Terrific insight in your post! Thanks for writing it!
As a parent of four school age children myself, I constantly feel the pressure to raise money not only for their schools, but also for their extracurricular activities. It is absolutely overwhelming at times.



To address the specific instance of the one PTO buying curtains for the classroom when there were higher priorities, I strongly believe that the leadership within every parent/teacher group must set down written priorities on how money is spent.



Who knows, perhaps the curtains were a fire or a choking hazard, but if they weren’t, then there is a prioritization problem with that group. These priorities should be as elemental as a mission statement. Without firm direction, priorities will shift over time and under different leadership. That is bad for the school in the long term.



The only way to change this situation is for parents who notice these misappropriations to get involved and demand continuity and consistency based on meeting the greatest needs first.



It would be nice if the federal government would allocate more money for the basic necessities, but as a former elementary school principal, I never held my breath. I do think, however, that there are many creative ways to raise the money a school needs and not over-burden any one family. Diversification in the variety and the scope of the fundraisers you pick is key. Something as low-key as a year-long soda bottle drive can really make a difference (would pay for carpet cleaning for sure!) and not be an imposition to parents. You could even give it a name- “The Annual Clean Our Carpets Bottle Drive”.



On my blog, http://topschoolfundraisers.com/news I regularly write about school fundraising issues and always enjoy hearing about issues that schools are having so that we can work together to improve education for our kids.