This was my first year as Pres. and I pretty much just followed notes from past officers and stayed on their course. We set aside quite a bit for attendance/academic awards. Our teachers and staff get from $50-$100 each for classroom supplies. We try to have a monthly fun day like sno cones, popcorn, hot cocoa, etc. I'd like to try some of the family fun nights next year, but would also like for teachers to get more classroom money. Not sure we can do both. That's a hard decision to make. You want more parent involvement, but also want to give the teachers a break. I was very shocked at how much some of them spend out of their own pockets for classroom needs. We'll have to see how it goes.

Budget wise, our concentration is in supplemental room funds for the classroom teachers and resource teachers. We're a fairly large K-5 school, about 800, and we provide about $300 per classroom. With resources, we're talking about 35-40 classes. Our next largest outlay goes to miscellaneous kid needs. We keep the Clothes Closet supplied, provide field trip funds, provide snow cone days and popcorn days for the kids, free ice cream on their birthdays, purchase their homework planners for them, provide the fifth graders and their families with a moving up celebration, etc., etc. The next bite goes to staff appreciation and support for breakfasts, appreciation week, conference day meals, etc. and finally to family events. We just started supporting assemblies this year really. We partnered with another neighborhood elementary PTO and our high school and were able to bring in some big names for assemblies at the schools and community events too. We will continue that next year.

However, planning wise, family events consume the lion's share of time and man-power. As president, as someone stated, parent involvement and education demands most of my time. We have also raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for special projects like Accelerated Reader, Parent Library, Playground, etc., but that comes from specially ear-marked fundraisers, not the budget. Our school is 8 years old so we're somewhat new and have had a lot of needs. We're fortunate in that we've never been expected to supply any routine needs such as paper or the like.

Hope this information helps.

When I was pres it was the stupid mulch!! Just kidding, I am glad we have it. It was hard picking those jack rocks out of kids faces when they fell. I also (along with my team)targeted Parental Involvement, Reward Incentives (such as prizes and fun days). My goal was to get as much money as possible so the teachers could by more supplies.

Okay here is a general question, I am wondering if your group gives more to your school via assemblies, equipment, supplies or do more family oriented events/fun nights, etc.
we are just about to finish our 4th school year and every year I wonder if we are doing okay. We spend 95% of what we make on family events/ fun days for our students. We very seldom do assemblies, or supplies, equipment(only once did we buy a big screen) only if we have "leftover "money. The other schools in our district do alot of assemblies, supply stuff and sometimes I am asked why we focus on what we do. I know our when our PTA was around they did great with purchases for the school and only one fun night. Guess we went to the extreme, yet I also see us getting anywhere between 200-375 kids at a fun night along with their families. Just wondering? Our mission statement does say bring together students, families, staff, community for the better of all...