PTA, School Boad, Booster club, etc?

Hi,
I'm eager to get involved in my local PTA although my daughter won't
start school there for another 2 years. I can't wait to really make a
difference. I will call up the local school when they start up in the
fall, but in the meantime, I have some questions:

1) What's the difference between PTA, school board, booster clubs, and
other entities that a parent can be involved in to make a difference
in the school?

3) Are there other common groups/entities that schools usually have?

2) Do these entities interact with eachother?

4) I understand that a lot of fundraising is done thru these groups.
Is the fundraising mainly done by the PTA? Are there restrictions on
how much funds can be collected and how the funds can be used? Does a
percentage have to be given back to the city/state?

5) I heard a group like a booster club doesn't have such fundraising
limits, but PTAs do.

I want to jump in, figure all this out, and contribute to the school
by creating a useful system to alleviate communication and
participation within all these groups, for the betterment of the
school. Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks and can't wait to hear some feedback!
..mojgan.

"mojgan" wrote in message
om...
Hi,
I'm eager to get involved in my local PTA although my daughter won't
start school there for another 2 years. I can't wait to really make a
difference. I will call up the local school when they start up in the
fall, but in the meantime, I have some questions:

1) What's the difference between PTA, school board, booster clubs, and
other entities that a parent can be involved in to make a difference
in the school?

PTA- Parent Teacher Assn....not really on the up and up for what they
do....it's been a while and my kids are not in school yet.

As for the school board, they function as the governing board for their
school district. Like the regualar govt they are elected officials. They
make "laws", appropriate funds, ect. within the district.

Booster clubs are for specific activities. Quite honestly, you don't usually
run into alot of those (at least where I went to school) until almost high
school. We had mainly Band Boosters and Athletic Boosters. I was in the
band, and know most about that so my example will be about our band
boosters. They were kind of our governing board. The band has x amount of
dollars, what is most important? We can buy new flags, new drums, uniforms
ect. They decided that kind of thing. Basically the director/instructors
went to them with monetary requests and they decided what they would be able
to give, what the individual group would have to raise. For example, I was
on the flag corps. While most of our flags from year to year could be
reused, every other year or so they would try to get us a new set of
flags/poles/or one year we got chain flags...they were totally cool....a
swing flag on a chain... but I digress on the coolness of some of our
stuff. The band boosters would say, the new set of what ever you are
asking for costs $1000....we'll give you half...you raise the other half
(usually by having a car wash or something).

Our major fundraiser was selling citrus around Xmas time....all the band
kids would go out and sell....to actually get a booster card, you paid 3 or
5 dollars....we sold band t-shirts at football games....the band boosters
ran the concession stands at the Friday night football games.....That was
all money raised for our activity. We also sponsored a band competition and
received funds from it as well (there we payouts in the form of judges,
ect.).

The Athletic boosters also did fundrasiers (spaghetti dinners, bake sales,
ect.), sold booster cards, and received a portion of the ticket sales to get
into the games.

3) Are there other common groups/entities that schools usually have?

Just what ever activities you want the child to be involved in. Little
league, cheerleading, basketball, ect. Most of those are not "school"
sponsored until they are in a later grade (IIRC, we could play for our grade
school teams in 4th grade?)....I live in San Antonio now and they have a lot
of "area" sponsored activities...little league, YMCA teams, "pop warner"
football (pee-wee league football where I"m from), ect.

2) Do these entities interact with eachother?

Not sure.


4) I understand that a lot of fundraising is done thru these groups.
Is the fundraising mainly done by the PTA? Are there restrictions on
how much funds can be collected and how the funds can be used? Does a
percentage have to be given back to the city/state?

Our boosters was for all intents and purposes, a non-profit organization, so
I don't know what, if any restrictions on how much could be donated, raised,
ect. Basically what ever money the band boosters made, it was for the band
to use....the officers did not get paid to hold post, the parents did not
get "incentives" to come to the meetings....beyond feeling like they were
making a positive contribution to our activity of course.


5) I heard a group like a booster club doesn't have such fundraising
limits, but PTAs do.

See above answer...FWIW, I believe that most of those things are set up to
be non-profits.. not sure about the restrictions.

