To think the PTA are a bit much?

[Notreallyaninfluencer]

I probably am BU but bloody hell, so far this academic year I’ve paid out £70 for my two DC to attend four PTA events (two of them discos). There has also been several mufti days and a sponsored event at the end of the summer term. Does this seem a bit much? I’ve never paid out this much in previous years.

[arethereanyleftatall]

I'm afraid I don't agree that paying a small amount of money to help fund a school for the children you chose to have is ridiculous at all.

[thatdisorganisedmum]

In my schools, the £1 for own clothes days is not even compulsory. No kid will be refused access or sent home to be changed if they haven't got a £1.

Are there really any school who act differently?

[InACheeseAndPickle]

All the PTA members in my kids schools have full time job.

How lovely for them - at OP's school the events occur in school time so that's clearly not the case. In my DC's school all meetings occur in school time and so do most of the events so if you work full time there's 0 chance of you helping.

Yes the school needs more funding but the PTA also need to be sensitive to people's financial constraints. It's just plain mean to have a mufti day not everyone can afford to take part in.

It is simply unsustainable to keep increasing the number of events indefinitely. It would be better to have events for parents (as parents are generally less worried if they can't afford to take part than kids) or to seek out sponsorship.

The OP's post was not rude - she just implied the price had gone up and she was finding it difficult. Why would the PTA expect to be beyond even the mildest form of criticism?

[RedSkyLastNight]

Is this a school in a wealthy area? At my DC's school the disco was £1.50 and there were still families that couldn't afford it. So I agree with OP that £70 is an awful lot, if youdon't live in an area where families can happily she'll out larger sums for events.

[arethereanyleftatall]

Ours wouldn't the disorganised mum, which I fully support. It's never the child's fault. The problem arises when people who can afford it, don't want to.

[InACheeseAndPickle]

I'm afraid I don't agree that paying a small amount of money to help fund a school for the children you chose to have is ridiculous at all.

That's because you're wildly out of touch. For you (and actually for me) £70 is a small amount of money. For a single mum with four kids £140 is a huge amount of money - she either finds that money (sometimes by not eating enough - in the families I've volunteered with this genuinely happens I've seen it). Or she tells her kids they'll be the only ones going home straight after school and not attending the Disco.

[Quartz2208]

Have all the mufti days being PTA though - this year we have had two mufti for the PTA (and bring things in for the Christmas Fair and Easter Eggs) but 3 non (Children in Need/World Book Day and Comic Relief)

But I do agree its seems steep - what is the price of the disco?

[thatdisorganisedmum]

It is simply unsustainable to keep increasing the number of events indefinitely.

I think we should start putting the onus on each parent to purchase all supplies needed for their own kids and have to make voluntary contribution to improve the learning environment, and pay full price for all the outings.

Keep a couple of PTA events a year max to have a fun event for the kids.
That way parents would see exactly what they are paying for, everyone would contribute equally and it would make things much easier.

[InACheeseAndPickle]

No one is saying the PTA is doing this deliberately but your response to OP's post just shows how insensitive some people are to the fact that not everyone can afford these things and the kids suffer. If you genuinely can't see that for some people £70 is very difficult to afford and for some impossible then I'm sorry you need to give your head a wobble.

[InACheeseAndPickle]

I think we should start putting the onus on each parent to purchase all supplies needed for their own kids and have to make voluntary contribution to improve the learning environment, and pay full price for all the outings.

And the kids who can't afford it just goes without books? Great plan! If you can't afford private education don't have kids right?

[moosesormeece]

arethereanyleftatall

She already is paying for it, in the form of taxation. State education isn't a handout, it's a public service that we all pay for according to our ability to do so.

If schools don't have enough money to run properly then that's the fault of the government, not the parents (with the exception of parents who voted for this government and therefore presumably have their own plans for funding public services). The answer isn't to force people with tight budgets and limited free time to justify their lives to strangers.

[tigerbear]

At my DD’s school (in a pretty wealthy area), the parents ARE being asked to chip in to fund the school in terms of hard cash being donated on a monthly basis. Just this week, we’ve received a letter from the Head to say they have a 50k deficit, the envelope included a form to set up a direct debit to the school.

Our PTA ran a disco for the parents last week at £10 a ticket, making around £800.
Our school fairs usually make 1-2k per time.
It’s not hard to work out that it’s going to take a shed load of events to make up the 50k, so I’m seriously considering setting up that direct debit.

