What if there was a tool to avoid the most common problems PTAs run into—a tool that made your PTA meetings run smoother, made board conflict less likely, and helped avoid legal issues with the IRS and the state of Illinois? What if learning to use this tool effectively only took a few hours of your time? Such a tool does, in fact, exist. It’s called training.
Over the years, Illinois PTA has seen the many different ways that PTAs run into trouble and has worked to ensure its training courses help PTAs avoid those pitfalls. Every PTA member can take Illinois PTA leadership courses, even if they’re not a PTA officer or board member. Encouraging prospective leaders to take a PTA training course can help them feel more comfortable stepping up into a leadership role.
Illinois PTA offers a wide variety of training, both in person and online. PTA 101: Road to Success (nicknamed “The OMG We’re Doing Everything Wrong!” course by at least one PTA trainer) covers the basics of running a PTA, shares best practices on how to avoid common problems, and is required for all PTA officers. Check with your Region Director to find out when it will be offered in your area and watch the Illinois PTA events page and Weekend Update for online opportunities. There are also specific Illinois PTA training courses for presidents and treasurers.
Beyond the basics, Illinois PTA offers online training and learning opportunities throughout the year, and recordings of past trainings are also available. These include:
- Building Your Toolbox to PTA, a collection of trainings on specific topics related to running a PTA, such as grant writing, creating a membership growth plan, or how to run a nominating committee.
- It’s Thursday…Let’s Talk, a collection of informal trainings that cover various issues of interest, such as using PTA’s School of Excellence program to help schools, teachers, students, and families recover from the pandemic, understanding Social Emotional Learning Standards, and engaging and collaborating with members of your community beyond the schoolyard.
Finally, National PTA offers online interactive training courses through the Thrive platform for PTA members. You can also find links to past National PTA training courses as well. If you can’t make an Illinois PTA training course right away, but do want to get an effective start to your PTA year, these National PTA courses can help you get off on the right foot until you can take an Illinois PTA course.
While it’s easy to think of running a PTA as “just a volunteer job,” you are running a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Your PTA can probably do okay with officers that skip training and simply do what their predecessors said that they did, but like the children’s party game of telephone, over the years the “what they did” can get garbled, leave out important information, or not pick up new legal requirements, and suddenly your PTA is getting an official letter from the IRS or state of Illinois threatening fines. Training can keep your PTA leaders up to date on the best practices on running a PTA, help them to avoid those legal issues, and teach them new ideas from other PTA leaders in the course sharing how they do things—all at the cost of a few hours.
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