I want to jump in, figure all this out, and contribute to the school
by creating a useful system to alleviate communication and
participation within all these groups, for the betterment of the
school. Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks and can't wait to hear some feedback!
.mojgan.

mojgan wrote:

Hi,
I'm eager to get involved in my local PTA although my daughter won't
start school there for another 2 years. I can't wait to really make a
difference. I will call up the local school when they start up in the
fall, but in the meantime, I have some questions:

1) What's the difference between PTA, school board, booster clubs, and
other entities that a parent can be involved in to make a difference
in the school?

PTA/PTO = Parent Teacher Association/Organization. They exist
to facilitate communication between parents, teachers, and
administrators and to support the school by coordinating
volunteers and, often, raising money.
School Board = an elected position that runs the school in a
district.
Booster Clubs = parents supporting a particular activity at
the school (sports, band, clubs, etc.) through volunteerism
and (typically) fundraising.

3) Are there other common groups/entities that schools usually have?

Most have something to do with those, though there's
also volunteering that may not be coordinated through the
PTA or a booster club. For instance, there are sometimes
mentoring relationships with local corporations.

2) Do these entities interact with eachother?

Sometimes. Depends on the issue.

4) I understand that a lot of fundraising is done thru these groups.
Is the fundraising mainly done by the PTA? Are there restrictions on
how much funds can be collected and how the funds can be used? Does a
percentage have to be given back to the city/state?

The school board typically doesn't fundraise; the PTA/O
and booster clubs typically do. Money doesn't go back to the
government (at least not in any case I've heard of). Booster
club money typically goes to the particular activity. PTA/O
money is distributed as voted by membership, typically.

5) I heard a group like a booster club doesn't have such fundraising
limits, but PTAs do.

I haven't heard of limits on PTA fundraising. If
they exist, they're higher than our PTA has ever encountered.

I want to jump in, figure all this out, and contribute to the school
by creating a useful system to alleviate communication and
participation within all these groups, for the betterment of the
school. Any advice would be appreciated.

Are you sure there's a problem? I think participation
is great, but I would be leery of waltzing in and trying to
solve everyone's "problems" before you even have a child in
the school. Personally, I'd start by volunteering to help
in the school office or volunteering to read to the kids or
something else like that and get your feet wet first. Wait
until your kid gets into school to jump into the PTA (can you
even belong without having a kid in the school?). Believe
me, if you've got good ideas, odds are that they'll be
delighted to have someone willing to work. However, *every*
group has a history and relationships, and you'd be wise
to understand what those are before trying to attempt
reform. While I'm sure there are schools that have problems
with communications, as far as I can tell, we don't really
have any serious communication or coordination issues among the
groups you mention. Issues have more to do with outreach
and getting people involved, but those are more resource
issues (e.g., people not having time, language barriers, etc.),
not a lack of coordination.

Best wishes,
Ericka

"Ericka Kammerer" wrote in message
...
mojgan wrote:

Hi,
I'm eager to get involved in my local PTA although my daughter won't
start school there for another 2 years. I can't wait to really make a
difference. I will call up the local school when they start up in the
fall, but in the meantime, I have some questions:

1) What's the difference between PTA, school board, booster clubs, and
other entities that a parent can be involved in to make a difference
in the school?

PTA/PTO = Parent Teacher Association/Organization. They exist
to facilitate communication between parents, teachers, and
administrators and to support the school by coordinating
volunteers and, often, raising money.
School Board = an elected position that runs the school in a
district.
Booster Clubs = parents supporting a particular activity at
the school (sports, band, clubs, etc.) through volunteerism
and (typically) fundraising.

3) Are there other common groups/entities that schools usually have?

Most have something to do with those, though there's
also volunteering that may not be coordinated through the
PTA or a booster club. For instance, there are sometimes
mentoring relationships with local corporations.

2) Do these entities interact with eachother?

Sometimes. Depends on the issue.

4) I understand that a lot of fundraising is done thru these groups.
Is the fundraising mainly done by the PTA? Are there restrictions on
how much funds can be collected and how the funds can be used? Does a
percentage have to be given back to the city/state?

The school board typically doesn't fundraise; the PTA/O
and booster clubs typically do. Money doesn't go back to the
government (at least not in any case I've heard of). Booster
club money typically goes to the particular activity. PTA/O
money is distributed as voted by membership, typically.

5) I heard a group like a booster club doesn't have such fundraising
limits, but PTAs do.

