Overpriced Fundraisers

[GreyhoundsRUs]

WTF?! Who in their right damn mind hits up the pregnant lady to do extra crap?!

Seriously! Good for you for saying no!

[DCJenn]

We pay for the art program in the school- yes, there would be NO ART classes in the school that goes from pre-k through 8th grade if the PTA didn't pay for it. There's music but we cover a little bit of dance instruction, too (Ballet folkforico- fits with the immersion Spanish program)

So, we fundraise but we don't put it on the kids except to bring in the Boxtops for Education - which of course the parents collect but is generally painless (baggie on the fridge, handed in twice a year) Our three big fundraisers are the Fall Festival- whcih is exactly what is sounds like- kid friendly stuff and they can wear their Halloween costumes. We do Spring Arts Carnival- since we're smack dab in the middle of the arts district- we bring in artists, musicians, dancers, etc. It's fun. The one that I find the most fun is the "parent's night out" fundraiser- last year was "1980s Night" and this year will be "Mad Men."

Jenn

[Sheherezade]

Jenn -- I'm so glad you are knee deep in the PTO stuff as well. As the treasurer of our PTO this year, I'm stunned by both how much we pay for that people think the school pays for (computer systems, teacher instruction, science equipment, the school's PA system, the choir steps, etc.) AND how much we haul in. There are an insane amount of requests to parents for moola. At least here, we never require participation and we never ask kids to even go door to door unless they choose to do so. We just keep sending out opportunities to them. Our fundraisers are a single wrapping paper/cooking dough sale for the whole district, and one fundraiser per building: K-3 does a walkathon in the spring with a spirit t-shirt sale for the last day of school, 4-6 does a afternoon out at the movies for each grade level with a reserved theater and popcorn, 7-8 has a sloppy joe dinner before the homecoming game and 9-12 has a student raffle in January.

What makes it seem so awful beyond that is that we have many different groups beyond PTO that raise funds within the same population. I think we've got 6 different NFPs that are "school support". That's a lot of fundraising.

Makes me wonder what the school is spending all their "per student" money on!! (From what I hear, it's electricity, heat, teacher's salaries, special ed and healthcare.)

[DCJenn]

We covered sending the middle school teachers to the international baccalaureate training (at least it was local) and sending one of the 4th grade teachers to a writing workshop. We also have two Teach for America teachers so the school doesn't have to cover their entire salary (and they're AWESOME! I hope they stay on)

and, almost half the kids qualify for the free lunch program.

Unlike my elementary school where my mother said that they had so much money in the PTA coffers that they had to do something with it and they were able to pay for a fulltime artist in residence. (not that he lived at the school but they paid for everything)

Jenn

[DCJenn]

Often, the districts don't have cash to pay for the teachers to go to trainings or conferences and the PTAs/PTOs will pick up those costs.

The way Texas funds it's school districts is so screwed up. It's probably one of the only issues that across the state everyone agrees on.

Jenn

[scarlett09]

What's the difference between teacher instruction and teacher's salaries? Because it sounds like your PTO is paying the teachers to work!

I'm wondering how much different school districts spend per student. Last year our school district spent $7310 per child. We also have the third (or fourth?) biggest school district in the state and something like the 30th biggest school district in the nation. And, it's growing like wildfire. Our buildings are soooo overcrowded. It's not uncommon to have an elementary school with 1200 students in this school district! The current district cost to educate per child is $6784 (according to the school district's business and finance online report). If those numbers are correct then our district spent an extra $526 per child last year. 91, 578 was how many students were enrolled last year. That means we overspent by $48,170,028 last year! And, to top it off, our state comptroller's office calls our district one of the very best according to cost comparisons among school districts in the state.

Wow, the average per pupil cost in my home state ($15K) is double what your district pays per pupil. And amazingly, my home district spends $17K per pupil, with $9K of that going towards salaries and benefits of faculty, which average around $60K. I checked out the report card for my district and I'm sad. Less instructional time than state average, only 10% of the total HS population sat for the SATs or AP exams (I'm sure the numbers don't account for multiple exams taken by one student), graduation rate below average, etc. I saved the state's education report card website to my favorites, in case we ever move back.

[Sheherezade]

Teacher instruction means training programs for the teachers. For example, we've funded a laptop/mimeo in every room in the district but we also sent all the teachers to training programs to make sure they would be able to utilize new technology in the classroom. No point in buying equipment if the teachers won't be able to use it. It took the PTO three years of dedicated funding, but we've now got 100% trained staff and all classrooms have a teacher computer that works as an overhead for instruction.

Interestingly, our per pupil expenditure (although still high) has been going down steadily for the last three years. I wonder if that's why all the support groups have been hit up so hard along the same time period. Our last levy cycle (in which the school district begs the community for increases in tax support - it goes to the voters here whenever the operating budget overreaches expenditures - about every 5 years), we were told that 85% of the revenue goes to salary and benefits. The remaining 15% is in facilities and utilities.

I don't think our teachers are overpaid. Benefits have gone up and we have too many "support" staff and administrative types. But teachers? We could do with more.