While some PTA experiences are common wherever you are (the need for more volunteers is surely universal), others can be wildly different. This includes expectations around what the PTA is expected to provide. In the US, PTAs fill the gaps left by government funding, paying for things that – in the UK – we might expect to be covered as part of the school experience. While education funding varies from state to state, it’s not uncommon for PTAs to be paying towards classroom supplies. This has meant that many parents see contributing to the PTA as a non-negotiable part of their child’s education, as they’re not simply paying for optional extras but essential services.
‘New volunteers are excited to take over’
Caitlin Fredericks, president, Birney Elementary PTA, Los Angeles, California (430 pupils, age five to 11)
What is your community like?
Overall, we are a more affluent area than other parts of LA but we also have families who qualify for free lunches.
How long have you been president?
This is my second and final year. Each board member stays in their role for a standard two-year period. When I resign, my vice president (VP) will become president. If I were not leaving because my youngest is now 11, I would become VP, so we always have someone there who’s done it before.
How do you organise events?
For each event, there is a sub-committee with a teacher liaison. Our principal comes to all of our meetings and events. Teachers show up to some events – for instance, they will bring their own children to our carnival.
How do you raise money?
Joining fee: There’s a joining fee for volunteers of $12 (£9).
Jogathon: Each kid shares their personal web donation page with family and friends. We use an outside company for the web pages. We raised almost $60,000(£45,000) this year.
PTA Pops: As we live in southern California, the kids always want popsicles. As a healthy school, we sell fruit-based popsicles for $1 (75p). We’ve raised almost $1,000 (£750) this year.
Merchandise: We sell items including personalised water bottles, wrapping paper and home goods.
Where do you spend your money?
Our criteria on spending mean we cannot pay teacher salaries or anything curriculum-based.
- We provide a teacher grant of $2,000(£1,500) to each grade level of three teachers, to spend on supplemental educational supplies, such as class library books or pencils
- Four assemblies per year
- A field trip for each grade level
- Teachers’ welcome lunch as well as a thank you lunch at Christmas
- Twice a year we have a Birney Store of goodies where kids spend the Birney Bucks they've earned for good behaviour
- STEM night: an evening of science, engineering and maths fun
- Multi-cultural evening: parents bring in a dish from their culture for a pot-luck meal and we have a fashion show and presentation by pupils
- School dance: a glow disco with a DJ, merch, photo booth and a meal provided by a local restaurant. We charge $25(£18.50), plus $5 (£3.70) per additional child, to cover expenses only
- Movie night: a large outdoor screen and popcorn. Pizza or candy is $2 (£1.50)
- Carnival: this is our community event and a chance for parents to say congratulations to their children on a great school year. It costs around $15,000 (£11,000) to produce. Our hope is to break even by charging $1 (75p) for entry, $20 (£15) for unlimited use of the inflatables and $10 (£7.50) for food, when actually meals cost $16 (£12). It’s mostly just to subsidise the cost. Last year we made a loss of $500 (£370). We always invite the incoming kindergarten families and encourage them with a free lunch and tickets for the carnival
- Staff Appreciation Week: We had a week of events – typical in this district – but when I was a teacher in Michigan, we had just one day when parents would bring in snacks for the teachers. Here, staff and teachers received a treat every day. We filled the staff lounge with candy one day, had a breakfast cart another, and a taco guy came in and prepared lunch on another day. This year the budget was $2,000 (£1,500) from our PTA funds
- We support three low-income families at Christmas through our district education foundation. Two grade levels support one family by anonymously providing items from that family’s wish list.
How do you communicate with parents?
Each class has a room parent who sends out emails to the class most weeks. Our principal has a weekly email that we hop on. Our vice president of communications sends out a monthly PTA newsletter plus we use Facebook, Instagram and the school website.
What are your biggest challenges?
Getting more people involved. The reputation of the PTA was cliquey, but we have brought in new parents by directly speaking to them or asking for recommendations. I always make an effort to introduce myself at events and thank everyone for attending. The next generation of volunteers are younger and we have some dads. They’re excited to be taking over.
Another challenge was dealing with questions from parents – the emails were overwhelming, so we created a dedicated email address, which my VP monitors.
When one parent moaned their child received only one orange slice at the jogathon, I offered her the perfect job for next year – you get to be in charge of orange slices!
What can we learn from the US?
Rose Levien is a Brit who lived in San Francisco for seven years with her husband and three children, two of whom were born there. Now back in the UK, she has been involved with the Reepham Primary School PTA in Norfolk (220 pupils)for four years and is bringing her experience of US PTAs to the UK.
‘San Francisco is a cosmopolitan city and not completely representative of the US, but what really stood out for me was the idea that family, children and education came first,’ says Rose.
Before Rose took over as chair at Reepham Primary, the PTA typically raised less than £4,000 a year. Her background in professional fundraising definitely helped, but is not vital according to Rose.
She recently hosted an event she witnessed in America, based on a runathon, an inclusive fun run where every child is encouraged to take part by running laps of the school’s athletic field. Organising it with one other parent, plus volunteer support on the day, they pulled in £11,000 plus £3,000 in corporate sponsorship, with 145 children participating. It was a record-breaking amount for the school.
‘American schools are a lot bigger,’ says Rose. ‘Then you just have to have a series of events throughout the year. The silent auction was the highlight of the year, raising $200,000 (£150,000).’
Rose’s secrets for success
- Set expectations high. If you’re going to put in all this effort, make it worth it and aim big!
- Nurture a different attitude. In the US, the expectation to contribute a certain amount is set at the start of the year. We need to embrace a new mindset about the role of the PTA and how families contribute – not necessarily with money, but with their time or skills.
- Have event committees raising money for a certain event. They have ownership and they’re not being asked to do multiple things across multiple events.
- Recognise the importance of class reps. They are key to sharing your message on a regular basis.
- Be transparent. Share the fundraising calendar for the year, and how much you expect to raise for each event.
- Professionalise your message and be consistent. Think of your PTA as a professional charity.