Some districts have fundraising limits, but if so, they apply to ALL
district groups. Usually where I've seen these, it's not on fundraising so
much as having unused funds sitting in accounts from year to year (I believe
there's a $10,000 limit which can be in a school's accounts of unused,
unspecified revenue each year in this district).

I only know of one school which regularly has to work to spend money, and
that's one particular middle school which just happens to be located right
next to the fairgrounds. So, for the county fair and major events, they have
teachers and parents park cars, and collect parking fees. Since they'd have
people parking there anyway, it's a win-win for the school and a relatively
easy fundraiser, and they've done some quite interesting things with the
money (the last several summers, the school has hosted a free algebra camp
for all district students planning to take algebra 1 in the fall, for
example).


I haven't heard of limits on PTA fundraising. If
they exist, they're higher than our PTA has ever encountered.

I want to jump in, figure all this out, and contribute to the school
by creating a useful system to alleviate communication and
participation within all these groups, for the betterment of the
school. Any advice would be appreciated.

Are you sure there's a problem? I think participation
is great, but I would be leery of waltzing in and trying to
solve everyone's "problems" before you even have a child in
the school. Personally, I'd start by volunteering to help
in the school office or volunteering to read to the kids or
something else like that and get your feet wet first. Wait
until your kid gets into school to jump into the PTA (can you
even belong without having a kid in the school?). Believe
me, if you've got good ideas, odds are that they'll be
delighted to have someone willing to work. However, *every*
group has a history and relationships, and you'd be wise
to understand what those are before trying to attempt
reform. While I'm sure there are schools that have problems
with communications, as far as I can tell, we don't really
have any serious communication or coordination issues among the
groups you mention. Issues have more to do with outreach
and getting people involved, but those are more resource
issues (e.g., people not having time, language barriers, etc.),
not a lack of coordination.

Best wishes,
Ericka

"mojgan" wrote in message
om...
Hi,
I'm eager to get involved in my local PTA although my daughter won't
start school there for another 2 years. I can't wait to really make a
difference. I will call up the local school when they start up in the
fall, but in the meantime, I have some questions:

1) What's the difference between PTA, school board, booster clubs, and
other entities that a parent can be involved in to make a difference
in the school?

I think generally others have pointed out what these different
organizations do, but you need to delve into what these groups
do specifically, in your area.

For instance, I live in California, where the schools are
spectacularly underfunded. Some school districts are
more underfunded that others. Wealthy communities
tend to have little patience for this, and tend to try
and remedy the situation locally, if not statewide.
Our area, in the SF Bay area is a good example.
The national PTA charter says PTAs are primarily
set up to facilitate communication between Parents, Teachers and
Administrators, however, our elementary school PTAs
primary function is to raise money for the school. In our
district it is common for each PTA to raise about $100,000
a year for their school, to pay for things like playground
equipment (both permanent structures and things like
balls), musical supplies (recorders for all 4th graders,
percussion instruments, sheet music), art supplies,
PE supplies, classroom supplies, library books, etc.
(Each school has approximately 480 students.)
There is a Educational Foundation that raises funds
for all 8 schools in the district. It raises approximately
1.5 million dollars a year. That money is used to pay
for extra teachers to keep class sizes down to 20
students per class for grades K-3 and 7th grade
English. Other classes can get up to 30 or more in
grades 4-6 and other junior high classes. They also
fund the PE, Art, and music programs in elementary
school, and the elective programs in junior high. There
is a separate Educational Foundation for the two
high schools that raises $500K a year for the
educational programs at the high schools, including
keeping many of the Advanced Placement programs
going. Booster clubs raise money for extra curriculars
like band or athletics. Additionally, there are other
organizations that pop up around elections to ensure
passage of bonds and parcel taxes that allow the
schools to raise money for capital improvements
(the schools were originally built in the 1950s, and
need updating) and to pay the teachers enough to keep
them from year to year. So yes, most the volunteer jobs,
and most of the organizations centered around schools
here relate to fund raising. All these fund raising arms
have great communication amongst one another, as
it has been found stepping on each other's toes tends
to blunt the opportunities for donations and other
support.

There are also committees that pop up around the
school board and each school that help the school
boards or each school decide directions for finances
or programs. These committees are usually appointed,
and it helps greatly if you have been involved in the
school in some way, and again, the most opportunities
are through fund raising.

