We did approve the buying of the Laminator for the school. We will not be responsible for any maintenance or supplies for it. Our principal will use her fund for the printer, and our after school program is going to use the stacking cups as well and it was funded by that program. So all is well... for now anyhow. I also found out that there isn't a reason to freak out about the money we have. I talked to some older PTO members and they said that our balance is fine but in order to do more things like the playground we are going to need to raise the majority of the money. We are looking into grants for the playground right now.
You've been given pretty good advice so far. I just have a few more things to add. You have said that your budget is low. Are these items an emergency need? If not, then you can tell them that you can try to put it into next year's budget. If there is an area in your budget where you can pull this money from and it will not be affected, you need to put it to a vote with your members at a regular general membership meeting, since it is not in your budget, you would have to amend the budget as well.
If you do decide to purchase any of the items, JHB had some really good questions. If you purchase any kind of hardware, you do not want to saddle future boards with a financial obligation of maintaining and upkeeping the equipment. In order to avoid this, you can donate the funds to your school for their purchase, which is the ideal way to do it. Or you can purchase the items and then donate it to the school. Making certain in writing that the ownership of these items is the responsibility of the school and that your PTA/PTO will have no further obligations towards the equipment.
You may be considering attempting to have some of these items simply donated. The stacking cups wouldn't be a problem but if you try to find a way to have the hardware donated, school districts have specifications that need to met, and as stated previously, will require some maintenance and upkeep. You will need to make certain that the school will accept this responsibility and again, put it in writing. Either in your own minutes or in a written agreement given to the school and a copy kept for your records. That way, if three years from now, the copier breaks and the school comes to the PTA and says, "you need to replace this" that board will have a record as to the status of its ownership.
Just my 2cents worth,, but FIRST these teachers nedd to go to the Principal with their request,,, if rejected then they should approach the PTO.
Buying Cups for the Gym teacher should benefit all the kids.
Not sure if the printer is just for ONE teacher or going to be used by all teachers...
$800 laminator,,, who is going to continue to buy supplies...
These request need to be met by the school district FIRST,,, if request are rejected then they ask PTO.
IF it were me, I'd just write a one page Parent Request and ask for help... tell them exactly what items, model numbers, etc. is need, you just never know who works for who, or who has a resource or just happen to have an old one to donate. Or who can get you a better price... put the word out before you open your pocket book.
Or if your principal feels all these are valid requests, perhaps he/she could prioritize them for you in terms of importance to the school as a whole. Then if you do have any funds left after meeting your budget, you could purchase as much as you have the funding to cover. I would suspect the playground will have to come out of another year's budget anyway, right? And that sounds like the kind of thing that would get a better response from targeted fundraising rather than taking it from the general fund.
We've found in our school that with things that have a strong "heart appeal"--and a playground would fit there, but not office supplies--we get a good response from designating a specific fundraiser for that specific cause. So for instance, our walkathon this year was targeted to a new fund to cover need-based scholarships for field trips, and we brought in some pretty impressive donations even though the same fundraiser the prior year didn't raise much at all for our general budget.
Above all, don't feel guilty if you simply don't have the money to cover every need the school has. You never will, but everything you CAN do will be a help.
We allocate a set amount for several budget categories that we let the principal control. For example, we allocate $800 for "Educational Materials". We accept any request (up to $800)from the principal that falls into the general description of educational materials. In our PTO, the parents don't debate whether a request from a teacher is valid. We leave that up to the principal. He gets to be the hero or bad guy. How can we, parents, really know what tools are needed for the school and which are more important than others? I'd rather leave those decisions up to the principal who has ultimate responsibility for the school anyway.
You've been given some great advice. Another thing to consider is if the printer is on a network, what is the work load of the staff that need to install it and maintain it. Supplies, is there a budget to support it? Laminator, great idea, but who will be responsible for it? Also, budget support?
Just a few questions, sometimes it's hard to decide what projects to support and what needs to wait.