[5BlueHydrangea]

I can see your point OP but as with some of the others, I am on the PTA and have been very involved for the last few years. I also work part time as does every other member of our team. It's only a handful of us that actually do the work, and it's very time consuming. In fact most of the current team are in effect experiencing ' PTA burnout' now (including me) and want to step down as it's a pretty thankless task!
And we still have another terms events to go including the summer fair which is our biggest event of the year!
So... all of you that like to moan about your PTA, just be kind, offer to help sometimes, say thanks. It really helps. Then all the children in the school can benefit. Those that choose to give up their time for the benefit of others should be more appreciated. Support their events and next time you want to criticise.... just don't.

[5BlueHydrangea]

Oh and our most recent event, an evening St Patrick's do which has been popular in the past ran at a loss this year because not enough people supported it. Very frustrating for all involved.

[thatdisorganisedmum]

InACheeseAndPickl
works in other countries!

And well, yes, if you can't afford to have kids, don't have them! What kind of selfish individual would have kids they can't afford.

[DrinkFeckArseGirls]

Is it alrivate school? We live in an affluent middle class area and the PTA events are half price of yours!

[notacooldad]

,We're lucky we have free education for each child
But it's not free. It's free at the point of delivery but its paid for in taxes.

[thatdisorganisedmum]

If you genuinely can't see that for some people £70 is very difficult to afford and for some impossible then I'm sorry you need to give your head a wobble.

£70 is not the price of 1 disco ticket
Even parents who can afford it don't feel the need to send their kids to everything under the sun. It's not a bad lesson to tell your kids they cannot attend absolutely everything.

[FredFlinstoneMadeOfBones]

I would happily contribute to the school because I can afford it. I don't think it's realistic to expect every parent to be able to do this - they couldn't afford it. I would hate it if there were events in my DC's school that not everyone can afford to attend - I'd much rather the events were inclusive. It's not nice to exclude the poor kids from school events.

The problem with these school events is that it's a flat fee - everyone pays the same - for some people it's no problem for others it's a huge struggle. That's not fair. You can't keep asking people for more and more - it's just not manageable for lots of people.

Some of the comments here remind me of the PTA at my DC's previous school. I tried to attend some meetings before I went back to work. Any slight questioning of how things were done was met with extreme hostility. ("we've been doing this for years if you valued your child's education you'd do XYZ." They were actually quite rude to someone who suggested they couldn't afford to use holiday days to help with a day time event). Luckily their current school PTA is much more inclusive.

[NoSquirrels]

I think the defensive responses are to the thread title, which says the PTA is “ a bit much” not that they’re charging a bit more than before...

Tbh, I’ve got 2 DC and have definitely paid out more than that this academic year over a couple of family events, a disco, Christmas present shop, WWYL days and raffle tickets.

In terms of charitable donations, this directly benefits kids I can see (not just my own) and adds some fun to the increasingly pressured school environment, and funds education which I personally think is hugely important. So I don’t find it “too much”.

But in terms of PTFA stuff you literally cannot get it right for love nor money. Someone will always find fault.

Raise the cost issue if you like, or vote with your feet and don’t buy/take part etc. But if you raise it, do it reasonably e.g. too many events pre-Christmas or the disco is £2 more expensive than last year etc. Give them a chance to use the feedback or give reasons to you. Don’t just moan, whatever you do.

[FredFlinstoneMadeOfBones]

But it's not free. It's free at the point of delivery but its paid for in taxes.

Which is exactly how it should be surely?

[FredFlinstoneMadeOfBones]

works in other countries!

No it doesn't. Name one first world country in which a child isn't entitled to a free education?

Your comment is so stupid it beggars belief. If only people who could afford private education had kids we'd have no one to do any form of low paid labour. No care for elderly people, no teachers (because why the hell should they teach kids they can't even afford to have themselves?), no one to sweep the road. We'd also have a massive rise in crime because we'd have huge numbers of uneducated people whose parents couldn't afford to send them to school.

[CripsSandwiches]

If schools don't have enough money to run properly then that's the fault of the government, not the parents (with the exception of parents who voted for this government and therefore presumably have their own plans for funding public services). The answer isn't to force people with tight budgets and limited free time to justify their lives to strangers.

This. I am a high earner and will happily pay more taxes for public services. What I wouldn't do is blame people who can't afford it for not happily paying more and more to make up the short fall in school funding. Some of the comments here are staggeringly rude.

[thatdisorganisedmum]

FredFlinstoneMadeOfBones
we are not talking about children not entitled to free education, we are talking about parents buying school supplies.

Name one country? France for example. Here's the list of basic supplies requested for September 2018

[thatdisorganisedmum]

*to add:
apparently they have a separate list for the books they have to buy.