Wednesday, June 3, 2014

 Unit (also referred to as “association”) – your school organization  Council – Irvine Unified Council PTA, an association of all PTAs & PTSAs in IUSD  District – 4 th District covers all of Orange County & small part of LA  State – California State PTA –  National –

 By-laws ◦ The rules of your association—read them, update them, use them, share them  Toolkit ◦ Tons of great ideas, useful forms and rules for about every occasion. ◦ Available online at  Insurance Loss & Prevention Guide ◦ Check it BEFORE you plan the event  Council Website & Officers ◦ Great resources!

 Good meetings make a great PTA!! ◦ Create and post an agenda ◦ Rely on your parliamentarian for help managing time ◦ Ensure you have quorum (in the bylaws) ◦ Remain neutral on issues (president)  Whistleblower/conflict of interest form

 Conduct council business  Hear information directly from superintendent, school board and ITA rep  Give feedback on important topics  Meet other presidents and share ideas  Obtain important PTA & IUSD info If you can’t make it, please send a delegate.

 September 17 (Hospitality, insurance, officer list and budget)  October 15 (Audit for period 1/2014-6/2014)  November 19 (Tax returns)  January 21  February 18 (Audit for period ending 12/2014)  March 18  April 15 (Incoming officer list)  May 20 ( budget) Membership remittances accepted at all meetings! Council Meeting Dates

Election Year Dos and Don’ts DosDon’ts  Encourage your members to attend our candidate forum October 9  Hold a voter registration drive  Look for the results of our study group’s report on the SOS initiative in September  Expect to be asked to support the “Our Children Our Future” measure  Be thoughtful in holding individual meetings with candidates  Use your PTA role to endorse a candidate!  Invite individual candidates to present at your General Association meeting  Be afraid to sign ballot initiatives as a private individual  Be surprised that the SOS initiative is working under a different set of rules than the PTA-sponsored initiative

 For parents/members: ◦ Use all methods available – newsletters, flyers, e- mails, website  “Brand your PTA” – Make sure the logo and name is on everything!  Review EVERY PTA communication before it goes out  Promote your PTA ◦ IUSD ) and Irvine World News

 Get great volunteers ◦ Bring people in slowly- little jobs as starters ◦ Match the job to the person ◦ Resist the urge to micro-manage ◦ Empowered volunteers are more likely to continue! ◦ Most people rise (or fall) to expectations ◦ Give lots of credit for jobs done well, or just done! PTA presidents who delegate get more sleep and less grey hair!

 Use summer to get organized and make plans  Officer binders or Procedure Books: ◦ By-laws ◦ Job Description/relevant Toolkit info ◦ Financial Forms ◦ Board contact list  Portable File Box  Separate address  folders/sorting  Automate as much as possible

 Make sure that your PTA offers something for everyone: ◦ Working parents  Have a least 1 evening meeting  Offer “work at home” opportunities ◦ Single parents  Offer babysitting for special events ◦ Men  Dads only events or “Dad driven” events ◦ Non-English speakers  Translate at least a few documents  Use translator feature on your website  Promote diversity

 Be nice to people. The busier we get, the more demanding we can become.

 Budget Committee duties ◦ Meet ASAP ◦ 3 to 1 Rule ◦ Carry-over funds ◦.1 FTE or 2hrs/day CE per 100 students  School of 700 could hire.7 of a teacher or 14 hours/day of classified or a combination of both  Budget Template ◦ Fundraisers – General fund vs. line items

 Don’t forget to budget for: ◦ Convention- ◦ Advocacy- A key (and required) part of our work including Sacramento Safari  Try to avoid paying people ◦ Pay the school to pay custodians, etc  Don’t budget for: ◦ Personal Gifts- Not for teachers, staff or volunteers ◦ Tables at galas or events PTA is not an ATM

 PTA is not an ATM  Cannot stress this enough! You are NOT there to fund every request from your principal - you are not there for the principal, you are there for the students!

You are NOT required to have income match expenses to have a great budget. A Great Budget

 Follow the process  Consider purchasing a laptop and software ◦ Resource:  Sample Form ◦ Council remit form ◦ Unit check request form ◦ Generic donation receipt ◦ Fiduciary agreement

Cash Verification  Two people - financial officer or chair and any other PTA member not related to above.  Record - using Cash Verification Form  Sign - sign form and copy (snap a picture with your smartphone!)  Deposit - right away  Don't take cash home!  Attach deposit receipt to CVF

Cash Verification form  form can be found at California pta toolkit.  Or you can create your own.

Remit to Council  Remit dues, insurance, and hospitality to council.  First date - September 17th!  Forms are available on our website: 

Sample remit to council form

Check Requests  Use a payment authorization/request form.  Write check. Indicate budget account and purpose on memo line of check.  Record information on form.  Check requires two signatures.  Form requires two signatures.  Ratify checks at association/board meetings.

Donations to PTA  If a donation is made for a specific campaign, ie technology, it MUST be used for that purpose.  If you don't reach your goal, that donation must be returned.  Avoid this by getting a letter from the donor stating that it may be used for another purpose.

 Ensures school spends money as the PTA designates  Form is online  Up to you to get the  funds back from the  school district if they  DONT use it!  Better to reimburse than  give them a large lump  sum. Fiduciary

 There are 2 parts to a great report ◦ Budget to Actual spreadsheet ◦ Bank reconciliation detail ◦ “I move to ratify the check number for the period of 1/1/15 to 1/31/15 as listed in the report.” ◦ “I move that the Treasurer be allowed to pay all ordinary and necessary bills as outlined in our adopted budget.”

Look familiar? If you set up your budget with 3 columns, the same document is a monthly report. This report can be created in Quickbooks as well as Excel.

Sample of Bank Reconciliation

 Seek an Accountant’s Advice ◦ For federal, file 990N if gross receipts are less than $50,000 (State is $25,000) ◦ File a 990EZ if gross receipts are less than $250,000  State Filing ◦ 199N if gross receipts are less than $25,000  Less than the federal ◦ Or full form 199 if receipts are greater than $25,000  Attorney General ◦ File form RRF-1 Annually ◦ Do you hold raffles at your school?

 E-learning courses on ◦ Conflict Resolution ◦ Grant Writing ◦ Parliamentary Procedure ◦ Planning Your PTA Year & more  Websites: ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ Insurance Guide – username: ptausers password: member

 Council is here for you—don’t be afraid to ask & give feedback  Have fun!