What should a PTO board do in May?

These checklists assume the most common setup — a July 1 – June 30 fiscal year and federal 501(c)(3) status. If your group runs a different year, shift the compliance dates to match.

President — May

• Execute Teacher Appreciation Week. The first full week of May. Daily themes coordinated with room parents, paras and office staff explicitly included, favorites collection put to work.
• Hold the joint board meeting. Outgoing and incoming together: the calendar, the hard-won lessons, the introductions to the principal and the bank.
• Collect updated handoff binders from every chair. Contacts, vendors, what worked, what to skip — written in May, not reconstructed in September.

Treasurer — May

• Queue the bank transition. Signer-change resolution passed, documents assembled, branch appointment booked for early July. New treasurer shadows the June close.
• Announce the reimbursement deadline. A hard date in early June, repeated everywhere. Stragglers after June 30 roll into next year's budget and must be minuted.
• Schedule the July financial review. Committee recruited in April, date on the calendar now, so the books close into a review instead of a void.

Secretary — May

• Compile the year's minutes. One archive, chronological, in the shared drive — the single most useful thing an incoming board inherits.
• Inventory digital access. Every account, who holds it, where credentials live. Transfers happen in June; the list happens now.

Events & volunteers — May

• Run TAW day by day. Room parents lead rooms, PTO covers school-wide (paras, office, specials). Nobody appreciated twice while someone's appreciated zero times.
• Run field day support. Water stations, equipment delivery windows, volunteer checkin — and shade for the volunteers too.
• Thank the year's volunteers. A reception, certificates for the kids' résumés someday, names read out loud. Retention is next year's recruiting.

Deadlines in May

• Teacher Appreciation Week. Nationally, the first full week of May — confirm your school observes it then.

Start in May, needed later

• Summer contact plan. Collect personal emails for board members before school addresses go quiet.
• Draft August's launch. Back-to-school plan sketched before everyone scatters — July-you will be grateful.