dues, it's the same situation. (Members vote. Membership=those who join and pay dues.) If they don't, then membership (and thus voting rights) are determined by whomever the bylaws say members are.

In PTA - Yes -- No pay No vote (ie NO Membership unless dues paid)

In some PTO's same thing but most that I've been involved in no (ie automatically a member and get a vote because no dues)

Unregistered;127455 wrote: it IS *free* at some schools, to belong to the PTA. only if you want to VOTE, do you need to pay the dues. but you can particpate in ALL other ways without having to pay the dues (which dont directly benefit the school anyway).

LOTS of 'free' (no membership dues) ptos have members who never vote, either. in fact, seems the majority do NOT vote even when membership is free, so the whole membership issue (and TYPE of org) does not seem to influence voting, nor participation in the whole parent community, ie committee involvemnt, events and all the other things that make up the effectiveness of a parent grp

Do you mean you have to pay to vote?

It should be part of your state and national structure. When our PTA officers take over, they routinely go to training classes for their office - at least the treasurer and president.

I'm not an elected officer, just a committee chair, but I've seen the guidebooks and reference sheets available to our officers and they are pretty substantial. Actually, years ago when I organized our PTO and knew little about parent groups, I went to the state PTA and bought the guidebooks for each office. As I recall there was a tremendous amount of information. (I was shocked that just anyone could buy them and suspect they've tightened that up by now. They weren't fancy - photocopied guides 25-100 pages each and cost a whopping $5 each. But they had great information. Especially treasurer and tax stuff which I was just learning.)

I'm frequently hearing our president mention the updates she gets about tax rules changing, deadline reminders, programs available. It seems there's a wealth of information provided to her.

Keep in mind - I'm simply "Pro parent groups". Whatever "flavor" best fits your situation is what you should do. If you have folks who are willing to learn the business side of PTO and put those pieces in place as an independent group, then wonderful. You won't have PTA dues to worry about or national rules to follow. But if you don't want to dedicate a lot of effort to that piece, develop your own 501(c)(3) and want to be spoon fed processes from the business side, then maybe an established organization like PTA is better for you. Whatever works...