Difference Between PTA & PTO

We have met many parent and teacher representatives over the last few weeks at conventions that are starting their first PTA or PTO at their school or switching from one to the other. Congratulations to those stepping up to make changes to the school to benefit the children!

Many parents are confused on the differences between PTA (Parent-Teacher Association) and PTO (Parent-Teacher Organization). Both organizations provide resources to the schools and students. PTA’s mission is to make every child’s potential a reality by engaging and empowering families and communities to advocate for all children. The PTO’s mission is to help schools succeed by providing resources and tools. They believe that every school is unique and has individual needs and goals. Basically, PTA focuses on national issues affecting children and brings the information, tools and resources to the schools, and PTO is more locally focused. PTA is the largest children’s advocacy organization in the country. They have grants and awards to help establish popular PTA programs; they address community concerns such as child abuse, bullying, family engagement, health and safety, testing standards and they push legislation. PTO is designed to help parent and community leaders be successful by providing resources to the group to help ensure a positive school experience for the children. The members of the group consists of teachers, parents, communities and businesses. Tools and services for PTO include having by-laws so your group has order and procedures, fundraising services and companies, position descriptions, online web services, organizational materials, tips and ideas to help your group be more productive. PTA is a membership-based organization and has membership fees that go back to its county, state and national organization, while PTO keeps money in your school.

Whichever organization you choose to help plan programs for your school, know that you made the right decision. The resources offered by either organization will be invaluable to the students. With every program comes fundraising to help pay for the programs to implement. Fun Services offers several options for fundraising, such as Carnivals, Casino Nights, Snifty Pencils, Wooden Roses, and the risk-free Santa’s Secret Shop, aka Holiday Gift Shop or In-School Gift Shop. With Santa’s Secret Shop, Fun Services provides the school with an entire store of over a 100 varieties of gift items on consignment, provides marketing materials, such as parent letters and banners, and tools to run the shop such as cash registers and aprons. At the end of each day, the school can order items which are running low or sold out and Fun Services will have them to the school the next morning to continue selling. At the end of the week, whatever doesn’t sell gets boxed up and Fun Services picks it up. The school is only responsible for items sold. The school determines the mark-up: 0%, 10%, 15% or 20%. At the end of the week, the parent volunteers count the money brought in, subtract the mark-up and write Fun Services a check for the difference. No money comes out of the PTA or PTO budget. This is a great program for the schools that are starting PTA or PTO for the first time and don’t yet have a budget in place.

For more information, visit https://fungiftshopssocal.com/

Outlined berks are major differences between PTA and PTO.

PTA
Membership is open to anyone concerned with the education, health and welfare of children and youth.

Why PTA
There are numerous parent groups out there, but there is only one PTA. Connecting families and schools for more than 115 years, PTA is the largest children’s advocacy organization in the country. Here are just a few reasons to join PTA:

Grants and awards help establish and expand popular PTA programs, while unit spotlight awards help spread the word about best practices and new ideas. What’s more, service awards publicly acknowledge the outstanding services provided by our dedicated volunteers.

A dress community concerns such as bullying, child abuse, teen driving and other concerns. Education suggest add every child can succeed act, stem, social needs.

Family engagement stich adtoss fir parents, parent rights, esky childhood development.

Health and safety such as school wellness, nutrition, mental health, immunizations.

Standards testing for accountability testing and resources.

Advocacy pushing legislation and notifying members of positions and resolutions.

Resources for leaders training. Tools, job descriptions, financing resources, marketing tools, parliamentary procedures.

Award programs, such as reflections.

Services tax support and insurance.

Conventional S and workshops

Regional conferences.

Scholarships for continuing education abs high Sci graduates.

PTO
PTO is designed to help parent and community leaders be successful by providing resources to the group to help insure a positive school experience for the children. The members of the group consists of teachers, parents, communities and businesses.

Tools and services for PTO include having by-laws so your group has order and procedures, fundraising services and comopanies, position descriptions, online web services, orginzational materials, tips and ideas to help your group be more productive.

PCC, PTG, and HSA. These are most often single-school groups that operate under their own bylaws and by and large concern themselves with the goings-on at their building or in their town only.

Whichever organization you choose to help you organize a team to help plan programs for your school, know that you made the right decision. The resources offered will be invaluable to the students. With every program comes fundraising to help pay for the programs to implement. Fun Services offers several options for fundraising. Carnivals, Casino Nights, Sniffty Pencils, Wooden Roses, and the risk-free Santa’s Secret Shop. With Santa’s Secret Shop, Fun Services provides the school with an entire store of over a 100 varieties of gift items on consignment, provides marketing materials, such as parent flyers and banners, and the tools to run the shop, such as cash register and aprons. At the end of each day, the school can order items sold out or running out and we will have them to the school the next morning to continue selling. At the end of the week, whatever doesn’t sell, gets boxed up and Fun Services picks it up. The school is only responsible for items sold. The school determines the mark-up, 0%, 10%, 15% and 20%, counts the money the brought in for the week and then keeps their percentage and writes FS a check for the difference. No money comes out of the PTA or PTO budget. This is a great program for the schools that are starting PTA or PTO for the first time and don’t have a budget yet to start any programs. For more information, visit……