The Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools (CHCCS) Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) asked the CHCCS PTA Thrift Shop in early June to remove “PTA” from its name, citing the thrift shop’s decreased financial support to the PTA since the store expanded in 2012.
The PTA Thrift Shop responded that it would consider the PTA’s request over the summer.
The CHCCS PTA Council said that because the PTA Thrift Shop has given less money–the shop gave approximately $200,000 annually prior to 2012–and because “PTA” is trademarked, “PTA” should be removed from the thrift shop’s name. The PTA Thrift Shop claims that “PTA” has a common-law trademark.
“I know a lot of parents drop items off there with the thought that the proceeds from the sale of those items will flow back into the school, which isn’t what is happening,” Kirsten Barker, president of the Chapel Hill High School Parent-Teacher-Student Association (PTSA) board, said. “In fact, I would argue it is misleading the public.”
Since August 2017, the PTA Council Board has advocated for and requested greater fiscal transparency and funding, as well PTA representation on the PTA Thrift Shop Board, according to the CHCCS PTA Council.
The PTA Thrift Shop opened in 1952 to support schools by giving some of its revenue to the CHCCS PTA. In 2012-13, the Carrboro PTA Thrift Shop was remodelled, and the PTA Thrift Shop expanded in 2017 to create YouthWorx, a space where youth nonprofits can meet. The PTA Thrift Shop suffered from lost sales during this time period and, as of June 30, 2017, owed over $4.4 million on its mortgage. In 2015, the PTA Thrift Shop started Project Impact, a grants program which provides money for individual schools.
Chapel Hill High School used to receive around $30,000 each year from the PTA Thrift Shop, and, when the PTA Thrift Shop announced it would be temporarily stopping contributions, Tammy LeMoine, a past PTSA president, started the idea of Tiger CHill to help increase funds. However, according to Barker, the PTSA cannot hold Tiger CHill while the school is under construction for the next two years.
The Chapel Hill High School PTSA had a budget of $32,000 for the 2017-18 school year, raised through contributions, Tiger CHill, grocery gift card purchases, a holiday plant sale and lectures offered by teachers Bill Melega and Garrison Reid.
The PTA Thrift Shop gave no money to CHCCS in 2014 and 2016, according to The News & Observer, and, from 2012 to 2016, gave $119,000 to the PTA, along with $9,738 to four individual schools through Project Impact grants in 2015. In the past, the PTA Thrift Shop gave around 20% of its revenue, but, since 2012, it has given less than 2% of its revenue, according to the CHCCS PTA Council.
“I don’t think that a store that claims to be funding schools should keep that title if their funds aren’t truly helping fund our school system,” sophomore Mateo Pambaguian said. “That’s just false advertising.”
To make up for lost revenue district-wide, a spokesperson from the CHCCS PTA Council said it will “look to community partners and businesses to step up in helping to fill the $250,000 gap in fundraising that formerly came from the PTA Thrift Shop.”
The PTA’s budget goes towards providing food for students, purchasing supplies for teachers and providing scholarships for graduating seniors going to community college, among many other objectives.
