HPISD Boasts PTO/PTA-Powered Schools
Army of parents funds programming, serves lunch for district’s youngest students
School funding from the state of Texas may be at a standstill, but there’s no stopping the parent-teacher organizations at HPISD’s five elementary schools.
PTA and PTO presidents at Boone Elementary, Hyer Elementary, and University Park Elementary said they each aim to raise about $600,000 to support their schools this year during a recent panel discussion with the Rotary Club of Park Cities. And HPISD’s other elementaries have similar goals.
The money is needed because about 70% of property tax dollars collected from HPISD residents are recaptured and sent elsewhere in the state, resulting in an annual budget deficit of between $7 million and $8 million, said the Rotary Club’s chair of the day Sarah Oliai.
PTA and PTO funds are used to purchase everything from teacher lunches, gifts, and graduate-level education courses to student Chromebooks and iPads, said Boone Elementary PTO president Tara Cosgrove.
“Our biggest issue is always fundraising,” she said. “We need a constant stream of money. We are very lucky that our community is so generous. Our parents are so supportive.”
Cosgrove said that the school district provides a crew of just four cafeteria staff members to feed lunch to 464 hungry Boone Elementary students. The rest is up to the school’s PTO and a small army of parent volunteers. If an oven breaks, the PTO is responsible for fixing it, and the situation is similar at other HPISD elementary schools.
About 10 parents scrub in at Hyer Elementary School’s cafeteria each day, explained PTA president Ann Higginbottom. Some serve students, others are cashiers, and one acts as a trash monitor.
“It has been that way for years upon years,” she said. “It is a significant way that we can save the school district money, by just being a part of our kids day-to-day lives.”
The PTOs and PTAs pay entirely for the elementary schools’ Spanish and garden programs. Each elementary school also sends $75,000 to the district to support its greatest need — salaries, which HPISD aims to elevate to the top quartile of area schools.
PTO and PTA funds don’t just make a difference inside schools. At Bradfield Elementary, funds are being used to plant new trees to replace those that were lost when the school was rebuilt, PTA president Rachel Reed said.
And at Hyer Elementary, surplus PTA and cafeteria funds were recently combined to turf the school’s waterlogged soccer field so that it could be used for play year-round.
There’s a place for every parent to contribute to their elementary schools, the PTO and PTA leaders said.
Hyer’s PTA has an executive board of eight parents, a board of 60 parents with specific jobs, and about 200 cafeteria volunteers. Even more parents lend their talents to the art room and library or help out in other ways.
“We want parents to be there,” Higginbottom explained. “We see the significance of having face-to-face time with our kids and with our teachers. We are a mighty team of parents.”
