PTOs gain ground at expense of PTA

By Del Stover

11/23/04 -- When parents decided to organize at the newly opened Virgil Mills Elementary School in Palmetto, Fla., their first decision was whether to establish a local chapter of the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) -- or go it alone as an independent Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO).

For most parents, there was little practical difference between the two organizations -- except on one issue. If parents established a PTA, they would have to surrender a portion of their dues to the state and national organizations. That would mean giving up more than $1,000.

That settled the matter. By a unanimous vote, parents decided the money was staying at their school.

"We felt that we didn't gain too many benefits by being a PTA," says Hayley MacDonald, president of the school's PTO. "We were looking more to keep the money for our own school."

That kind of thinking concerns officials at the national PTA's Chicago headquarters. Since it was founded in 1987, the PTA has been a vocal proponent for improving public education.

But, in recent years, the group's prominence in public education is waning. Membership has dropped from a 1963 high of 12.1 million to 5.9 million last year. Today, it's estimated that approximately one-third of the nation's public schools have PTA chapters.

Education experts cite a variety of reasons for the membership decline. Some say parents increasingly are focused on the needs of local schools and place less value on the advocacy efforts of the PTA at the state and federal levels.

Others say that, in communities with strong conservative roots, parents are disenchanted by the PTA's political stance on issues such as sex education, school choice, and government spending.

In either case, parents are showing far less willingness to turn over a portion of local dues to the state and federal organizations -- and are increasingly likely to opt for a school PTO so membership dues can stay in the local schools.

Charlene K. Harr, president of the Education Policy Institute and the author of The Politics of the PTA, says, "Parents finally are realizing that to send a big chunk of money to the national headquarters, which takes stands on issues they don't agree with . . . is in direct opposition to what they're looking for at the local level."

National PTA President Linda Hodge says the organization's declining membership has little to do with dissatisfaction with the organization -- or with the dues structure -- and a lot to do with society's changing lifestyles.

"Parents are getting busier and busier," says Hodge, who also serves on the school board in Colchester, Conn. "We see the problem in many organizations -- Girl Scouts, Little League . . . any organization seeking to get people involved."

Talk about the decline of the PTA also ignores the fact that local chapters are still going strong across the nation, says Traci Priddy, president of the Jefferson County, Ky., PTA. Her county, for example, has a strong tradition of PTA support -- with only one PTO among 134 schools.

One reason for this support is the push by local leaders to show parents the PTA's advantages over PTOs -- specifically by putting district and state resources to work to provide training and support for school chapters and publicizing how PTA lobbying at the state and federal level has an impact on local schools.

At Calvin Coolidge High School in Washington, D.C., Parent Teacher Student Organization Vice President Barbara Patterson says the vote earlier this year to leave the PTA was very close -- and it might not have happened if parents weren't disillusioned with the lack of advocacy and leadership by the city's PTA leaders.

Walking away from the PTA is going to leave Coolidge High parents with even less political leverage than before, she acknowledges. "We're basically on our own, starting from scratch. On the other hand, we have more autonomy."

Because PTOs are independent bodies, there is no hard data on their numbers. But Tim Sullivan, founder of PTO Today, a magazine and commercial service provider for PTOs, estimates that PTOs generally outnumber PTAs and, in some states, greatly outnumber then.

Obstacles to launching PTOs has, in fact, eased significantly in recent years as groups such as PTO Today and the National PTO Network established themselves to provide parents with support in writing bylaws, incorporating as a nonprofit group, and offering discounts on group insurance -- many of the same advantages the PTA offers.

PTA advocates say they also worry that PTOs have no higher affiliations and are more likely to ignore larger education issues in favor of a myopic focus on the needs of their local schools. That undermines the political power of parents as advocates for all children.

Sullivan complains that the PTA's argument suggests non-affiliated parents are being selfish by starting a PTO. "Parents who volunteer in their schools cannot be called selfish."

At Illinois Valley Central District 321, school board member Sarah Williamson -- also a member of the National PTA board of directors, says it's fine for parents to go out and sell Christmas wrap or candy bars as a school fund-raiser. But, as a PTA leader, she thinks it's equally important that parents sit down and write letters urging state and national lawmakers to improve education funding.