Thinking - I guess I have questions for you. In your original post you say:

there was a dispute between the principal and the president and the president pulled her children out of our school and the hsa board was disolved (along with all our funds)

I'm wondering how a dispute between two individual people can dissolve an entire parent group - all of their hard work, funds, etc. Is that principal still leading your school? If so, have you had a meeting with him to discuss what kind of parent group he would like to see? A meeting with the principal would give you a really great idea about what kind of person you're working with and, therefore, what kind of association your group would like to have with the school.

Hi Thinking! Welcome to the boards!!

All of the parent groups I've been involved with (three so far) have been a service branch of the school so all I can offer is what I see as the pros and cons of that arrangement:

Pros

1. There's a safety net with the admin and BOE members keeping an eye on you. If anything gets too sideways, they're there to help straighten things out.

2. Audits can usually be done free of charge for the group as your books are reviewed along with the school's books.

3. Setting up a two signature policy for checks means the group still has control over their funds (ie. the principal can't just write checks for whatever reason).

4. Minutes are presented to admin and BOE so they can see that the parent group is working toward the same goals as them.

Cons

1. The school is well within their rights to take over any funds raised by the parent group.

2. If the school decides your group is not working within the best interests of the school, they could take away your use of their tax id # and/or force major changes or disbanding of the group.

3. The admin has more say over your events and activities.

This is all based on my own personal experiences. I should mention, however, that the groups I've worked with have always had a very positive relationship with the admin / BOE and have never had to worry about serious consequences. I have, though, felt some subtle forcing of direction and decisions.

You'll get a lot of opinions from many others who've worked either as a service branch or seperate entity. I hope it all helps you make the best decision for your team.

Either way, clear, positive communication with your principal will go a long way towards your group's success.

IMO seperate from school -- that way school cannot dictate where funds are spent. If school and HSA account toghether the school can do whatever it wants without your input.

HI ALL!

I am so thrilled I stumbled upon this site - I can't read enough, however I have a rather simple, yet involved & loaded ? - Currently this will be our first year as a hsa - we had one 2 years ago - and there was a dispute between the principal and the president and the president pulled her children out of our school and the hsa board was disolved (along with all our funds)

A group of like minded mothers and myself [img]smile.gif[/img] inquired about starting a new hsa - were elected into our positions and now need to figure out HOW to do this. Adivce given us from various sources argue between making ourselves SEPARATE from the school (having our OWN bank account established by and among OUR BOARD) and others that say Stay with the schools accounts (we would have our hsa account, however it would be accessible to the pricipal & our board.

What do you all think? Please help. :confused:

my email is This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

[ 08-10-2006, 05:18 PM: Message edited by: what was I thinking? ]