We prepare a budget at the end of the school year for the following school year. Then approve that budget at the first meeting of the new school year. (we did our ptw budget for 2003-2004 school year last week. We will preview it at our last meeting this year so if any changes need to be made we can make them and approve an amended budget in September.) We do leave a gift line item without a money ammount so as we get requests for things for a teacher or classroom we have some place to post it. For the second item, your board needs to notify all of the steakholders (parents, teachers, administrators and students) of money received and spent for the year. We do this every month at our meetings.
Good luck

I'm not sure if this fits the original situation, but we had a similar issue last fall.

We have multi-age classrooms in our school, where grades 4 and 5 are combined. The Music teacher wanted to take the 4th/5th grades on a field trip to the big theatre downtown for a live performance, and the total cost would be $1,000.

Since this year's 4th graders would be next year's 5th graders, the trip isn't necessary annually. Therefore, this year's 3rd graders would attend when they're in 5th grade. Are you with me still?

Since this was the first year, the PTO approved the $1,000 so this year's 5th graders could enjoy this wonderful experience, but we have worked out an annual budget of $500 for this expenditure.

Provided a child doesn't leave our school before 4th/5th grades, everyone will have the opportunity to go on this field trip.

Sheila
Co-Pres

I am not sure that this is in our by-laws but if you say that a fundraiser is to be used for a specific purpose the the funds must be used for that purpose. If you say it is for student activities then it can be spent for anything. Our big fundraiser this year was to buy a portable stage which will be used primarily for drama and chorus which not everyone participates in. Of course I don't think any kid should be excluded unless there is a very good reason. Also, were the kids that are excluded expected to particpate in the fund raiser?

Doesn't your treasurer prepare a report at each meeting? I agree the methods you state for spending PTO funds is in need of some overhaul or questioning at the very least. But you should see where the money is going through the treasurer report as well.

That's was just the problem we weren't ever given a budget to vote on in the beginning of the year. We are fine with PTO spending the money; we just want to know what they bought. No one has any clue.

2Hearts - Let me make a comment on your posting about how money is spent...if a PTO creates and votes to approve an annual spending budget at the start of the year, then you and all the members have confidence that your money will be spent throughout the year in accordance with the budget previously approved. Budgeting is not an exact science, but if your PTO has been around for a year or two, it's pretty straightforward. You don't need to budget every penny; you can have general categories that each have a budget amount so you know the amount can't be overspent without a PTO vote. I harp on this subject alot, but I really believe a thoughtfully-crafted budget is a responsibilty of PTO leadership. No more spending approvals on the fly - for the very reasons you describe.

For some tips on creating and managing a budget for your PTO, you might want to check out the Treasurer's Column in the August and October issues of PTOToday magazine.