How to Prepare Your PTA for the End of the School Year

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Closing down the school year after all of your PTO activities can seem like a daunting task, but with a little organization and planning, your closeout for this year can make the next year’s activities flow much easier. 

Here are 16 items to consider when closing out one school year and setting the club up for success with the next.

Go Through Your Storage Spaces & PTO Files 

Sort through the spaces where the PTO keeps their equipment and files to declutter and organize. 

Pull together all of the relevant documents that you find to store them together and double check the expiration dates on any food products and discard them as necessary. 

Throw out broken decorations, old flyers, and documents that are no longer required and are just taking up space. 

While going through the storage spaces, make an inventory of all the equipment that you find and plan to keep and tape it to the lid of the box that the equipment will be kept in.

Consolidate All of the Committee & Project Documents 

Grab the meeting minutes and any other important files from the past school year and consider uploading them to a DropBox or Google Drive account for easy access in the future. 

You can keep the hardcopies of the documents for a few years after you’ve uploaded them if you choose. Otherwise, just throw them out once they’ve been converted to digital files.

Organize All Online Accounts 

Check with each chairperson and collect their lists of online accounts and passwords that they used for their position, like online access to social media and vendor accounts. 

Once the new chairs have been voted in, transfer access to them for the accounts or have them make their own accounts whenever necessary. If vendors won’t let the new chairperson make their own account for the service, make sure the new chairperson changes the password once they take over their position.

Request Assessments of All Projects & Committees for the End of the Year

Ask your chair members to compile a list of tips and tricks that they found useful for their positions. This information will be invaluable for the incoming chairholder. 

Even if a chairperson was reelected and will return in the fall, encourage them to jot down the lessons they’ve learned and the pitfalls they want to avoid. That way, even if the chairperson decides that they don’t want to job halfway through the year or if they suffer from a few memory lapses, they’ll still be able to reference the written material to refresh their memory.

Identify Summer Hours

Double check with the school administration about the hours that the school will be accessible for the summer and whether or not you’ll need any special permission to access the files or copy machine.

Put Out Recruiting Feelers 

Check with local parents to see if anyone would be willing to help the PTA open the new school year in a few months. The last thing you want to worry about on top of executing your event is having to recruit in a rush to be able to cover everything.

See also:

• How FutureFund supports PTA/PTO volunteers

Organize the Financial Documents 

Make sure to set aside any financial documents you find. Even if your PTO isn’t a 501(c)(3) registered organization, the IRS still requires that you keep records of deductibles and receivables for a certain number of years. 

Here (insert doc with word “here”) is a list of how long you should keep each type of financial document.

Refresh the Lobby Display 

Update the PTO display in the lobby with updated officer information for the new families that will be attending in the fall. 

Never underestimate the power of a well put together sign saying “Welcome to our school and our PTO!”

Update the PTO Bank Account Signers 

If your leadership is changing, make sure to update the new account signers with the bank. Banks used to require that the outgoing signer and the incoming signer be present to change the signing responsibilities over but that may not be the case anymore. Make sure to check with the bank to see what they’ll require. Also, make sure to change the login information for the incoming PTO administration.

Update PTO Bank Statement Contact Info 

This is especially important if the statements are mailed directly to the school, as they’ll be harder for the chairperson responsible for checking them to get them in a timely manner. 

Make sure to double check the PTO bylaws to see who’s responsible for opening and checking the statements before they get to the treasurer and consider redirecting the statements to their house for the duration of the summer. After checking the statements themselves, they can then set them aside for the treasurer to collect and balance with the account.

Check Incorporation Status

If your organization is a corporation, double check to see when the status needs to be renewed and renew it if it’s time or make a note to circle back to it if it’s not. 

Thank the Outgoing Volunteers & Staff Members 

Now is the perfect time to hold an appreciation lunch for the teachers and the support staff at the school that allowed the PTO to support the school and the kids.

Check on Room Reservation Requirements for the New School Year 

Some schools require the PTO submit a formal request to reserve a space in the school for the following school year. If this applies to your school, make sure to get all of your documentation submitted to the school so the PTO will be able to retain their space for the following year.

Jot Down Officers Summer Plans

Check with your officers and see what their summer plans will be. That way, you can plan any meetings for times when everyone will be in town. 

Make use of FutureFund’s integrated parent and volunteer directory to make this job a bit easier!

Schedule an Independent Financial Review of the PTO’s Finances

It’s always a good idea to set up an independent financial review around the end of the school year. That way, the accountant can serve as an extra set of eyes to make sure that all the figures line up and give the PTO administration some extra piece of mind.

Plan Your Budget for Next Year

Review your estimated and actual budget for the closing school year while it’s still fresh on your mind and use it as a reference to plan your new budget for the following year. This will help give you a perspective of what your fundraising goals for the new year should be.

Keep in mind you’ll just need an estimate as the treasurer and the executive board will firm up the budget a little closer to the beginning of the school year.

See also:

• How FutureFund supports fundraising
• Our school fundraising ideas