Ewww--and don't forget--rainey day money. We've started a saving account with a goal of putting 10 percent of our money from the year into it in order to purchase bigger items down the road....d
Make it fun! Ask the teachers if they would have themselves and the students write 3 things each that they would like for the school. Make it a bit of a contest. The best idea gets a extra hour of recess or pizza party or something.
When we thought we might have some extra cash, we asked our teachers to get together at each grade level and make a wish list of educational items they need. We then presented the lists at our meeting once we knew how much money we had to spend. We prioritized a little, then just started spending until the cash was gone!
Consider adopting the common classrooms so that the teachers can purchase new equipment...like music, math, PE. The adoptions are 500 dollars each and if they aren't registered at Adoptaclassroom.com they should consider doing so. We also purchased a school mascot (700) and a popcorn machine 1,600 which has given us a lot of joy. Also see if there is a cultural event nearby and rent buses to take the children (perhaps a museum, performance etc). We're in DC so there are tons of those...
Finally--we started a rainy day account for what we know will be future upgrade requirements. Not a ton of money in there right now (but we're only one year old). Ahhhh, we should all have such problems [img]smile.gif[/img] . Dianna
Ask the teachers what they would like to see. Maybe give teachers $$ for their field trips. Does the library need anything? playground equip? When my school shut down, we had over $4000. to spend. We decided to spend the money on our students rather then turn it over to another pto. My tres. & I went on a spending spree. We bought t-shirts for the whole school, had a big bbq, & bought prizes from wal-mart,k-mart, video rentals,movie passes & we pulled names out of a "hat". Every child went home with something. the staff received flowers,gift certificates for dinner, & $$ for classroom supplies. Good luck & have fun spending the $$$. I know we did.
Our PTO has some extra money to spend (up to $7000.00). Does anyone have any ideas for school improvement or interactive educational props that would benefit the school??
