Typically, PTO officers are not elected based on their personal political platform. They don't espouse their positions on political issues and PTO elections do not debate hot local political issues such as school levies or legislative issues. So I don't think it's appropriate for a PTO to take an official stance in any political issue. As an officer, you can't speak on behalf of your members because they didn't elect you for your political position, no matter how "noble" the cause (ex: securing funding for your schools).

At best, your PTO can remind people to get out and vote. You might even facilitate a debate of representatives from both sides of the issue (better yet, get the League of Women Voters to do it - they're the experts).

And to the PTOer in Ohio.....watch out! We in Michigan moved our school funding away from local property taxes to state-level allocation in 1994. It's a mess now. When the majority of your school aid is based on state-wide sales tax, and your state's economy is in the tank, there's no money for schools. In Michigan, even if we wanted to raise taxes locally to pay for books and salaries, the law forbids it. So we bite our nails every year and wait for the state to tell us how much money we'll get for the year - ususally a few months after the districts have to finalize their budgets. Don't get me started!

Your bylaws may state that they cannot take any role in a political campaign or lobby for a specific position. Ours does and when we have our local school board elections or to vote in the school budget, we can only use our PTO members to call parents to remind them to vote. We cannot state how to vote or discuss the issues, but we can remind them of the election and the hours of the polls.
New Jersey also has the same issue going on and if parents want to take action, it is on their own; not as a PTO member.

I also, as Pres...have the right to authorize 80 dollars per month that is non continuous and must be reconciled with the board at the first available meeting of same....BUT--our bylaws control our participation in political issues so the intent is to allow those dollars to go toward bona fide PTO functions. I don't think you should have to legislate every possilbe issue...especially since most prez's know their authority is based on the trust of the board....so I would certainly not throw my "dollars" against anything other than "oh well that ran over so yes take another 20 dollars, or "sure we'll pick up the tab for the science trophies that cost 40 bucks"...those are no brainers..but if there is something that requires a second look (which this certainly does) why risk your authority upon it...
d

I would suggest altering the bylaws to limit the number of times she can spend $100 without authorization.

Your bylaws should include a mission statement indicating the type of work you do and what you can and cannot promote. Even with the free spending reign the president enjoys, she cannot act counter to your mission statement.

If your bylaws don't include such a statement, I would also suggest that you add one. Such as this policy stated in my bylaws:

The PTO shall be a non-commercial, non-sectarian, non-partisan entity. No commercial enterprise and no candidate shall be endorsed in their official capacities; shall be used in any connection with a commercial concern or with any partisan interest; or for any purpose other than the regular work of the organization.

Hello, I was wondering if anyone has encountered this problem before. I am vice president of our pto and our policy is that the president has the right to authorize up to $100 dollars to anyone without the boards consent. Which normally I don`t have a problem with but last week she informed me that we had to get signatures for a state wide constitutional amendment for the state of Ohio to change the way they fund our schools. If anyone is from Ohio you know that their are issues with levys and how much homeowners should have to pay a year towards our schools. Fine, I would love to change this but why as a PTO do we have to do this. There was no letter sent home to our parents letting them know what the issue is or why we where collecting signatures.
She also gave our school $100 dollars to promote the levy that was on the ballet in May. I just think that we as a pto, should not be involved in a political issue. Anyone have any opinions I would apppreciate the help!
Thank You Summer