I stopped caring about the PTO in our town by high school, when I would get numerous pleas for money to support the school’s sports teams (including the golf and tennis teams) - decorating lockers etc. But not one penny mentioned for the math team, which went to State every year. Mathletes were invisible to them.
Edit to say I just looked at the high school PTO site and there is only one level of membership - for $45. It is an upscale suburb.
Yeah - was one of my pet-peeves: Just tell me the NET amount, how much per family per year, and let me write one cheque. Don’t make me buy stuff I don’t want, enriching vendors, ultimately everyone spending 5 times as much than what the PTO needs…
But, everyone else felt that too many mom’s (and dad’s) actually liked to “get something”, enjoyed the cookie dough, the township coupon book, created a school community sense, got more people interested in volunteering, being part of committees, etc.
So I accepted that my practical “flat-fee, then opt-out” approach might now always be the most suitable for all situations.
I haven’t read this thread yet (I will later), but I’m dying to know if I’m the only one who forgot CC is all about education and clicked on this thread to find out what the heck “Paid Time Off with tiered membership” is all about. Blonde moment?? 
ETA: In my defense, it is in the Cafe. LOL
I was the town beggar for the arts for years. Because no one else would do it. I chaired the cultural enrichment committee through grade 6…begging the PTO for money for arts related programs for our schools. It was great…and when I stopped…it stopped.
I segued into being chair person for our MS/HS music parents association. Same reason. Plenty of money was going to sports and the like…and nothing to the music programs. We raised money for things like instruments and band uniforms. But we also lobbied the board of education heavily for addition funds for our music and arts programs (successfully too).
We had NO levels of membership…none. And when we had an event, everyone was able to come because it was a “suggested donation” not a fixed ticket price. We felt that left the door open for folks to give what they could…or not.
I never attended a PTO meeting, because I was a full time working parent. They had all of their meetings….ALL of them, during the school day. It was a nice clique of people….and they wouldn’t budge…not even once a year. I found that offensive and not welcoming to the many working parents who might have given them some time…if they had been more accommodating.
Ours did that - alternating between day-time meetings when at-home Moms were most available, and 7ish when suburban parents might be home.
No big change in attendance.
In our case, some of the bigger interest groups had their own “boosters”, such as Orchestra, Band, Theatre, various Sports - but to be fair, I still remember the HS athletic director attending most PTO meetings to lobby for various projects.
I think part of it was also, that some “groups” were better/more formally organized, while the sciency/artsy groups just didn’t come forward to make any proposals. Of course, it could also be that the some activities genuinely are more equipment/facility dependent than others, requiring much more persistent fund-raising.
Yes…not PTO…I was chair of the Music Parents Association…and we had excellent parent participation. Plus, we also found things to do for folks who couldn’t attend our meetings which were held in the early evening (so one of the music teachers could attend). I actually loved this volunteer job because we were so appreciated for what we did.
I chaired the visiting author and artist in residence programs for my daughter’s public school PTO (K-8). I was a rare person who would put on events for grades other than the one my own child was in. Also, a parent who did not care at all about sports or theater, areas where lots of parents would fundraise and run things.
@kiddie me too. Actually…whenever we had a visiting artist, they went to two or three schools. I felt we should give them lunch and make sure they got from school to school…and introduce them. I begged others to help out. I think one person did one time (appreciated). I took many personal days off to do this. We had 3-4 visiting artists a year.
… and I truly think it can leave long-lasting impressions!
For elementary school students to occasionally actually have one of “their” books’ authors in their class rooms, reading and chatting with them, made the entire concept of literature, writing styles, etc. so much more approachable to them.
It opened their eyes to a whole world behind that “quick read”.
My PTO was very generous, I was able to treat them to lunch and to get signed books for the school and town libraries. I did build up friends over the years who helped me, so I wasn’t a committee of one. Typically parents of kids in the grade that author or artist was visiting.
My daughter ended up with a large collection of signed books (some of the authors wrote cool things to her since I was running the event). I also ended up with a very large basket created by middle schoolers under the guidance of a professional basket weaver (It is actually quite lovely and I use it in my mudroom).
Reading these posts makes me think that instances like the negative ones posted here might be why the school doesn’t want a PTO.
My kids went to a catholic grade school. No PTA and only 2 fundraisers per year, the Fall Festival (carnival booth games, cake walks, BBQ, etc. Lots of fun, everyone invited including the neighbors whose kids may have gone to the school years before. But the biggie was the GALA, an auction and raffle. When my kids first started, it raised about $65k. Five years later, we were making $200k. But we were small potatoes compared to the Boys catholic high school that limited their event to 750 tickets (school size about 900) and always made over $500k. They had things like a weekend in Chicago with tickets to see Oprah.
Our biggest controversies were over class projects. Some classes made one thing like a bench or a mirror, and some were junky and some really great. Some sold for $100 and others for $2000. Other classes had kids make individual projects that usually sold for $25. The issue often was if you didn’t attend, could you still bid or have someone bid for you. Your own kid’s project? She, buy it later.
