Personally I don't like the idea of the home ballot. Going this way you have those who are not educated on the subject voting. For example, if I had never attended a PTO meeting and received a piece of paper home in my kid's backpack, or maybe an e-mail, explaining that the Librarian is asking for $480 for updating her computer program, I would say "Sure, that sounds good". Of course I would have no idea about how hard it is to raise funds, all of the many other items that $ needs to be allocated for, $ needed for next year, etc.
My group does as you explained, we provide a certain allocation at the start of the year and then we make it so certain fundraising activities are slated for those accounts. For example, since we hold two of our book fairs in the Library we allocate 50% of the profits of one of them for the Resource Center account. This way they have a vested interest in that being a success.
Mind you that when they come to us for special things, like a flat screen TV this year, we try to say yes when we can as long as we can see the impact it will have to our children and that we can afford it. Maybe a good answer would be to work with your school's specials teachers and see about them being involved in specific fundraisers. For example, the Square1 art fundraiser that we hold could be 50% for the art allocation, book fair as I already explained, RethinkInk for the computer room, etc.
Also your President needs to define all of this at the start of the year. She/he should provide the staff a PTO packet that defines everything for the year. A calendar of known events. Names and contact of PTO officers and committee chairs. your group's priorities for the year. Allocated funds and their purpose. And anything else of this nature.
At our school like you said each staff member is given an amount at the beginning of the year. To encourage our teachers to participate in our fundraiser we will add $50.00 to their acct. At the end of the year we have them fill out a form "gifts to" they write down a request of something they need and at our year end meeting the board and the members vote as to how to spend our money. When you make out your budget for next year you can include money for extras but if it is not in your budget I would simple say no they would have to fill out a request at the end of the year and the PTO will vote. By the way a PTO is completely seperate from your school yes you have to run things by the principal but he/she should not have a say in how you spend your money
RobinD;129490 wrote: If you have a budget.. then allocate xyz amount of money for them, and tell them this is how much they have to spend during the year, and stipulate they must spend it all in a way that benefits all the kids....
oh.. and you may want to change your profile to say just " massachusetts"... especially when you are in a town where there's only one elementary school! I assume you would rather NOT have people figure out who you are talking about! no.. i don't live in 01073... but close!!!!
Oh, I didn't even realize I had that there. Thank You I will change it right away. That is all I need!!!
A neutral thing???/ You are the PTO you are suppose to vote! I would definatley change those bylaws. You as the PTO are the ones who know how much you have and how much you need to last the yr. If you have a librarian asking for something that she just got last yr well she needs to know that that is not what the PTO is for. You are there for the kids and their needs. So I would definately work on getting those laws changed by the end of this school yr. This might encourage the parents who attend to be on the board. Also if there are more who want to be members have back up members or teams so if lets say the treasurer can't make a meeting then she calls her team mate and she can come so you always have enough voters. Good Luck.
Heather L Morris
PTOMomof three;128834 wrote: We are a new board this year and we were told by the old board that our members (the parents) vote and we can choose (the board) to vote or not vote. They suggested we not vote, it was supposed to keep us in a neutral place. Well, we are trying to change things, we don't get a lot of parents sometimes 12 this past month it was two. So we reached out to the parents and asked them if they would like to haev a home ballot and vote on any request of $400.00 or more. Well, they loved the idea, we just had our first home ballot and it went very well, they were the ones that approved the Libraian's request for $480.00 for her soft ware. But they also didn't know that we purchased it last year for her too. So I think we need to revisit the new policy.
Reguarding the By-laws we just completely revised them, they were "sad" to say the least. That is why I say we are trying to change things but for the better! Our Principal is just thrilled with the new board. We even asked to go to the PTo Today Expo and he could't have been happier to OK the request!!
Heather L Morris<br />
<br>VP PTO Washington Elementary
If you have a budget.. then allocate xyz amount of money for them, and tell them this is how much they have to spend during the year, and stipulate they must spend it all in a way that benefits all the kids....
oh.. and you may want to change your profile to say just " massachusetts"... especially when you are in a town where there's only one elementary school! I assume you would rather NOT have people figure out who you are talking about! no.. i don't live in 01073... but close!!!!
... good thing I don't know the people you are talking about! 
