hey mighty jo, we have an area called educational materials, my problem I think is that nothing really has been done by any rules in the past. (not to mention that I'm new at this :&gt ) At one point, we had two educational materials items, one was the principal's wish list and the principal handled that, and then the random pta item that we handled. The issue I have (had) is that the membership never had a clue where the money was going because it just got handed over to the teachers... we don't have an educational committee or anything like that either .(I know it's in the budget so we can spend it without a big deal. but....) I just feel like the membership is entitled to know what is going on and in the past this has not been the case. I could go on, but that would be completely off the subject. :&gt sorry to be so long.

Maggie,

Glad it worked out for you. I do have a question though. Do you have an area in your budget that covers teacher expenses such as this? We offer what we call mini-grants. Teachers can request up to $250. We budget approx. $3000. a year. The teachers need to complete a request detailing how they intend to use the money, etc..& have it signed by the principal. Then we have a committee who review them. Our intention is to have the teachers offer creative projects that would not be included in the reg. budget. This is a long way of saying that our teachers do not need to come to meetings to make a presentation if it is something that can fall under a mini-grant.

Sorry, got long winded (AGAIN!).

Jo

NICURN,

I am glad it worked out well for you. In your situation, I agree that it is best to have the person or representative make the request and field any questions.

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by nicurn:
I am curious as to how this is handled in other schools. <hr></blockquote>

I'm sorry if I only addressed your inquiry as to how other schools handled such requests and did not make any suggstions for your current situation.

I see how it makes sense if the request is inexpensive as you explained and the PTA can make a quick decision. My only concern would be if thi is something that comes up frequently and how much of your meeting time is spent on request/discussion/approval?

Again, I'm glad it went smoothly for you!

[ 11-14-2001: Message edited by: Sueboomari ]</p>

thanks for all the responses! :&gt It worked out fine, the teacher rep came and presented the 3 things that the teachers wanted to know about, all of which are valid requests and would benifit the entire student body (which is always nice) :&gt She presented them, we had discussion (after a little prompting for a motion... :&gt ) and decided to pay for one, look into pvc piping for another one, and see if we could get the other thing donated. It went better than I thought it would. I think what I should do is just make sure the teachers know who the teacher reps are so that they know where to go. thanks again

PLW makes a good point. We can all talk about our great programs all we want, but that doesn't answer the question of what to do in this particular case right now. If the teacher wishes to present their request to the board, they should come to the meeting and do so. If they want to just stick a note in the mailbox and wait for a check to arrive, then the secretary should present it as correspondence received.

Then, when you handle new business somebody can make a motion to provide the funds. If you think it is a good idea, and if you have a group that isn't very good about making motions, you can present it as "the chair will entertain a motion to...". Then somebody just needs to say "so moved" to put the motion on the floor. Of course, if your group is like mine, you may need to then prompt them what to do. My board members are much more willing to second motions than make them, even though they get their name in the minutes either way.

nicurn, personally I am with you. If a teacher has a request they should come and present it to the membership. I have even said so in the welcome back teacher letter at the beginning of the year. The membership always appreciates knowing the need for the item and it is best expressed by the person who needs it. I once was questioned over a small expenditure for a teacher and unfortunately did not have the answers the membership wanted. The teacher would have. If the teacher does not come surely have your secretary or corresponding secretary read the request. See if a motion comes from the floor to fulfill the request. As chair of the meeting, you do not have to present it.