Originally posted by pals: in the state of New York! When our group went to incorporate we actually were denied at first because our name had our schools name in it (Parents At Lanigan School). I had to have a letter from our super and building principal and sent those to the New York State Department of Education. They had to approve it, I then received a document from them that then had to be sent back in with our incorporating papers.
That is interesting. Incorporating is a state-specific thing, so it shouldn't be a surprise that there are different regs in different states. I wonder what would have happened if you said "Lanigan PTO" or "LSES PTO". I'm fairly certai 501(c)(3) apps (which are federal)wouldn't have the same issue.
Thanks for the info. We are going to try and get a meeting with the superintendent but he supposedly wanted to meet with all the school ptos and have a 501(c)(3) with all the schools under one. However, he seems to have blown that off. Maybe because of the summer, we don't know.
Also, one school opened 2 years before the others and they have already started to file their 501(c)(3) and opened their own checking account.
We're hoping to use that in our favor.
Tim... I found your response interested and had to add from my experience in the state of New York! When our group went to incorporate we actually were denied at first because our name had our schools name in it (Parents At Lanigan School). I had to have a letter from our super and building principal and sent those to the New York State Department of Education. They had to approve it, I then received a document from them that then had to be sent back in with our incorporating papers. Once we had the education departments approval it was no problem. just my experience!!
[ 08-31-2004, 05:37 PM: Message edited by: pals ]
"When you stop learning you stop growing."
I imagine this thread will elicit some other responses, and I'll try and offer a bit more about the "grays" later, but to to start I'll give you some of the black-and-whites:
1. If there's money in the school account, you don't have much of a legal leg to stand on to get that money back out. (PR leg? Yes. But legal leg -- no.)
2. Assuming public school, the Super can't stop you from having an independent parent group. Anyone could start a group called the "Friends of XYZ School" and operate to try and help the school or enact change at the school. Super doesn't have some sort of copyright on that name. Not at all. In fact, you as parents/voters are the #1 owners of that name.
That said, Super can tell his people not to cooperate with you. That's about the dumbest thing ever, but it's possible. He could say you can't have meetings on school property. can't use backpack express, generally make your life difficult.
On the auditing part, he has legitimate concerns. On the independence part, you have legitimate concerns. Have an adult conversation. How can you impress upon him that you'll set up systems to deal with his concerns?
Hi!
Our group is starting it's 2nd year. Our group voted to incorporate and become a 501(c)(3). The Superintendent said he wanted the whole district to become one together. We waited and heard nothing back. So we continued. We have a tax id # and have incorporated in our state.
The secretary and I went to the principal today to see how we could get the pto money out of the city account and were told that the administration cannot participate in anything that a private 501(c)(3) does. He also said that the superintendent does not want any accounts with the school name on it. He is concerned that it can't be audited.
Has anyone else had a problem with the administration refusing to allow you to incorporate and become a 501(c)(3)? To make matters worse the people at the city who needed to send out the tax exempt form for the school to the fundraisers were slow and sometimes we had to pay the tax and get refunded.
Any ideas?
