Does your PTA have set Policies in place

[bubbakin]

Hi, I'm chair of a small primary school PTA. Sort where it's the same people that turn up for meetings & same parents that support fundraising events! We've had a bit of a 'to do' about spending as I agreed with head & deputy head teacher for PTA to spend £120 on much needed/urgent resources. The Head requested the funds & I agreed without asking any other committee members ( We have around £6k not allocated in bank!) Anyway, a member wasn't very impressed with this & has now said we need a set of policies in place. Such as Chair can agree to spend up to £200 without any other members permission (bearing in mind these spend requests will all be from Head who is a PTA member!!) but just wondered if there are any other policies we should have! When I joined I was hoping it would be a relaxed/social affair as we're such a small school...can see myself standing down in Sept & let the person causing grief step up! Thank you

Thanks for suggestion, we are in rather rural area with some pta members not online! We do usually have a request list for school items from deputy head at meeting however this was a one off quick decision needed situation. The same person also made snide remarks about a previous request for funds & my method of agreeing was by asking pta members in playground at school pick up, which she thought was inappropriate! So I just want to ensure all aspects of running a pta are covered by policies to avoid such pettiness in future.

Committees can be a bloody nightmare, can they not?

There were ishoooos in out PTA re decisions being made in the playground rather than meetings, so not including everyone and with no proper discussion. In this case, the chair said no to something the PTA would ordinarily have agreed to.

I think decisions about money do need to be quite formal. Maybe you need a protocol rather than a policy?

We put protocols in place suggesting money should not be held in reserve for more than two years so the parents who raised the money's children could benefit & as the money is given to spend the view was it should be spent. We also had policies regarding how long a committee member could hold office to prevent the committee from benefitting from fresh blood (treasurer, secretary, chairman). I think if the school had been saving up for major expenditure we would have earmarked the funds and reassessed the earmarking if another need arose before the earmarked funds were spent.

Our AGM was open to any parents/guardians.

Personally I don't think that funds should be allocated without it being mentioned at committee. It's too easy for things to go wrong if it's down to one person to say yes, or no. And what if you don't agree with it? Very hard to say "I don't agree".
Even if it's a quick decision then it shouldn't be one person's say so. If nothing else then a teacher could decide that the best way to get something through that might be objected to, would be to say that it's urgent.

I think it's fairly common on committees like that you have a minimum number of people that can decide: Say 3-5 people, which must include one of chair/treasurer. Also I know our funds have to have 2 signatures to withdraw money, one of which has to be the treasurer.

The way it's worked at our school, is any requests from teachers are listed on the agenda, and discussed at the next committee meeting. Usually it's waved through with little more than a mention, but occasionally questions are asked, and very occasionally there have been objections raised.

Issues like: one class has had a lot of funding this year: Why?
We paid for that two years ago, why hasn't it lasted, is it worth paying more and getting a better version.
Is that going to take a lot of money to maintain?
Can we leave it until after summer fair because funds are a little low and we've got XX expense to pay yet.
Can we get it donated from a local business/parent?

I am the PTA treasurer and the head or bursar sometimes try to pass things directly through me rather than at meetings. I always say that it needs to be agreed by committee and I can't just decide by myself. If it is urgent then the chair, vice chair, treasurer and secretary discuss and make a decision. Our PTA is actually a "school association" and no teachers or the head are actually on the committee (their choice, not ours) so I don't know if that makes a difference.

Our money is in a very different pot from school funds. The things we tend to object to are more "fabric of the building" type expenditure such as new flooring, or furniture as the PTA tends to feel that this should come from the school budget and not from PTA fundraised cash which should be used for more fun, extra stuff.

Does your PTA have a constitution? It probably does, but members may not be aware of it's existence. We have to hold a formal meeting and vote on any money spent. We also need to have a certain number of the committee present to make decisions. I would ask the Headteachers or school secretary if they are aware of a constitution. It is probably filed with PTA minutes from years ago.
If you haven't got a constitution then you probably need one. If you have the PTA insurance through PTA UK they have info on their website about this and lots of other things you may never have thought about. You will need the insurance reference number to log in. I'm sure PTA + must have info available as well.

We won't spend without agreement from (majority of) committee members.

Small amounts (e.g. £70 for wet play) are done via playground discussion and followed up by email.
Larger amounts (e.g. £300 for visiting theatre) at a formal meeting and minuted.
Gigantic amounts agreed in principle at AGM (e.g. XXX, will cost £10000, are we OK to save for it and purchase this year if we hit target).

Our cheques have 2 signatories required (with at least 3 authorised signatures). I think this is the most important control really. Our treasurer is good, she won't let you sign a cheque for expenses for yourself, someone else has to sign it.

Nothing should really be so urgent that you can't take 2 days to sound out other committee before committing.

Thank you all for your suggestions & input. The officers (myself included) are putting together a terms of reference. We are a very casual PTA (not actually called a PTA) there hasn't been a committee in place at the school for some years. It was a very urgent request to do with transport & a decision was needed that afternoon, I'm also a member of staff at the school so know that the head/deputy wouldn't say it was urgent if it wasn't. Onwards & upwards!!!