You are an independent organization acting on behalf of the parents/guardians of the kids in your school and therefore have a fiduciary responsibility to spend THEIR funds appropriately. The PTO account isn't a supplement to state and local funding, it's there to support the kids through the school.
You could also go the legalistic route that the board is responsible for accounting for the spending of the money and therefore the board maintains control of the funds. The principal is not an officer or board member (I assume) so really has no more "rights" than any other member of the organization.
BTW, it makes me very grateful for the principal we have and the relationship our board has with him.
My principal want the key to the PTO safe to be held in the key closet where all potentially have access to it. what is your take on this? does any one have any idea if this is ok or not I say NO WAY but i need to find some ruling or something in print that i can use as ammo. can anyone help!!! by giving me some info on what i can do or say to her to get her to understand that only the pto board needs to have access on she does not need access to the pto funds???