Our PTO does not charge dues to be a voting member - it is automatic if your are a parent or legal guardian of a student, or a paid staff member of the school.
We do have a membership drive to collect dues, however they are optional. If you pay $10, you are considered a regular member of the PTO and your family gets a discount a several PTO events through the year. If you pay $30, you are considered a gold member and your family gets free tix to the same events.
All of the dues collected go to our Teacher Allocation fund, which gives teachers money to spend on items/supplies for their classrooms. So in the end the kids get the benefits.
Wow - see, that's why I like this site so much. It makes you think of things in other ways. We get so used to what we keep on doing. I know that the money that we use for membership helps with our fall festival, so we kind of look forward to that extra money. With that being said, if we are going to keep a membership drive, I will vote to keep it at $5/family. Thanks for your input.
We are a PTO and we do not charge dues either. Five years ago our school was PTA and the dues was a huge factor in why it was changed over.We have families that just can't afford that money. Think about it you are paying to have a say in your child's school?? I laugh at my husband because he has to pay to do boy scouts...i just never get over that..paying to volunteer. Yes you could argue that the dues go to a good cause but alot of volunteers put in alot of their own money and time to these organizations. Time to get off my soap box...ha ha ha
"When you stop learning you stop growing."
My PTO does not charge dues either. Personally, I would not pay to belong to a group. But you need to decide if dues is right for your group or not. I guess if you didn't fundrasise and dues would be your only income then...
Good luck!
Our PTO used to charge $10 dues per family. For that, you got voting rights, a school directory (which the PTO produces) and a notepad. A few years ago, we got rid of dues so we could consider all the parents and teachers at our school as "members" without them having to pay anything. We view ourselves as the parent involvement mechanism of the school, not a membership club. We still sell the directory and notepads a la carte, so we didn't feel the loss of revenue.
In our school, our principal coordinates a big project each year. He needs lots of parent volunteers, but he does all the planning and visioning himself. So...is that a PTO project or a school project? Do you have to be a paid PTO member to help on the principal's project? It seemed silly to have to think about that distinction - that was the main impetus to getting rid of our dues. I like that we can honestly say all our parents and teachers are members, even if they aren't all active and many would never describe themselves as PTO members. It sends a message that parent involvement, no dues paying, is the most important aspect of the PTO.
missymom - each PTO can decide on its own whether it wants to charge dues. PTA units must charge at least enough to cover their dues obligations to the state level. Since a PTO, by definition, is any parent-teacher group that is not affiliated with National PTA, there are many, many different forms of PTOs around the country. Each one adapted to the needs and interests of their own school.
