Hi intomykids,
At our school and at council we provide a copy of the full budget at meetings. I also have several schools that post their budget on their schools website and have sent it out in their newsletter. I have never heard of it being discouraged. The budget should be open for all to view. I would think by not publishing it you would insinuate that you had something to hide.
It's their money too. I too believe that constructive criticism is good and you can only benefit from the input. You also may get some very good, much needed positive input. I say go for it!

I am a budget fanatic. The money belongs to the members, not to the officers, not to the treasurer, and not to the principal. I believe it is the Executive Board's obligation to create, publish, and abide by an approved budget. Why would a member want to contribute to a black hole? A great way to build trust and collaboration between members is to be open and forthcoming with financial information. Plus, it takes a burden off the shoulders of your exec board when the members agree on a budget spending plan.

It's not hard to create a decent budget if your PTO has been in existence for at least a year. Analyze your checkbook to see how money has been raised and spent in the past. And if your PTO is brand new, you create one based on your mission statement and how much you believe you can raise.

We do not publish our budget but we recently started letting parents know how much each fundraiser made when it closed out via our newsletter. We also publish so many times a year how much we have raised to date.

I have an entirely different dilemma about the budget. We don't have one!! Not only is our PTL at present comprised only of 2 individuals, the president-(of 16 yrs!) and myself-sec/treas, our school "splinters" its fundraising. We're lucky if our spendable assets at year end is more that $2500! We have 1 major fundraiser each year, and I keep an copy of all of our transactions on my computer in Quicken. This, I print out monthly and put in a file in our office in case any parents would ever ask to see any expenditures. The school administration-we're parochial, printed up a fake budget a couple of years ago, when we were attempting a re-accredidation. They had to have a viable PTL org., or it was a no-go on the accredidation. I have no idea how to handle the "no public budget". Any suggestions? :confused:

Thanks all for your comments. I have a standing answer when people complain or offer ideas of how an event could be better, "That's great! Next year when we do this again you'll have to be on the committee!!". I don't think I've gotten alot of new help this way but it sure makes me feel better when people (ALWAYS the ones who do NO work) complain or advise!

I agree with the others -- by all means, publish your budget (post it on your school's website too, if you have one). Our budget (just over $15,000) is presented & approved just prior to the end of the previous school year. There's always a large crowd, because this bit of business (& election of PTO officers) is done at the end-of-school cabaret (featuring parents &/or faculty) & ice cream social. Trust me, they're *not* coming for the budget & elections! Once the new year is underway, I (as PTO Prez) highlight the budget in a brief PowerPoint presentation I give at Back to School Nights. In your case, if anyone belly-aches, tell them when the budget was approved & inform them that you'll use their "constructive criticism" when the next budget is being crafted -- & encourage them to be an active part of the budget process.