Any PTA Officers Out There?

Our school has a 2 year term limit also. Last year the secretary became the president and the president became the secretary. My friend was the one who became the president. It is a lot of work, more than she anticipated. Unless you are able to get people motivated and volunteering, you will be doing a lot of things yourself. I never understood why the PTA president had her name on the staff board under the teachers names. Now I know why. My friend is now pregnant and is resigning at the end of one year, the VP has already decided to step up. No one ever runs and someone always steps up. I was the membership chairperson last year. It was a lot of work from August through October but after that didn't require any extra work.

Sorry this is so long, but I don't want to gloss over this. It’s a major commitment, and I'd like to give you as accurate a picture as possible before you make this decision. Maybe it will also help others who are considering the position as well.

I am the treasurer of our PTA. It is a very large, active PTA. This is my first year as treasurer. I am not a CPA. I am familiar with budgets and was responsible for several large budgets previously at work, but it was a bit different in that it was a government agency.

Treasurer is not a minor position, unless your PTA is very small and not very active.

For example, this past September, I had over 900 transactions with nearly $40,000 in deposits----approximately $33,000 of those deposits occurred within a 3-day period for our major fall fundraiser. Before and after those three days, we were launching a new, on-going fundraiser that took off beyond our expectations, and we were also in the middle of membership drive (something that every PTA must do at the beginning of the school year).

We had a team (myself included) counting the money from the major fundraiser, but I still had to process all of the checks, write all of the deposit slips, make the deposits (over 70 different deposit slips with multiple entries). It was crazy. Thank goodness our bank is within a mile of our school. It's not comfortable to be carrying that kind of cash and hundreds of checks for any long distance.

During that same month, I was responsible for getting all of our PTA dues paid (national/state, local) and making sure our insurance was paid.

That was just September, and while it is one of our busiest months, we have other months with similar amounts of activity. There is never any time when it's quiet as we have on-going monthly programs and other special events each month...too many to list.

You'll also have to:

Attend monthly meetings, both executive committee and general membership;

Pay other PTA officers and members when they purchase things on behalf of the PTA;

Pay other invoices for various events. (Always have to get another check signer, usually the President or 1st VP to countersign on all checks);

Be at all of the major events where money is collected (or make other arrangements with your President if you must be absent) in order to count the money with event chair or other officer, document it, get it to the bank, or secure it until you can make the deposit;

Re-apply for tax-exempt status with your state if it is due to expire during your term;

Attend special PTA half-day training prior to start of school year;

Educate your membership and even some officers, who may have been doing things that are not in line with PTA procedures. That's always fun....especially as the new kid in town.

Close the books and prepare for the annual audit at the end of the school year.

File with IRS (post card form or 990, depending on how much you make).

Keeping the books is not complex math, and depending on the program you use, it is fairly straightforward. However, it is time-consuming and requires peace and quiet to do the work, space to keep records, and organizational skills and discipline to keep everything in order. I just finished my reconciliations after I put my son to bed. I've got receipts, reports, papers, files, etc. spread all over our office/playroom floor at this moment! : ( So, after I finish this response, I'll do my filing and put things away!

Not sure how all of this would fit in your life when you are already working 40-50 hours a week and have a family. I've really felt the strain, and even with all of my other volunteer commitments, I'm not working 50 hours outside my home.

You also mentioned Historian. My good friend is the historian for our PTA. She takes pictures at EVERY PTA event, processes the photos, puts them up on bulleting boards and then makes scrapbooks at the end of the year.

Hope this is helpful to you. Maybe if you do not have the time to be an officer, you could volunteer on a limited basis on one of the committees.

Best wishes to you.

J. F.

I was president for years at different schools, and it required a lot of my time, I thoroughly enjoyed it and worked my behind off getting my hands into everything. I was a SAHM for all of the years, I couldn't have worked and done it otherwise as the officer meetings were mostly during the day in the afternoon. As treasurer you would more than likely need to be at the school on fundraising collection days, but maybe it could be worked out that someone else handled that. See if you can talk to someone at the school, but be aware that current officers may try to make it look too easy, and if you choose to run go into it with your eyes wide open and be prepared to be flexible with your time. if that won't work out you may want to get involved in a one-time project.

I have not been a PTA officer but I have been on the board for the Booster club for cheerleaders. We also work closely with the PTA.

Last year I was President at the high school level (grades 9-10). It is a huge committment because if you are not able to delagate and get help you will be doing it all which is impossible to run the whole thing with 1 person. We had plenty of volunteers and my job mainly was being mediator between all the different personalities who all had a lot to say about how to do things once they were not an offficer. We had a successful year financially. We had 23 cheerleaders and with our fundraisers, etc we raised about $25,000 which paid for competition, competition training and choreography, scholarship, and gift to the school. Bottom line, I did a great job but it was WORK. I mediated everything to avoud a trainwreck. Fundraising has to be done in the spring BEFORE school starts for cheer.

