When departments use up their budget money then the school or district should have resources as to where they can get their bills paid from. To me that is just bad management. I don't like being told that there's no money left in a budget so can PTO pay the bill. Well, when PTO ask for help do we ever get teachers to help (sometimes 10%) I know that they all live busy lives but so do we. I know that when you run over budget show it on paper so next more money can be allocated to that area and you don't run into the red. Sometimes I wonder do the school districts add money to budgets when they see overcrowdness. Just had to say my thoughts after reading these postings. Yes, it's great to ask the community for help. But those cartridges should of been purchased with school money and not PTO.
I can relate to your problem. Our PTO ended up purchasing 2 ink cartriges for our library. It was over 400.00. The library budget was spent by the librarian already or so the principal said. We need the library to function so we used the money aloted for new books to buy ink.(our principal is now gone) Next year we will specify that the library money must be spent on books.
hello, Why not try to get local nurseries to donate bushes or trees. We are doing a memorial garden for our school dedicated to all those who lost a loved one or friend of 9-11-01. (Since there was no possble way for us to know and provide a item to each school person/child effected by this tragedy.) a dad volunteered to go to nurseries and landscaping businesses and solict for donations. He has done a great job and has even managed to possible get an irrigation system installed for the garden. It is amazing what you can get woith the right marketing tools . We send a letter to each vendor they get a mention in our newsletter and a certificate from us as a sponsor of our program. Also we give a receipt to each vendor stating what they donated (not the $ amt of the item just what they donated)
We have a similar issue at our school involving landscaping. We are currently selling personalized bricks as a fundraiser to buy a school sign. The sign will be installed and we are planning a spring clean up day at the same time. There was talk of putting some plants and bushes around the sign, although no money has been approved for this. Now it seems that some folks are out getting landscaping bids. I am concerned that significant landscaping does not fit within our tax-exempt status. I just can't see how this benefits the kids - I think they could care less and this is something that is more important to the parents. I am opposed to it, but was just wondering what others felt about this. I spent alot of time getting us "legal" with the IRS and state, and I would hate to see it violated in the first year! Thanks.
LET ME SHARED OUR STORY, OUR PTO IS PRETTY MUCH RAN BY THE PRESIDENT AND VICE PRESIDENT, AND WE HAVE NO VOTE OR SHOULD I SAY HAVE BEEN ASK WHAT WE THOUGH. THEY WANTED TO PURCHASES A SNOW BLOWER
AND A LAMINATOR A 2300.00 LAMINATOR AT THAT. OUR SCHOOL SYSTEMS HAS A DEPARTMENT DEDICATED TO THIS.
WE ALSO PURCHASE SAXON PHONICS FOR THE CHILDREN.
AFTER SPEAKING TO THE MAN IN CHARGE OVER THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. HE HAS INFORMED ME THAT THE
SCHOOLS ALL HAVE MONEY FOR THESE ITEMS AND QUESTIONS WHY WE WOULD THINK OF PURCHASING THESE THINGS. NEEDLESS TO SAY OUR PRINCIPAL CONTRACT
WAS NOT RENEWED, SO WE ARE AT A STAND STILL UNTIL
THE POSITION IS FILLED. HAVE THEY PURCHASED A LAMINATOR PROBLE, BUT THE TWO WOULD NOT LET US KNOW ABOUT IT.