This article is from the upcoming May/June 2008 Seventeena, which will be mailed out and available online soon.

Public education is a public responsibility – providing adequate public school facilities, staff, supplies, and programs is the responsibility of the taxpayers, not the PTA.  Public officials must remain responsible for providing each and every student with the resources necessary for an equitable, quality education.
 
However, with the announcement of the budget crisis in California, the California State PTA has received many inquiries about how a PTA can help their local schools fund programs that parents consider crucial to their child’s education and safety.
 
The issue of staff layoffs and cuts to programs and supply budgets is presenting the PTA with many requests to fund programs, supplies and employee costs.  PTA programs promoting parent education and involvement, home and school cooperation, children’s well-being, community betterment, and funding for education must have first call on PTA funds.

 
Increasingly, local communities are seeking to increase revenues to their school districts through the passage of parcel taxes.  PTAs might be asked to help secure the passage of a local parcel tax election or to participate in campaigns to pass or defeat other election ballot measures.  A PTA that participates in influencing specific legislation or voter action for the passage or defeat of any ballot measure must comply with both the federal IRS regulations and the California state laws and reporting requirements outlined in the Advocacy section of the PTA Toolkit.
 
To retain its IRS tax-exempt status and continue to receive tax-deductible contributions, a PTA may not devote more than an insubstantial part of its activity and expenditures to influence the outcome of ballot measures and other legislation.  The IRS regulations are generally interpreted to mean five percent or less of the organization’s total expenditures and activities.
 
In order for PTA funds to be donated, PTA financial procedures and IRS regulations must be followed.  Donations may be made to an organization recognized by the IRS as a 501( c)(3) organization. The membership is the authorized body to approve or ratify the donation to another 510 ( c)(3) organization.  (please note: any 501( c)(3) would similarly be precluded from devoting more than 5% of its resources to political activity) 
 
A PTA may assist in raising funds or soliciting individual donations for coalitions or election issue campaign organizations, provided that all donations are voluntary and the funds are given directly to the campaign organizations and not funneled through the PTA account. 
 
We understand you may feel the need to react immediately, but one of the best ways to be proactive and to help the children in your school is for the PTA to have representatives working with the school district, attending meetings, and listening and asking important questions about education of children in your local school district as much as possible.
 
This is a great time to include an item specifically devoted to how the budget crisis will affect children statewide on your meeting agenda.  You may also want to hold a special question and answer session with a moderator to help parents and communities understand exactly how this will affect your school community.
 
If you have questions about the California State budget process and the work that PTA is currently doing to ensure that children remain an important priority in the budget discussions, you can visit the PTA website at www.capta.org/advocacy for up-to-date legislative information, alerts, and calls for action.

In times of budget crisis, PTAs are often asked to contribute funds to a local education foundation.  When a foundation plans to fund programs outside of a school district budget, a PTA can contribute funds.  The PTA must have this item in their budget and approved by its membership.  When the contribution is made to the foundation, the PTA should also send a letter saying these funds are to be used at the contributing school.  Education foundation funds should not be funneled through a PTA treasury. (When PTA wants to assist by “passing the hat” or auctioning items for the benefit of an education foundation, those funds may not be deposited in PTA accounts – checks should be made out to and sent directly to the ed foundation.)

If the foundation is going to raise funds only to pass them on to the school district, then the PTA should contribute directly to the school district, with an accompanying letter saying the funds are to be used at the contributing school.  Gifting PTA money to school districts must follow certain guidelines specified in your Toolkit.

Again, when seeking to support district-wide fundraising efforts, PTA can be  more effective by taking an active role in communicating the needs of the school district, encouraging individual donations from the community at large, as well as providing personnel to inform the community (speakers, etc.), developing and distributing information material, making use of radio, TV, and print media, including newsletters, letters to the editor, and other communication resources such at PTA email and web pages.

If you have any further questions about this, please contact Susan Bell, 17th District Treasurer.