Move forward Sr High school (11-12) and I am secretary on the board. This has not been as time consuming BUT we have a president who is a bulldozer and will do everything her way or not at all. We did a great job with fundraising which was over $50,000 and the girls have had a good year. I have been pegged as the nex President which is a HUGE job and I am on the fence because I don't have the time to put into it since I run my own company from home.

Also, I hate hate dealing with the money and treasury. There is too much that can go wrong there as far as an audit trail and it is a situation I prefer not to put myself in. I was asked about it for next year and I simply said, I run financials for my own company and I am not adding to that mix.

Hopefully someone will step up for your group. If not, you can participate a lot in several areas to help things run smoothly.

Good luck

Well, by default I am the VP and we have myself and the Pres who became Pres by default since there was no one else. In my son's current school we call it Togetherness Offers Total Support or T.O.T.S. but we do everything a PTA would do - just with two memebers! We do this for a Special Education Pre School ages 3-5 with a little less than 400 students. I run the Book Fairs and she Runs the other events and we back each other up. She handles most of the financials but I am on the account (we only deal with a few thousand. We run two fundraisers (Taffy Apples in the Fall and Fannie May in the Spring), 4 Family Nights, Teacher Appreciation Week, Reading Log (free books for families that participate), and we organize the Library (small school no librarian) and help the teachers as needed. Depending on what is going on I give many many hours to the school, and sometimes I am not as needed. Right now we just wrapped up the Book Fair, but we are also doing the Chocolates Fundraiser so I get half a week off before I am needed again - then Reading Logs. We have a monthly meeting where parents show up but do not volunteer for things or do not show up for things they HAVE volunteered for then we have a meeting the next day to come up with Plan US (as in it's only US doing it)! So, if you do not have people who WANT to step up to the plate I think it is only appropriate you find out what channels you should go to for an amendment to be made. Honestly, if no one else is willing to do it and she is willing to take on another year then she should be allowed to. Oh and if you work, I would simply volunteer to be a worker bee unless you enjoy misery, I am sorry but people these days are just flaky.

Treasure can be a huge time comminment if you have a busy PTA. Maybe talk to somone who mahy have int he past handle it to find out what you may look at. Historian shouldn't be too bad, but may require to attned some district functions, or at least someone in your place. It is a job that can vary greatly depending on what you have time to commit. You ldask for a copy or go down and look at Bylaws. They should have a fairly detailed information on what that positions duties are. I was in a large PTA and we had huge notebooks of information on each position, so that anyone could just pick it up and go. How much work will depend on what your PTA provides.

PTA was a huge pain at times, but I did enjoy most of work, and knowing I made a difference in the quality of the school was well worth my time.

I was PTA a few times at different schools.

I also was chairman of a lot of the bigger activities. School Carnivals, Book Sales.. I also was a School Representative on the city wide PTA council.. Got to meet with the Superintendent of schools once a month!

The historian usually collects copies of all of the newsletters, the minutes, photos, write ups in the local papers.. etc for the school year and then place it in a scrap book.

The treasurer at our schools were usually CPA's because we were dealing with over $100,00. at the elementary school and about $30,000 at the middle school. each year..

The secretary takes notes at every meeting and then posts them on the newsletter and has them approved at the following meeting.

We changed our bylaws so that we could "buddy up" for some of the positions.

For example once we had married couples as Presidents of the PTA..

A few years we had 2 parents as the Vice President Position.. There was just so much we were working on, it worked out well. 2 have 2 people in charge.

Maybe consider seeing if some of the parents would be willing to co chair. That way you have half the work..

Our PTA President had to be there to cover for any flaky pta team members who didn't show up. She ended up working 6 hours on a fundraiser during the school day because it had to be done. With working there is NO WAY I would be any officer.

Executive PTA officers must put in a lot of time for a successful PTA. I was President the year my youngest daughter attended a newly opened elementary school, so the PTA was also brand new. I put in about 20 hrs a week from March to May, took some time off, attended a 3 day conference (out of town) in July, then went back almost 20-30 hours a week through the fall. You must plan and lead all PTA board and general meetings, attend small planning meetings with individual committees, be available to sign checks at all times, be a peace keeper between fellow PTA moms and upset parents when their child didn't receive the right trinket for selling 10 fundraiser items...it goes on and on and on! I wouldn't go back and undo anything that our PTA accomplished that year, but it truly cost me a full year of my life and was a major sacrifice for my entire family. Like most groups, someone with all that time to give will step up, you are very caring and I encourage you to become involved...they will need a parent like you!