Bylaws Information

What are bylaws and why are they so important?

Simply put, bylaws are the heart of your PTA. Just as your heart pumps vital blood through your body to keep you alive, the bylaws of a PTA unit provide the necessary information for a unit to survive. The bylaws outline how the PTA is to operate and maintain its affiliation with both State and National PTA.

Bylaws answer many questions and solve many problems. A unit should act in accordance with its bylaws because these are the rules that the whole membership has agreed to abide by, therefore your PTA has a fair and democratic structure.

Who decides what goes into our bylaws?

The membership votes on what goes into your bylaws. A bylaws committee, chosen by your unit, should meet at least 6 months before the bylaws are due to expire. Your unit/council procedures book should guide you as to how that committee is made up.

The committee reviews the current bylaws and recommends changes, if any. The membership must be given at least 30 days notice before the bylaws are to be voted on. The notice should list all changes that will be recommended. If there is a quorum at the meeting when the bylaws committee makes its recommendation, the bylaws are then submitted for state approval after at least 2/3 of the voting members in attendance agree to the changes.

Who should have the bylaws?

Each president and recording secretary upon taking the responsibility of their position should have an original, approved by the state, copy of the bylaws. These are the unit's copies, which should then be passed on to the next incoming officers.

If these copies are not passed on, your assistant director or Region Bylaws Chairman will be able to provide the unit with copies. All officers should have copies and be sure to have copies available for all interested members. It is in everyone's best interest to be familiar with the bylaws.

When do bylaws expire?

The date of expiration is on the front cover of the bylaws. Bylaws are valid only for three years from the date of state approval. NYS PTA requires every unit and council to update bylaws every three years in order to remain a unit in good standing.

A thorough review of the bylaws provides the unit an opportunity to align the bylaws to more closely reflect their common practices. A bylaws update is an opportunity to examine the bylaws and make them fit better into the operations of your PTA.

What should be done if the bylaws expire within six months?

The Region Bylaws Chairman will provide the bylaws pattern and instructions. Bylaws must be reviewed, possibly revised, and voted upon by the unit before being sent to the region (7 copies) for review and state approval. Two copies of approved bylaws are then returned to the unit, one for the president and one for the secretary.

What is a procedures book?

The procedures are the guidelines on how to accomplish a job based on the experience of the organization. Specific instructions and explanations to help administer and implement the bylaws need to be written down in a separate procedures book. (A sample unit procedures document is available upon request to your Assistant Director.)

The bylaws of the organization are the law. The procedures of the organization are necessary to help implement that law. Using the bylaws as an outline, a committee of at least three experienced PTA members should consider each bylaws provision and create instructions for applying that provision.

Refer to NYS PTA Resource Guide, Bylaws, Procedures, Nominations and Elections. There you will find suggestions for listing the duties of each officer position as well as committee guidelines for you to incorporate into your unique procedure book.

Can we have "family" membership?

There is no family membership permitted in the bylaws. Every family is different. Every member must have his/her own membership card and be entitled to one vote. By having an individual dues rate for the first member, every family starts out equally. As an incentive to encourage more members of the same family/household to join, some unit bylaws provide for a "discount" for additional family members. It is also common for a PTSA to allow for a student membership at a lower dues rate. However, dues are never to be below the minimum of $3.50, which is the State/National portion of dues. Remember, one member, one card, and one vote.

Where do I get more information?

Please feel free to contact your assistant director, the Region Bylaws Chair (Anna Ragonese) or the Region Director to have your specific bylaws questions answered.

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