I think the "donations" are a problem for equality:

If any of these equity plans are ever put into effect, parents and teachers would find ways to circumvent them.Possibilities:

Teachers post desired items on the Donors Choose website. Parents donate to it rather than the PTO.
(There are dozens of projects from DC teachers at schools with less vigorous PTAs listed. Yes, some of the donors aren't parents, but many are.)

Teachers post desired items on an Amazon Wish list. Parents purchase items from the wish lists.

Parents give their kids' teachers gift cards to Amazon, Target and other stores. The room parent may collect money to give in gift cards, so that teachers don't know how much any one family gives.

I am sure there are other ways. My point is simply that if the PTA has to share money with other schools, parents will bypass the PTA and donate in other ways.

Anonymous wrote:Just prior to the pandemic, I worked on this project with a professor. I think the "donations" are a problem for equality:
https://medium.com/@harkinna/how-do-inequities-in-parent-fundraising-across-d-c-public-schools-affect-education-8d8899ae3e50

Right, so rather than donating to schools, you want parents to just spend their money solely on their own kids. Or just save up their donations to add to their private high school or college fund.

The question is whether taxes and city budgets are sufficient to provide a solid education for all children.

If you are aiming to solve wealth inequality through controlling PTA spending, you really have the wrong end of the stick.

Just prior to the pandemic, I worked on this project with a professor. I think the "donations" are a problem for equality:
https://medium.com/@harkinna/how-do-inequities-in-parent-fundraising-across-d-c-public-schools-affect-education-8d8899ae3e50

My son went to SWS from 3-5 grade, finishing in the pandemic. The fee was $140 in 4th grade. (I don't remember the others, but there was always a fee.) Part of it was to pay for FoodPrints - i think!

Duke Ellington has a $200 arts fee.

Anonymous wrote:Our school is looking at adding an activity fee for the 2025-26 school year. Would love to know which other schools have activity fees, what the payment structure looks like (sliding scale, etc), and if you or your school PTA/PSCO would be willing to talk offline about them!

I also recently learned that there are PTAs/PSCOs who use these funds to pay for additional staff. If your school does that, would you please include that in your response?

Thanks!

An activity fee that every family pays to cover activities that the school is requesting is different from PTO donation.

Families have to pay the activity fee.

PTO donations are voluntary and can cover whatever the PTO wants to use the money for.

Anonymous wrote:You can't call it a fee. It's a requested donation. We are at a charter school and most years have given around 1K. A number isn't mentioned. Some years we give more, and some less.

This. I think you need to clarify what expenses you are aiming to cover. Are you talking about fees for activities that the school plans and that each individual student is asked to pay to cover the cost, like field trips? Or you talking about optional donations to the PTA, which then the PTA determines how the funds get spent?

Activity fees =/= PTA donations.

Anonymous wrote:I have kids at an ES with high-ish fees and I’m not comfortable with them asking for them at all. It only reinforces educational inequalities across the city. If the PTOs want to get together and create a central fund that is distributed across public schools city-wide, cool but that will never happen.

Then don’t donate. Plenty of us actually do support our kid’s school and will.

Feel free to go donate to whatever school you want.

Anonymous wrote:I have kids at an ES with high-ish fees and I’m not comfortable with them asking for them at all. It only reinforces educational inequalities across the city. If the PTOs want to get together and create a central fund that is distributed across public schools city-wide, cool but that will never happen.

Why would any parent donate to some city wide fund? They want to help their kids school specifically. Of course a city wide fund would be a bust.

The money a school PTO raises helps every kid at their school and some help to subsidize activities, clubs, etc.. for low income income families at the school. Also with the PTO helping to offset some things at the school, that leaves admin to use that saved money for other needed school things.

Title 1 schools get extra funding from the feds and DC. I’m not saying they get enough but they do get extra funding.

You can't call it a fee. It's a requested donation. We are at a charter school and most years have given around 1K. A number isn't mentioned. Some years we give more, and some less.

I have kids at an ES with high-ish fees and I’m not comfortable with them asking for them at all. It only reinforces educational inequalities across the city. If the PTOs want to get together and create a central fund that is distributed across public schools city-wide, cool but that will never happen.

Oyster asks for $450 a year.

"Your donation pays for things like classroom supplies, additional books for our bilingual library, tutoring, and electronic learning apps. Your support helps supplement our Science Technology Engineering Art & Math (STEAM) curricula and our fine and performing arts and music programs, and makes student clubs and sports possible."

Anonymous wrote:Mann asks for $1500 per kid. I doubt any school is much higher. The schools that can afford this already do it. The schools that don't ask either have a lot of families that can't afford it or they choose to be more subtle (like Lafayette doesn't officially request a certain amount, but they tell you the HSA spends $400/kid/year).

If you are trying to get enough money for additional staff, you have to make sure the principal would even accept that person if you had the funds. Some won't.

Thank you! We aren't looking to get money for additional staff, I just wanted context for the fees if your school does!

Mann asks for $1500 per kid. I doubt any school is much higher. The schools that can afford this already do it. The schools that don't ask either have a lot of families that can't afford it or they choose to be more subtle (like Lafayette doesn't officially request a certain amount, but they tell you the HSA spends $400/kid/year).

If you are trying to get enough money for additional staff, you have to make sure the principal would even accept that person if you had the funds. Some won't.

Our school is looking at adding an activity fee for the 2025-26 school year. Would love to know which other schools have activity fees, what the payment structure looks like (sliding scale, etc), and if you or your school PTA/PSCO would be willing to talk offline about them!

I also recently learned that there are PTAs/PSCOs who use these funds to pay for additional staff. If your school does that, would you please include that in your response?

Thanks!