Powell PTA theft and other DCPS schools with large PTA budgets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How much do these other ward 3 ptos raise? I think some capital hill schools raise between 125 and 200k+ at their annual auctions, not including fall drives. I’m interested in how they compare to other schools.

It can be over $500K at the larger schools. Schools on the Hill don't tend to be as large, so they raise less total. And it's complicated because each is unique-- Lafayette's PTO for example runs the aftercare program so while they seem to have a lot of income, they also have to pay for the cost of running the program.

[Anonymous]

I thought DCPS decided to pool the PTA money a few years back, did that not happen? The idea was that a few ward 3 schools were basically supplementing the budget with fundraising and that didn’t seem fair.

[Anonymous]

Is there an open site where we can see how much a certain PTO has raised and their annual budget? If the PTO does not openly share their budget with the parents, it is not inspiring to donate through them and is better to directly support the teachers/classrooms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought DCPS decided to pool the PTA money a few years back, did that not happen? The idea was that a few ward 3 schools were basically supplementing the budget with fundraising and that didn’t seem fair.

It did not happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How much do these other ward 3 ptos raise? I think some capital hill schools raise between 125 and 200k+ at their annual auctions, not including fall drives. I’m interested in how they compare to other schools.

It can be over $500K at the larger schools. Schools on the Hill don't tend to be as large, so they raise less total. And it's complicated because each is unique-- Lafayette's PTO for example runs the aftercare program so while they seem to have a lot of income, they also have to pay for the cost of running the program.

Not accurate, Lafayette after care is done through a vendor. This was true of Janney many years ago, but it’s been a decade since the aftercare program is a separate 501c3 org with its own finances.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought DCPS decided to pool the PTA money a few years back, did that not happen? The idea was that a few ward 3 schools were basically supplementing the budget with fundraising and that didn’t seem fair.

It did not happen.

Because that would be illegal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought DCPS decided to pool the PTA money a few years back, did that not happen? The idea was that a few ward 3 schools were basically supplementing the budget with fundraising and that didn’t seem fair.

DCPS can't decide to pool the funds of private non-profit orgs. It could change the law so that PTA/Os are limited in the way that they are in most states (i.e., no paying for staff), but they have no actual interest in funds raised that would allow their use to be dictated.

One big advantage of donating to the PTO vs a specific classroom is the tax break (if you're giving a large enough amount for this to be relevant), though DonorsChoose is another solution to that problem.

Our PTO is relatively transparent about it's ~$150K budget. It lays out a budget with spending categories and example items in advance and touts big purchases as it makes them. The PTO is largely regarded as a ton of work and while PTO might fund some things that specific people don't care about, it funds nearly everything that anyone cares about. My impression is that people are pretty satisfied.

[Anonymous]

Murch uses forms on the website to track requests and approval of funds. There is reporting you can see easily if you are HSA. Not sure about other schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So we're on our way out but I'd say - if a teacher has a specific request or a gofundme, go for that. The PTO can of course organize around things bigger than one classroom that you may wish to contribute to.

That said - a PTO can be robbed, a teacher can ask for funds for a rug and buy coffee with the money. Macro, micro, bad actors exist.

GoFundMe is just another way that people can get money with no oversight or audit.

Donors Choose is a much better way to fund projects in classrooms. The platform ensures that the principal approves, and that the items requested are the items ordered.

[Anonymous]

It’s a problem with all small Non profits. You read about the LL treasurer stealing money all the time.

I was part of the Murch PTA like 12 years ago. We required two people to sign checks, the person paying bills was different from the Treasurer, etc.

There were many things that teachers requested that we didn’t fund because they would come up with everything and the kitchen sink that cumulatively exceeded our funds.

The HSA/PTO isn’t a blank check and I believe we made decent choices with our funding.

If I recall correctly, our largest expense was hiring aides because DCPS wouldn’t fund any personnel beyond what was statutory so any discretionary DCPS funds usually went to CapEx.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought DCPS decided to pool the PTA money a few years back, did that not happen? The idea was that a few ward 3 schools were basically supplementing the budget with fundraising and that didn’t seem fair.

It did not happen.

Because that would be illegal.

Some versions of sharing resources has happened - but it is not as simple as just pooling resources. This article touches on a few examples https://hechingerreport.org/should-rich-families-be-allowed-to-fundraise-a-better-public-school-education-for-their-kids/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is there an open site where we can see how much a certain PTO has raised and their annual budget? If the PTO does not openly share their budget with the parents, it is not inspiring to donate through them and is better to directly support the teachers/classrooms.

You can look at Guidestar or similar for the PTO's 990 non-profit federal tax filing.

You can look at the PTO's website (probably the 'school' website is maintained by the PTO). The PTO may post financial statements or other info there.

[Anonymous]

The PTA/O gets to decide what is spends its money on so it will vary dramatically from school to school. It may fund specific field trips or after school activities. The principal may ask the PTA to fund something. Our PTA sets aside some money for individual teachers to buy supplies or things for their classrooms (each teacher is guaranteed a certain amount but not all of them use it).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought DCPS decided to pool the PTA money a few years back, did that not happen? The idea was that a few ward 3 schools were basically supplementing the budget with fundraising and that didn’t seem fair.

It did not happen.

Because that would be illegal.

Some versions of sharing resources has happened - but it is not as simple as just pooling resources. This article touches on a few examples https://hechingerreport.org/should-rich-families-be-allowed-to-fundraise-a-better-public-school-education-for-their-kids/

The article is an interesting read. It references studies that donations do not go down after sharing begins, which is hard for me to believe. It's a hard enough sell for our PTA to get parents to donate X dollars that they could be spending on Mathnasium or whatever just for their kids to help their kids' school collectively -- I can't imagine if we were trying to get them to donate the X dollars with them knowing a percentage of it is going to an entirely different school.

[Anonymous]

There was a thing where some of the wealthier PTAs made donations to the Washington Lawyers Committee and that went out as grants to new PTAs, along with some pro bono legal work to get set up as a 501(c)(3). Not sure if that's still happening. But I was on one of the recipient PTAs and found it extremely helpful.