One of the biggest hits was when we started selling (IMO) ‘air’. No product, just an event. We called them ‘parties’ but not all were. Santa coming to tuck your child into bed on xmas eve. Front pew for Christmas mass. Tea party with the music teacher (sometimes everyone could sign up, sometimes one parent bought it for 8 kids). Someone was always excluded, especially if their parents didn’t go to the Gala. OTOH, there was a program listing what was for sale and auction…
There were about 20 open cry auction items. Several of those were group parties like the Italian dinner or the Taco beach party. Usually groups would get together to bid because they’d go for $6-8k (and someone would yell out “double it” and the hosts would).
Fun, but expensive.
I did win 1/2 tuition - twice!- in the gift card drawing.
This would not (or was not supposed to) be allowed by (at least in my state) PTAs.
I didn’t (and still don’t) really see the relevance of PTAs beyond the elementary school level. Parental involvement in the school greatly decreases at the secondary level, and the PTA/PTSA doesn’t seem to be doing much to stop the bleed of parental interest/volunteerism. One example is the required annual “Reflections” contest.
The only worthwhile activity (besides some scholarships) at the high school level is that the PTSAs sponsor the post-graduation parties.
PTA/PTSAs have a series of designations they can get for the unit, and when I was involved it seemed that the school’s PTA was more interested in getting these designations for the school’s bragging rights (when really who cared?) than doing things for the students.
There were definitely rules on what the PTO could fund. Could not fund staff or transportation (like daily buses) because those needed to be in the official school budget. They could fund stuff - like smart boards or programs - like assemblies. The district also had an education foundation which also fund raised and mostly paid for after school programs (art, music, stuff like that). The PTO was very good about stepping in when asked by the administration to pay for something a kid could not afford (like a class trip).
Once we got to HS the biggest PTO sponsored thing was Project Graduation - the after graduation party for every student in the senior class. In HS, activities like theater and marching band did their own fundraising to support some of their costs.
Our PTO, and other organizations were not permitted to fund things that were supposed to be in the school budget.
One of my favorite fundraisers was the “No Bake Bake Sale”. We had a letter with a list of baked goods and a suggested donation for those in lieu of baking and sitting at a table. Parents loved it. It wasn’t our biggest fundraiser for the band, but it raised about $1000 a year!
All the way through middle-school they were still the only organization to fund certain school projects, beyond what the tax rates/budget allowed.
But yes, in high school, there were all kind of purpose-specific booster organizations, and the PTA became mostly the formal non-profit umbrella organization for the various “class-of budgets”, campaigns, events, etc. - which was needed to have proper licenses (e.g., gaming!), accounting, non-profit receipts, etc. Although, there were still a substantial number of other necessary projects they supported, that were not covered by various “boosters” - and of course scholarships.
Our HS PTO’s focused on each year, mostly fundraising for the big senior events like the senior cruise (around Manhattan), prom, and project graduation. The senior fashion show was both an event and fundraiser. Each sport had booster clubs, up until last year choir and bands/orchestra had separate boosters but they just combined.
ahhh. PTA and PTO; part of them for years and loved it, honestly.
Our schools (for 18 yrs) were 70% low SES district, so the money really went to support the students. (scholarships, library books, field trips, supplies etc).
we once had a ticket raffle shut down and prohibited as it was considered illegal gambling by the state!
as PTA volunteers we tutored, volunteered in classrooms, did traffic duty, chaperoned field trips, class parties, sponsored food drives for even less privileged schools - you know! you’ve done it! Our efforts were for all the kids, everyone included. We did this willingly.
We had the same volunteers year after year, and very few volunteers were from the families who were bussed in to our neighborhood schools. (and yes, pta meetings and committees were at night, so accessible to all). It saddens me to see this school now (right out my window); as the neighborhood kids have grown, and the school is mostly filled with low SES students who are not from the area, and the PTA is down to crumbs, doing very little.
But - here is what rubbed me, and why i take umbrage with that article. I feel slightly defensive as had parents angry and complaining at our PTA several years when the (free) school carnival didnt have enough volunteers to cover all the booths. What? complaints about not enough volunteers when they themselves aren’t volunteering??? 
In this story, we dont know the parameters of the event. Was it all donated, and very limited on space and food? Fundraisers like that dinner are geared toward MAKING money. The event in that article was a fundraiser - not a school activity per se. It does sound like a pay-for-play OUT of School experience. And the writer didnt know how to play that game.
I think the writer should start her own dinner-dance if she didnt like the rules of this one. Have a pasta dinner or pancake dinner at her school, cheap, with decor and music. Every kid and family could be involved that way; it would be more for the experience rather than the fundraising aspect though.
I should have noted that I didn’t/don’t see the relevance in my area.
I always feel sorry for parents who hated their PTA/PTO’s. Our school was very diverse in every way. We were always cognizant that we needed to make every event affordable to every family and there would be agonized discussions about what was affordable. We ran the Reading is Fundamental program which made sure every child got at least 4 free books of their choice every year, we took care of the year book, in middle school we had a teacher grant fund for special projects like the one that had kids produce a professional looking magazine for an English class. We brought in authors and illustrators. We sponsored a lot of parties. We created a Learning Garden. The skills I learned in PTA ended up being very useful in my professional life.