I would hope other areas of the country, and
the world, are run differently.

Ericka Kammerer wrote:

mojgan wrote:

Hi,
I'm eager to get involved in my local PTA although my daughter won't
start school there for another 2 years. I can't wait to really make a
difference. I will call up the local school when they start up in the
fall, but in the meantime, I have some questions:

1) What's the difference between PTA, school board, booster clubs, and
other entities that a parent can be involved in to make a difference
in the school?

PTA/PTO = Parent Teacher Association/Organization. They exist
to facilitate communication between parents, teachers, and
administrators and to support the school by coordinating
volunteers and, often, raising money.
School Board = an elected position that runs the school in a
district.

Our school board isn't elected. At least it wasn't until just
recently. Going to an elected board was a big controversy. So I
think maybe it varies by district and/or state.

Booster Clubs = parents supporting a particular activity at
the school (sports, band, clubs, etc.) through volunteerism
and (typically) fundraising.

Sometimes parents act as coaches or assistant coaches for various
school sports and/or do volunteer work for the school such as getting
out overdue library notices and the like. The latter is more likely
at the elementary school level, because above that level the students
can do some of it, and the coaching is more likely at the middle and
high school levels because most elementary schools don't have much in
the way of outside sports.

Of course most league type sports are glad to have people to help
outside of school.

There are also groups that meet at the school that aren't school
groups which may also be glad of help (like Boy Scouts.) And
sometimes schools have productions (plays, musicals etc) where parents
can help out.



grandma Rosalie

mojgan wrote in :

I want to jump in, figure all this out, and contribute to the school
by creating a useful system to alleviate communication and
participation within all these groups, for the betterment of the
school. Any advice would be appreciated.

I know very little about the American school system: I know more about
how people tick.

Reading your post, I've really got two questions for you to think about.

The first is to work out what your motivation is. I mean, do you want to
get involved because you love children, or because you want something to put
on your resume? Or perhaps you see problems and have the knowledge/skills
to solve them?

Some answers might be judged as more acceptable then others, but working
out the answer for yourself will help you decide how best to go forward.
For instance, perhaps you tolerate children, but love paperwork: you
wouldn't want to listen to children read, but could become the secretary
of the PTA. OTOH, if you want to be involved with the children, then
getting involved with the school board might be exactly the wrong thing
for you to do.

The second question is to ask what the school system needs. Maybe there
are plenty of people willing to raise money, but no one to coordinate
their efforts (eg having seperate fundraisers spread over a month, when a
big single event would raise more money). Maybe there aren't enough
volenteers, and you could set up some helpers register? Maybe, like you
suggest, there are communication problems between different groups.

So in summary, the best way to help is for you to work out what you
have to offer, and to see where there are gaps in what the school needs.
It might turn out that the school system needs something that you can't
help with (eg they need admin backup, you hate office-type things), but
there are other organisations that would appreciate what you have to
offer.

--
Penny Gaines
UK mum to three

Cathy Kearns wrote:

snip
.. In our
district it is common for each PTA to raise about $100,000
a year for their school, to pay for things like playground
equipment (both permanent structures and things like
balls), musical supplies (recorders for all 4th graders,
percussion instruments, sheet music), art supplies,
PE supplies, classroom supplies, library books, etc.


Good Heavens. How in the world do you raise that much
money? Our school is a bit bigger than what you mentioned,
and I can't even imagine us ever raising that much. Does
your school have one fundraiser after another all year, or
is there some corporate involvement?

Lesley

"LFortier" wrote in message
...
Cathy Kearns wrote:

snip
. In our
district it is common for each PTA to raise about $100,000
a year for their school, to pay for things like playground
equipment (both permanent structures and things like
balls), musical supplies (recorders for all 4th graders,
percussion instruments, sheet music), art supplies,
PE supplies, classroom supplies, library books, etc.


Good Heavens. How in the world do you raise that much
money? Our school is a bit bigger than what you mentioned,
and I can't even imagine us ever raising that much. Does
your school have one fundraiser after another all year, or
is there some corporate involvement?

Lot's of parents working to raise money....

Escript, script, candy sales around holidays, gift wrap sales, book
fairs(three per year), walk a thons, silent auctions, tshirt sales, just
plain donations and I'm sure other stuff I don't remember.