We operate very much like Critter. Our budget is almost $23,000 and we also go with a balanced budget system. 300 kids grades k-5, semi-rural. We have expenditures like Books- Author program, 2nd grade reading program, publishing center. Special projects - earth day, 5th grade yearbooks and Student expenses- assemblies, class parties, technology (by far the biggest at $5,000) field trips (second largest at $4,300). We do not fund the library but sponsor the birthday book club that brings in about 100 donated books a year and the author program costs around $3,000. We do not pay for any staff positions and have never been asked to do so.
For income we have 2 Book Fairs, 1 Fall wrap/candy fundraiser ($5,000), a smaller spring fundraiser ($3,000), Kidstuff books ($2,500) in the fall, Market day ($4,000 +), Spring Festival and Silent Auction ($4,000) and a few other small things less then a thousand each. Hope this helps.
I'll email the info, but for the sake of others who are following this thread:
Our school is grades 2-5, 700 kids (big school). Our total income budget is $21,145 which comes from one major source ($13,000 wrapping paper fundraiser) and 4 other sources (carryover, carnival, Back to School kits, donations).
Our expenditures are spread over three major categories: Enrichment, Recognition, and Operations. Within those major categories, we budget to 26 distinct expense categories (ex: landscaping, educational materials, teacher reimbursements, staff appreciation, etc.).
We exactly balance our budget every year, even though that means putting pennies into one of our miscellaneous category budgets since we have pennies in our checkbook at the beginning of the year and that counts as part of our income.
Each month, we post all financial transactions to one or more category (I use Quicken), so we can report Actual To Date against Budget and therefore calculate a Variance. At any point, our Actual To Date Income minus our Actual To Date Expenses will equal our checkbook balance.
We present our proposed annual budget to our members for approval at the first meeting of the new year. With the budget approved, the PTO is "open for business". Since we budget at such a detailed level, we rarely have to vote on spending requests throughout the year.
Critter
If you don't mind could you send me a copy of your budget and let me know what size school you are for comparison's sake. We are just concluding a revision of our bylaws and have given approval of the final budget to the membership but looking for how general pto budgets look or how specific they are. Thanks so much
I'll email you our budget with descriptions - maybe it will help you. ...OOps- your email was undeliverable. Is it possible there's a typo in your PTOToday profile?
As far as the rules of distributing money - the IRS doesn't allow you to give a substantial amount to an individual for personal benefit. You can send flowers if a teacher breaks her leg, but you probably shouldn't give each teacher $100 cash with no paper trail. I'm not aware of any IRS rules that put percentages on your budget breakdown, though a PTO might have a policy that requires any amount over $xx to benefit y% of students. That's up to your individual group.
I don't think you are crazy at all. The district I am in is SAYING that it's hurting for money. The elementary (2 more months, really - I can do this!) that my youngest is in - the principal approached PTO and asked them to fund two part time positions at the school, so no, you are not crazy.
Somewhere - and those of you much smarter than I can point me to where I got this crazy notion - I read/heard/dreamed that the funds raised are to be used for the majority of the population, or a percentage of the population, or something like that. Not sure if this is because of the 501(c)(3) status of an organization or because I have had too much caffeine today or what - but if you were to tell me that I, as a parent, or my child as a student, was expected to fund raise for the benefit of the teachers parties, I wouldn't do it. I would not buy a candy bar or roll one of wrapping paper. That's just me!
Can you all give me a little feedback on your budgets? I think that ours needs a complete overhaul. If you could just let me know if the following is in your budget and if you don't mind how much is budgeted. We will be meeting with our principal soon and I would like to get an idea of what others do.
Reimbursements: Teachers, part time specials(music art), speech therapist(pt), social worker (pt), reading resource teachers (pt), psycologist(pt),nurse. We are also very lucky to live within a school district which is not hurting for money(not yet anyway). Our library has a line item in the school's budget and in the pto budget - how much total do you give your library? All of the above money adds up so fast - I would love to spend more on the kids and do away with some of the other. Also, do any of you feel that you are thought of the bottomless pit of money and if there is a party PTO should pay? I am tired of being the hostest with the mostest! Yes, there are times when it is appropriate to host a party (teacher appr. week and 1st day of school breakfast for teachers) but honestly when more funds go toward school staff than educational purchases or equipment needed for the children - or heaven forbid a party/celebration for the children something is wrong. Thanks for listening and for your input on the budget issues.
