We did just vote on our 2002-2003 budget in May - it is reviewed by the executive board and presented to the members for approval. We previously meet with the principal and go over any areas that she would like to ask for funding for...this year it was the accelerated reading program $1,000.00 - which we were happy to fund..other areas like Outdoor School for the 6th graders (this year we gave $1,600+) seem like an extra that parents should pay for directly if they want their child to attend.

I did receive a budget via email that was helpful for comparison. Our budget is set for next year and I am mainly just curious. I think this is something that will have to be addressed throughout the year. We just had our Jog A Thon, a fundraiser we had planned to make $4500.00 profit on and have already profited $7500.00 so we did wonderful - which means everyone will come out of the woodwork to ask for this money. We had already voted to direct any surplus funds straight into our Playground Savings Account. We are also going to have a year end surplus of which it was determined 50% would carry over and 50% will go to the playground account. We do very well at our school and love making things better for the kids - it just seems that the school is relying on us more and more and we hope that is not preventing radical change in the funding system.

At our school we always give quite a bit to the library. This year we changed how our profit was paid to us by Scholastic after our book fair. We used to spit 50/50--50% in cash profit, 50% in books. Because our district cut the library budget, we changed ours to 20% cash for PTO and 80% in books for the library. We also have a magazine sale fundraiser. This year our librarian will list magazines she would like to order for the library, but doesn't have funds for. We will ask parents to consider purchasing a subscription for the library. Many parents have said they want to support this fundraiser, but don't really need magazines. This is a way they can help. We also make a cash profit of 40% on each subscription, killing two birds with one stone. It sounds like your PTO does a great job of trying to meet everyone's needs. Do you have an acquisition committee/budget committee that meets each year to reevaluate? That is a good time to narrow your focus if that's what you're looking for.

I can't give you exact figures, but your "gift" look similar to ours. We had over $20k given to the school in extras. Tho I wouldn't really consider books "extras". Schools' budgets are dwindling...we take up some slack. We dont have that much every year, we had an exceptionally good year. We spent about $10k on landscaping! We added shade trees to their playground (and of course irrigation so our Tx heat doesnt kill them!). We are also paying for new computer software, books for library, gym equipment, etc etc.

I think it depends on how much the school can raise in fundraising. We have a great principal and awesome parents. We might not get many parents to meetings, but they come through! Our main fundraiser was our carnival.

Sorry I can't give you specifics--but you're not alone.
Lisa @ Tx

I am still looking for some feedback as to where other parent groups provide funding. I am trying to get an idea of how much the parent groups are supporting the schools throughout the country...please see my previous post to get an idea of how much our group does...thanks!

I am looking to compile some information from other parent groups in regard to the activities, supplies, etc. that your parent group pays for.

I would love to see a copy of your budget if possible (please fax to 503-657-2497 to my attention - Lisa E. PTSO).

Our group pays for a lot and with district and state wide cuts coming through for next year we will be funding even more areas and helping to cover those areas that will have no funding outside of the money given by our PTSO.

For instance our group gave $850.00 this year to our library. The librarian used this to buy supplies, books, etc....she also received money though the school to buy things such as magazine subscriptions, new books, etc. (I don't know how much this amount was this year) but she came up to me last week and said she has already been told that there will be no money in the budget for the library next year. That is just an example.

We also pay for all Field Trip transportation, all assemblies, computer lab upgrades, swimming lesson transportation, accelerated reading program, yearbook printing (partial), money to teachers and specialists, playground equipment, school sign, and on and on and on...

What I am afraid of is that the states are relying on parent groups more and more and our fundraising efforts...is this keeping them from truly fixing the problem of funding our schools adequately? When we purchase new sign and playground equipment do the community neighbors without school aged children drive by the school and think, "Well they have new equipment that looks real spendy, they must have more than enough money - I think I will vote NO on that bond coming up in November."? See what I mean?

I just want to get some information together so that I can form an opinion on this matter. Any information parents can give me will be much appreciated...thanks! [img]smile.gif[/img]