In line with the objective of promoting school-community partnerships, the   establishment, funding and continued operation of Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs) or Parent-Teacher-Community Associations (PTCAs) in public schools shall be strongly encouraged and supported. These associations founded on the noble principles of volunteerism are important vehicles for generating funds as wet! as mobilizing community support for the school.

To ensure accountability and to clearly establish their judicial personality, PTCAs are required to incorporate or register, as the case may be, with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) or other appropriate agencies. Incorporation or registration will be useful in fund raising as donations to the PTC A will be eligible for tax incentives provided under existing laws. Under RA 8525 on the Adopt-a-School Program, the following types of assistance may be given to the public schools and shall be  considered  as eligible for tax incentives: staff and faculty development, construction and upgrading of facilities, provision of books and other instructional materials and equipment, and modernization of instructional technologies through computers, televisions, internet, satellite programs, etc.

Socialized Contributions

While it is recognized that PTCAs  rely heavily on contributions from parents for funding, PTCAs  are enjoined to adopt a socialized system of contributions whereby poor parent-members  do not have to bear a heavy financial burden while parent-members who have a higher capacity to pay can make contributions corresponding to such capacity.

Collection Fees

The following guidelines shall be followed in the collection of  PTCA  fees:

1.  The amount of the PTCA fee shall be determined by the PTCA members themselves at a meeting called for the purpose, provided such collections are made on a voluntary basis and are not required for admission or transfer purposes. Plans of the PTCA on the use of collections should be presented during this meeting.

2.  PTCA fees shall be collected by PTCA representatives and not by the public school teachers, Appropriate arrangements shall be made by the PTCA with the school management on how and where the collections are to be made. Prior to collection, the following reports are required to be submitted to the school principal: a) PTCA resolution approving the collection of PTCA fees for the current school year, and b) report on receipts and expenditures of PTCA fees collected in the preceding school year.

3.  For School year 2001-2002, the PTCA fees may only be collected between  July 4-20. 2001.

4.  In schools where the PTCA had already collected fees prior to or even after the issuance of DECS Order No. 22, s, 2001 prohibiting  the collection of  fees  during enrollment, the PTCA shall be allowed to keep the collections provided that any parent-member asking to be refunded of his/her contributions shall be refunded.

5.  Should a PTCA decide to initiate school projects which would require fund raising outside the collection period set through this Order, collection of contributions may be undertaken during the course of the school year provided that such contributions   are voluntary, the conditions in Item, No. 2 are complied with, and that collection is not done through the school or the teachers, e.g., through a general assembly or some other means. The coercive powers of the school shall not be used to collect these voluntary fees.

6.  To reduce the need for fund raising by PTCAs  from among its members, the PTCA officials/members to collaboration with school officials should make representations with the local government and community organizations for the funding of certain school requirements not funded or inadequately funded by the regular DECS budget for school operations. DECS representatives in the Local School Boards, i.e., school division superintendents and district supervisors, should ensure that the Special Education Fund of the local government unit is used to fund essential school requirements in accordance with the provisions of DECS-DBM-D1LG Joint Circular No. 1 s. 1998 and Joint Circular No. l-A s, 2000.

All DECS field offices and schools are enjoined to disseminate  these guidelines and ensure compliance  therewith.