Our school does not offer field trips. The PTO pays for monthly assemblies and we bring the 'field trips' to the school. The kids love it and the programs are fantastic. Our budget is $5500 for this.
Our elementary school PTO covers the full cost of field trips and in-school enrichment programs.
The middle school PTO covers some in-school programs, but all the field trips are paid for by the families -- you have to send in a check with your child's permission form.
A lot of parent groups — but certainly not all — provide some funding for school field trips. I don't think a lot of groups provide full funding, however, because they're so expensive. A few different ways it might work include funding buses for a specific number of field trips during the year, providing a specific amount of money per grade for field trips, or helping to fund a few specific (usually traditional) field trips during the year.
A key question to ask is where field trip funding falls on the overall list of priorities. You might talk it over with the principal — he should be able to help you understand how important the field trips are and what alternative funding might be available.
I am just wondering if other PTA's pay for fieldtrips for all the kids in the school. We are having some financial issues and this seams like something we could cut. Before we bring it to our members just wondering if others pay for this item.
