Our state also collects a percentage of the dues collected from the parents which does not leave us with much of a profit. Our liability insurance requires any parent who volunteers time for the school needs to be a PTA member. I need to check with our state regulations and insurance carrier again regarding not charging dues. This is a very interesting topic!!!

This topic came up at the beginning of the year for us. Our bylaws state that we can charge up to $5, but we voted to have no membership fee. As far as I am concerned, if your student goes to the school, then you are automatically a member of the Parent Teacher Organization!

We charge $3. The thing that shocked me is that we had over 60 people willing to shell over the $3 and only about 10 that show up for meetings. (This is our very first year)

I have discussed in the group not charging dues next year and the 10 have emphatically said that we will charge dues again.

So, I also can see both sides and I say as long as you keep them reasonable there really isn't any harm in charging dues.

We charge $5 per family to give us a little cushion at the beginning of the year, but anyone can participate whether they've paid or not. All we do is thank them for their donation; we don't keep track of who paid and who didn't. I don't understand why we would want to charge parents to be involved in their child's school. It's hard enough for us to get any volunteers as it is; I can't imagine making them pay first!

The first year I was president of our PTU we did our membership drive like always. With the ice cream treats, school magnets and endless flyers I figured out that we were losing money. The next year we did a booster drive. It was very successful and netted over $1,000.00. It took very little effort and no shaking down parents to join!

We've never charged dues as it creates a sense of exclusion and elitism. Everyone is a member of our PTO, and if you want voting rights, then you run for one of our executive team positions.