Encourage your school to share parent-raised funds
Schools in higher-income communities tend to have parent-teacher associations/organizations (PTAs/PTOs) that raise more funds than those in lower-income areas and can often afford enrichment activities such as art, music, STEM programs, and field trips. Schools without this funding stream may also lack quality books, classroom materials, and other resources.
Advocate for your school or school district to create a system for sharing parent-raised funds with schools that will benefit from increased resources.
To get started:
Identify and partner with schools, within or outside of your district, that may struggle with parental involvement or securing funds for adequate resources.
Design a process whereby your school or school district creates a shared pool of parent-raised funds. Attend PTA/PTO events, school board meetings, or reach out to your local school administrators to discuss PTA funding.
Implement programs to share funds and reach out to other well-resourced schools to get them engaged in your pooling model.
Best Practices / Innovative Programs
The Fund for Portland Public Schools redistributes funds raised by each school’s PTA to students in need. Using demographic data and a formula-driven model, money in their shared fund is distributed to higher-need schools in the district.
Hawthorn School District’s PTO distributes PTO funds in a shared manner. Rather than have one PTO per school, there is one PTO for the entire school district. All money raised in PTO fundraisers is put in a shared pool and then distributed on a per capita basis
