Money, Money, Money -- It's THAT Time of Year

The school fund-raisers are in full swing. The Sally Foster packets came home -- twice. (If you're into that sort of stuff, feel free to buy some at www.sallyfoster.com/account number 863098.) There's a parent/kid dinner next month to raise more money. The kindergartener needs a magazine subscription in class. The second-grader has a field trip and wants to buy the school's new T-shirt. And coming soon are the annual book fairs.

Georgian Forest mom and friend Joan reports on her Facebook page that her school is selling magazine subscriptions -- here's the info if you're into THAT sort of thing (https://www.qsp.com/store/lightreg.aspx and if you use school code is 710330244 her kids' low-income school gets some of the proceeds.)

Whoever said public education won't cost you?

All that doesn't even include the annual PTA membership fee. At our school, it's $15 for a family membership -- a bit on the high side for lower Montgomery County based on my research, where I saw fees ranging from $5 and up. So, when I read over the weekend about neighboring Fairfax County school parents dropping the PTA like a hot potato, my eyes perked up. (Full Disclosure: I let myself get roped into being my school's PTA Secretary this year).

Could we MoCo parents do all our same volunteering and helping our kids and their schools without this antiquated stay-at-home PTA model still in existence in our schools? Has the Internet -- and our ability to fight for causes on it -- made that a better way to stand up for our schools? Or, are we so much of a my-kid-and my-kid's-needs society that these group raise-money fests for the common good are outdated anyways?

Hmmm. Dissolving PTAs and longer school years are two ideas I can easily get behind.