A Florida elementary school barred its PTA. There's $30,000 in dispute

TAMPA, Fla. — Veterans Elementary School in Wesley Chapel, Florida, has a long history of parents volunteering in its classrooms and supporting its activities.

But now, it’s in the process of kicking out its Parent-Teacher Association. The reason? A feud over money and how it was — and wasn’t — spent.

Over the summer, principal Melissa Bidgood revoked the PTA’s support organization agreement with the school, accusing leaders of violating sections relating to fundraising. The collection and use of about $30,000, which is still sitting in a bank account, is in question.

“There’s quite a large amount,” Bidgood said. “I want the money spent on the school for the students and parents who raised it.”

When the group appealed the decision, superintendent Kurt Browning sided with Bidgood and told the group to stop using the school’s name, image, logo and anything else indicating an affiliation with Veterans Elementary. Months passed. The group didn’t stop.

So Browning asked the school board earlier this month to issue a cease and desist order. He withdrew his request at the meeting after learning that several Veterans-related PTA websites had gone dark that morning.

“It was a moot point to move forward with the agenda item,” said Jim Greene, general counsel to the superintendent.

Without a sponsor school, the group met Nov. 8 to consider next steps. After a proposal to dissolve the group failed to meet the two-thirds threshold, members placed the PTA on “inactive” status pending further discussion, including what happens to the remaining cash.

Two distinct factions want different outcomes.

There’s the old guard, many of whom have seen their children advance to middle school but stuck around at Veterans to volunteer and remain active at the school. That’s not entirely unusual, as the PTA has no requirements that a member must have a child at a specific school.

Some of the same people also have leadership roles in other Pasco school PTA groups and at the county level.

Old guard members say they have the school’s long-term interest at heart. They’ve run successful carnivals, skate nights and teacher appreciation events, using proceeds to support these and similar activities.

They say they’re following PTA rules, and want to keep going.

“It’s a charity organization,” said long-time member John Sumpter, whose wife was treasurer. “Every time there is an event, that money would go back into another event. It is regulated. We know how it is spent.”

He detailed how the PTA board would present monthly financial reports at public meetings, and follow the budgets approved by the membership. That does not mean allowing the school to wrest control of the money, Sumpter said.

He emailed school board members over the summer, asking for an investigation into what he and others perceived as pressure from Bidgood to fund “several inappropriate pet projects at the school.” Planning a new STEM lab over the summer, Bidgood requested about $8,000 of robotics kits and other equipment in May.

The board majority and then the full membership approved the purchases, but the old guard leadership blocked them, saying they weren’t part of the budget.

“We’re not there for the school,” Sumpter said. “We’re there for the children.”

The second faction is a group of parents that joined the PTA leadership in the spring. They say they’ve been boxed out of decisions, along with the principal, despite winning most of the organization’s leadership positions.

“Since the election in May 2024, there has been no attempt to transition any new board members into their roles,” the parents wrote in a long email to Browning and several state PTA officials in August. “After repeated requests, all the new board has still been denied access to the bank account.”

This faction claimed longstanding members had violated several bylaws and requirements, such as changing the group’s budget without full approval and failing to conduct proper financial audits. Among other contentions, the newer members said the old leadership regularly violated IRS guidelines by purchasing gift cards and other items for themselves and people who helped at events like the school carnival.

Bidgood noted in her letter revoking the PTA’s status that the group failed to get her approval in advance of holding fundraisers as required, asking permission for six of them only after the school year ended. She noted the agreement provided that if the PTA’s authorization is revoked, it has three days from the final decision to commit the remaining money on projects for the school, or to place it into school accounts.

Gretchen Frapwell, the board’s new first vice president, said the new board members supported dissolving the PTA to redirect donations to what the school needs.

“Money is control. Money is power. It’s almost like they’re holding the school hostage, and the school has decided it’s not worth it,” Frapwell said. “I feel a sense of responsibility to the families to get it back.”

She and others have wanted the board to pay for equipment for the school’s new STEM lab, which they said the fundraising was supposed to support.

“We had a list of items that would help with that,” Bidgood said. “They would only purchase a very minute amount compared to what we had raised.”

Browning said he backed Bidgood’s actions because she runs the school and the PTA agreed to the terms of the support organization agreement. He said it was difficult to determine the full extent of the financial dispute because the group did not provide all the requested records to his office.

The most the district can do is rescind permission to use its name and logos, Greene said. It can’t seize the funds, since the PTA is an independent organization, so the state-level PTA would have to intervene, he added.

Denise Nicholas, a Pasco mom and former county PTA council president, serves as Florida PTA vice president for membership development. She said the state leadership is monitoring the situation, with its primary goal to ensure the school-based group sticks with the PTA mission, purpose and bylaws as long as it continues to claim membership.

She said state PTA leaders were concerned that it appears the money being raised at Veterans was not going toward students and school projects.

“PTA is not a booster club. We are here to support every child’s potential,” Nicholas said. “We are not here to amass funds.”