Small poll - How does your school spend PTA money? Does the HT spend it or do you get a say in it?

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We handed over a cheque for £10,500 last October and the PTA have NO SAY AT ALL on how it is spent!

We did try to change this a couple of years ago so we could work with teachers and get a wish list but the HT refused to let us and said that she would not go 'cap in hand to the PTA whenever she wanted cash!'

This has irritated us but she is retiring in July and we hope to change the way things are done ifWeCanGetRidofTheEvilBursarToo

Just wondered how you do it in your school...............

Our PTA ask staff and pupils for suggestions each year and they spend the money.

That sounds like a great idea!

PTA definitely has input, basically the HT says what she wants to buy, the PTA says yes good idea, and then either (a) she's too busy to buy it (b) someone donates it or (c) someone fixes it so our money goes a long way

The PTA raise the money so should decide what it is spent on. I can't believe you raise such huge amounts and get no say.

Our HT comes to us with some ideas and we have our own ideas.

I had a quiet chat with the DP today and she suggested we put a plan together as the PTA to talk about it in September.

so we come up with an idea ie new toys/equipment for one of the playgrounds and decide that we need to raise £5000 for the project. We tell all the parents and teachers and raise money for that particular project.

That's basically how our PTA work.

There is a wish list of smaller items which are paid for as and when .

For larger items, the PTA committee are usually polled, and then a decision made on that basis.

The main criteria are that the items are additional extras, not day to day necessities, and that they benefit the students, not just the running of the school.

We are very consultative; at each meeting the HT or Deputy HT comes and we talk about what the money should be spent on.

Assuming that your PTA is affiliated to the national organisation for PTAs and you are registered charity then the school have absolutely no right to the money you raise. It is completely for you as the PTA how you spend it. However if you are sensible and you have a reasonable head teacher then you talk and you come to an agreement about how the funds are spent.
A headteacher demanding the PTA hand over the funds is somewhat concerning, not the least of which is how do you know it was actually spent by the head teacher for the benefit of the schools pupils?

We are a registered charity and do it all by the book.

I think the HT is just so used to having the money that it has never been questioned but it is a real bugbear of mine!

When we asked for a list of how the money was spent we got back

£900 on the bloody fish pond!!
£600 on stickers!

No idea about the rest but I might ask again at the next meeting.

The teachers and Head decide how the money is raised in our school. We have a teacher rep at our meetings to "ask permission" to spend the money but we have never said no and can't imagine that we ever would. I work bloody hard on the Friends committe to raise money and so I want the staff to decide how it is spent. I wouldn't have a clue where the money is needed most.

We do not have a teacher rep and our actual PTA is not parents and teachers. We are a schools association with the name of school at the beginning.

I wonder if a teacher rep would work........sounds good to me!

I was PTA treasurer
the cheque book stayed FIRMLY closed unless it was a project the committee had agreed to
and in one case we only paid the first half as the head went against our wishes

the PTA is a charity
it is answerable to the voters at its AGM and nobody else

But do I want to annoy the head when my boys are still at the school and I work there???

I'm sure our PTA has an agm meeting which has a run down of exactly how much was raised and what was spent.

I think our PTA works along the lines that the HT/governers will ask for donations and fundraising for large projects. For the past few years they have contributed towards creating outdoor spaces. In the past, minibuses etc.

They will also help towards things like New football kits and paying for buses for daytrips. They give each teacher a small bursery in September buy things for their class.

Some of our PTA members are still involved many years after their children have left. I don't think that would happen if there wasn't complete trust on both sides.

We talk to the head and the staff, but a vote at the PTA meeting or a flurry of emails gives the final say so.

Our Headteacher makes requests to the PTA and we usually agree to the requests, but there have been one or two times we've said 'no'. The PTA also makes suggestions to the Headteacher and she'd say whether she thought it was a good idea or not (or unfeasible for some reason). The teachers can also ask for things (like musical instruments), but all requests go through the Headteacher.

I wouldn't just hand over £10K like that. The Head could spend it on something stupid after you've done all that work fundraising.

Any request for funds to our PTA has to be voted on, usually at our half-termly meeting, occassionally by e-mail to our committee.

Things are going to change!

I am going to print this out and take it to the next meeting.

It's not the head's money, it's the PTA's money.

I'm a governor. At ds's school, the head discusses her priorities with the PTA for anything that can't be funded through core school budgets. The PTA may say yes, may say no, may ask for more info, or may have other ideas. The governors also identify things where the PTA may wish to assist - but it's all on the basis that it's up to the PTA to decide how to spend the money they raise. If appropriate, we also ask the school council (reps from each form) - for instance, the PTA, governors and head agreed to spend some money on new playground equipment for KS2. When we talked to the school council, they had very clear ideas about what they would like, e.g. pointed out that they wanted things more than one child could use at a time.

So what sort of things did they ask for Edam?

Am keen to sort out the playgrounds.

Um... will check with ds and come back to you, I've forgotten! The KS2 playground is round the back so you don't see it unless you go looking for it

but the new-ish equipment in the KS1 playground includes a set of tyre swings, monkey bars, a v-frame for clambering over, a wobbly balance beam for walking along/jumping off/doing whatever acrobatics happen to amuse small children at the time (don't know the proper name but it's like a beam only with springs underneath to make it wobble).

Our school we do a wish list and then a parent vote at the AGM. The head can add things in later as long as the PTA agree it adn equally the head has been known to not go ahead with a project because it has proved impossible for some reason at which point the money, which has never left the PTA account, sits there until they come up with another idea instead. We have certain things we always commit to, x for books, x for helping pay for school trips, x for a small gift for each child at Christmas, x per teacher per year for the teacher to spend how they like for their class and then there's usually a big capital project - this last year it's been an amazing outdoor classroom.

Head never gets money until signed off by PTA treasurer!

Our school is a parents and friends association, the different departments can apply for both big (largest project £32,000) and small (smallest a few pounds). In reality a couple of really big projects are requested each year only one will be chosen by the commitee. The head is never involved in the money at all items are purchased by the association and donated to the school.