PTO Meeting – October 2009
If you weren’t able to make it to the last PTO meeting on Oct. 14, here’s a run-down of the discussion…
The Budget
Treasurer Tina Powis-Dow presented a DRAFT budget for the PTO and suggested that it remain in draft form until we have a better idea of how much money the Kroger cards will raise. We started this year with a balance of just over $3,500, and the budget plans on leaving next year’s PTO with a beginning balance of about $1,500. The idea is to leave just enough money to provide a cushion for next year’s PTO while putting as much money as possible to work for our school.
The budget was based on the idea that we would have three main fundraisers: the Kroger cards, the PTO annual dues, and the silent auction. The budget also suggests we will spend the biggest portions of our money on teacher training, classroom supplies, playground equipment and making the PTO a formal non-profit organization.
Fundraising
The budget was built around the idea that the Kroger cards will raise between $490 and $540 per month, a little more than $4,000 for the year (the Kroger cards raise no money for the PTO during the summer). From Aug. 9 through Oct. 8, the Kroger cards raised about $545. The budget also assumes that the PTO annual dues (which are entirely VOLUNTARY) will raise $1,000, the silent auction will raise $3,000, and a potential spring fundraiser could raise $550.
Fund spending
The budget plans on spending $1,000 to pay one-third of the price for Montessori training for two teachers. (The school, not the PTO, will pay the other two-thirds.) The training costs about $1,500 per teacher and is provided by the North American Montessori Center (www.montessoritraining.net/). NAMC is located in Canada, but the courses are taken online. The program takes nine months to complete and requires an internship, which, for our teachers, will be completed at Children’s House.
The budget also anticipates spending $750 on classroom supplies for each of the five classes and $1,300 for new playground equipment, $480 for classroom presentations from the Museum of Discovery staff.
Other planned expenditures for the year include $195 to pay for child care during PTO meetings, $225 to pay Children’s House staff to provide educational presentations after PTO meetings, about $760 for the Kroger cards that were sent to parents over the summer ($5 on each card), $50 for PTO mailings, $425 for the Halloween Carnival (food, prizes, and a band), $350 for the silent auction (mailings and food), $75 for the Spring open house (food) and $500 for the Easter egg hunt (pavilion, supplies, and food).
The budget also allows for some holiday gift cards for the staff and a dinner for Teacher Appreciation Week. There was some discussion about increasing the budgeted amount of money for holiday gift cards since $50 was provided to each teacher last year. An updated budget will be available at the next PTO meeting.
The budget also includes $800 to convert the PTO into a 501c3 organization and $200 for a membership to PTO Today (www.ptotoday.com), a magazine and resource for PTOs. The PTO officers explained that making the PTO a formal nonprofit was necessary for fundraising (next year Kroger won’t let the PTO use the cards to raise money unless we’re a 501c3) and to ensure that, for tax purposes, the PTO and the school are considered separate organizations.
Expenditures
The PTO voted on two expenditure requests: $375 to pay for the mulch that has already been distributed on the playground and $300 for materials for Nancy’s upstairs class. Both of these expenditures were hold-over commitments from last year’s PTO.
Halloween Carnival
Planning for the Halloween Carnival (Oct. 31) is going well. Dede Lowe’s husband’s band Parachute Woman is set to play at the event, and some folks have loaned us two bounce houses for use during the carnival. We’ll be providing lunch for everyone who comes (including neighborhood children), so there was some discussion about whether the PTO should charge a nominal fee for game tickets to offset the cost of providing food. The PTO also decided to have the school retain the proceeds from the ticket sales.
Book Fair
The Book Fair is set for Nov. 11 and 12 from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m., and will include a preview event the evening of Tues., Nov. 10 (after the PTO meeting). The book fair isn’t a traditional cash fundraiser, but the school does receive free books depending on the total amount of books sold. This is a great way to buy holiday gifts, while supporting the school. Children’s House parent Megan Eves is overseeing the book fair, and she needs other parents to help staff some one-hour shifts. The job basically involves helping parents find books and collecting money for each sale. Contact Megan (megan@tinyville.us) if you’re interested in helping out or have any questions.
Special thanks to Sheila Kuonen who gave a post-PTO meeting presentation on how she teaches math to the Children’s House juniors. We all learned a lot, and look forward to similar presentations after all PTO meetings.