der5er

Two recent Letters to the Editor of the Chesterfield Observer and the recent PTA budget meeting have gotten me thinking. Does the PTA have a clue how to raise money? Does the PTA, or the school itself, realize how much money is asked from the parent’s pockets? Do the county supervisors (or whomever is in charge of budgeting for the schools) have any idea how money is spent at local schools?

The two letters to the editor spoke about how much money is asked from parents in the first few weeks of school. Most of these items are optional, school pictures, PTA Dues, fundraisers, book fair, yearbooks. But this is all on top of the money we’ve just spent on school supplies for our kids and any wish lists the teachers had for us. That’s right, the teachers don’t get enough money to fully supply the classroom and post wish lists that they hope the parents will purchase for the whole class. And all at a time when many families are beginning thier budget or even their shopping for Christmas!
Then, at the PTA meeting they showed us the proposed budget for next year along side the budget for last year. I was astounded to see that the fundraiser didn’t make any money last year…it actually cost the PTA money for the kids to participate! The book fair didn’t perform much better, making very little if any. I don’t have the actual figures to point to, because I didn’t think I would get fired up enough to write about it. So, if anyone has the figures for me, comment here, and send them to me.

Now, I don’t pretend to think this is just a Swift Creek Elementary issue. I don’t even think it’s just a Chesterfield County or Virginia issue. I know when we lived in California, that we faced many of the same requests for money from the schools and PTA at the beginning of the year. It just baffles me that this goes on. Maybe the PTA would make a little more on existing fundraisers if they did this in the spring. Maybe there are answers I’m not thinking of, let me know.