I've never voted on a PTA, but we would get requests for contributions each year, showing what the average per child expenditure was from parent fundraising. I happily paid the suggested donation, and more, as I know it was a fraction of what I had paid each WEEK for preschool.

I don't generally agree with paying dues to vote, but then there ARE ballots to be printed, and counted, and someone has to pay for the website on which the internet votes are recorded...

I completely agree with you that there is a huge difference between fundraising and charging parents to vote. What a huge disincentive to inclusive parent participation! Whether the cost is $10 or $1000, it just doesn't seem right. Parent Associations can establish a fundraising committee to help raise money to for school enrichment. Dues should not be used for that purpose.

Mann charges $10 to join the PTA. There is a big difference between fundraising, which most schools do and charging people to vote.

Yu Ying has "pay to vote" which is a huge turnoff. I'm going to take the $100 and give it to DC's teacher as a holiday gift and another $100 to the assistant. We're a new family and haven't had time to go to a PA meeting at all. Not sure we'll ever go either so don't care about voting.

A "suggested contribution" is a lot different than a mandatory fee in order to vote on issues impacting your dear student -- especially in the context of a public school.

Why would a PTA or PA prevent some parents from being permitted to vote on issues because they do not have the means or the desire to pay dues?

At Maury ES it's voluntary--no requirement to contribute in order to have a say. I can't imagine it's different anywhere else.

Is it common practice to make the payment of dues required to be a voting member of a PTA or PA??? Seems to me that everyone should not just have a voice, but also a vote. I know a lot of schools and PAs have dues or various fees, but I am not sure of how many of those schools preclude parents from having full participation (including voting rights) in the PTA or PA because they do not pay dues.

Anonymous wrote:Mann's suggested contribution is $2,000.

That's for a two child family, though. Single child is $1,500.

Mann's suggested contribution is $2,000.

$100 per student at Yu Ying to vote.

Yes, but at a lot of those schools, like Janney, it's only $10 to join and have the right to vote.

Let's face it, asking anything over $50 is unaffordable and amounts to a poll tax.

I'm sure there are some schools, somewhere, who try to charge an exorbitant fee to vote, but I can't imagine anyone would try this in a city like DC.

Poll taxes are one of the more shameful elements of Jim Crow America, there is no way this could fly in a city like DC. We're too close to our recent history of segregation here to forget the recent past.

suggested amount for some is as much as 1200$ per student. We were asked for 700$ per student when we were looking at Eaton years ago.

thanks so much. Are non-dues paying parents permitted to vote at Brent and Lafayette?

Brent is $20 for a family to join.

Lafayette charges $50 a family, which is pricey.

Of course they only have 5% FARMS, so they probably figure they aren't excluding too many families by charging such a high price.

Does your DCPS or DC Charter School have a PTA or Parent Association that requires dues? If so, how much? Is dues a requirement in order for a parent to be a voting member of the PTA or PA?