Parent teacher associations may conjure images of read-a-thons and fun runs, where grandparents and relatives pledge to pay their grade schooler for every page they read or lap they jog. And of course, there\u2019s the iconic PTA bake sale.<\/p>\n
But in New York City, PTA fundraising efforts vary from hawking homemade muffins and pastries for a few hundred dollars to running sophisticated, self-sustaining nonprofits that operate like small businesses and take in millions in revenue.<\/p>\n
P.S. 29 in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, raised about $2 million in donations and revenue, more than any other school last year, according to data from the Department of Education. In second place was P.S. 158 on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, which raised $1.7 million. Both schools enroll between 600 and 700 students. New Explorations into Science, Technology & Math, a K-12 school on the Lower East Side, which enrolls about 1,600 students, came in third, raising $1.4 million.<\/p>\n
Each school in the city is required to have a parent association. In total, they reported nearly $70 million in revenue and savings in the 2024-25 academic year, which helped their schools pay for beneficial after-school enrichment programs, field trips, support staff and in some cases even building maintenance.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe find evidence that PTA money above and beyond any public resources actually do boost achievement in reading and math,\u201d said Brittany Murray, an education professor at Davidson College who researches PTAs. \u201cBut it tends to help those that are more affluent.\u201d<\/p>\n
PTAs in many of the city\u2019s low-income neighborhoods are far less flush with cash, with some parent groups reporting donations of just a few hundred dollars or nothing at all. A comparison with demographic data reveals sharp racial disparities in which students benefit the most from parent fundraising that have only grown since the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
Last year, schools serving more white students outraised those that primarily serve Black children 5-to-1.<\/p>\n
The findings come as the Mamdani administration is under increased pressure to address segregation and inequality in the city\u2019s education system.<\/p>\n
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On the whole, PTA funds ultimately made up a small amount compared to the city education department’s overall $41 billion budget. And the city makes an effort to offset the detrimental effects of poverty on education by providing other sources of money for schools in underprivileged neighborhoods.<\/p>\n
Nicole Brownstein, a spokesperson for New York City Public Schools, pointed to the city\u2019s Fair Student Funding formula, which channels more money to schools with large concentrations of poverty, students with disabilities and English learners. The city also provides money for these schools to expand arts education.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe recognize that funding capacity reflects differences in community resources and fundraising capacity \u2013 that is why we are consistently working to strengthen our Fair Student Funding formula, meeting schools and students where they are,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
But experts in education policy say even that additional money is not enough, and that while PTA fundraising is a lifeline for many schools, the wide gaps in fundraising can worsen inequality and are yet another symptom of a segregated school system that has come under fresh scrutiny since the start of the school year. Last month, New York Times journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones detailed<\/a> her daughter\u2019s experience with inequality and segregation in the city\u2019s school system, renewing calls to address long-standing disparities.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you have places that are highly economically segregated and racially segregated, then you’re gonna see vast differences in the schools that can fundraise,\u201d said Murray. \u201cIt exacerbates inequality.\u201d<\/p>\n Anita Baier, a PTA president at P.S. 8 in Brooklyn Heights, said PTAs do more than fundraising. She said they play an essential role in planning events for families and connecting parents within the community But she said much of their work is unfortunately focused on raising money to pay for necessities the city does not provide, like after-school programs and support staff.<\/p>\n \u201cNot only do we need more funding, we need predictable and adequate funding year over year so parents are not always having to be on alert and step up to plug these gaps,\u201d Baier said.<\/p>\n Racial and geographic disparities<\/p>\n The five boroughs are home to more than 1,200 parent associations. And yet just 15 PTAs accounted for a third of the $70 million raised and saved by parent associations last year. Those in Manhattan had the highest average revenues last year, over $200,000. But the top funded parent groups were scattered across both Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn.<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n Gothamist used PTA financial data and student demographic data from the Department of Education to calculate how much a typical student, depending on their race, benefits from PTA fundraising. The average white student in the 2024-25 school year benefited from$254 in PTA money. For the average Black student, the amount was just $46.30. Of the 15 schools that raised more than $1 million, only two have Black enrollment above 4%.<\/p>\n Take P.S. 8 in Brooklyn Heights, where 69% of enrollment was white and 3% was Black over the course of the last school year. Only 1-in-8 students at the elementary school came from low-income households, compared to a citywide average of nearly 3-in-4 students. The school raised $1.3 million and ended the year with $844,000 in the bank after expenses.<\/p>\n At the top earning school, P.S. 29 in Cobble Hill, 69% of grade schoolers were white. According to the education department\u2019s data, the school had just six Black students, and 13% of pupils overall came from low-income households. Out of the $2 million the school raised in total, it ended the 2024-25 year with over $1.1 million after expenses.<\/p>\n Contrast that with P.S. 399 in Brooklyn\u2019s Flatbush neighborhood, where 66% of students are Black, and P.S. 43 in the Bronx\u2019s Mott Haven neighborhood, where 78% of students are Latino. Over 95% of students at both schools come from low-income households, among the highest concentrations of poverty in the city. Their PTAs each raised less than $1,000 last year.<\/p>\n None of the parents at the school\u2019s parent association, or those at several other low-fundraising PTAs, responded to requests for interviews.<\/p>\n Claire Mackevicius, an education professor at the University of Oregon who researches parent teacher associations across the country, said affluent parents are often blamed for those wide fundraising disparities. But she said they\u2019re merely plugging holes in school systems that are struggling to provide enrichment programs, pay for tutoring and keep class sizes down.<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aI want to be clear that sort of onus and burden is not on the committed and hardworking volunteers in the PTA organization itself,\u201d Mackevicius said. \u201cOur public schools are underfunded, full stop.\u201d<\/p>\n She said the chasm between rich and poor PTAs is instead a reflection of broader disparities, and that elected officials and policymakers have grown complacent about inequality and segregation in schools. By some measures, school segregation in the city has worsened since the 1990s, with students of color more likely today to be attending a school with fewer white students.<\/p>\n Murray, the Davidson College professor, said segregation has worsened in part because New York City\u2019s parents can choose to send their children to middle and high schools outside of their neighborhoods. And a PTA that raises more money is another factor that makes certain schools more attractive than others in the eyes of some parents.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s this kind of circular problem,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s really hard to disentangle the segregation piece and the school choice piece.\u201d<\/p>\n How PTAs spend<\/p>\n The Department of Education\u2019s rules for PTAs, known as Regulation A-660<\/a>, allow parent fundraising to support a variety of personnel and services at schools. PTAs can pay for specialized, supplemental teachers who rotate into different classrooms throughout the school day, or staff who work during after-school or weekend programs. This includes academic support like tutoring or homework help, as well as enrichment and extracurricular activities, such as science and math clubs or art classes.<\/p>\n After-school programs are a big component of what some PTAs provide, and some parent associations hire a staff member to oversee those services. That might mean managing a contract with a company that provides art, music or dance lessons.<\/p>\n What PTAs can\u2019t do is cover classroom teachers for core subjects like math, science, English and history.<\/p>\n New York City Public Schools does not collect and publish detailed data on how PTAs spend their money. But a review of some tax filings show that many of the PTAs that raise hundreds of thousands of dollars each year generate revenues by collecting fees from families attending after-school programs. Most of those revenues typically go back into staffing those programs.<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n According to tax filings for P.S. 8\u2019s PTA, the organization spent $526,000 in 2024-25 on its after-school program, including $146,000 for the program\u2019s staff salaries. Other costs included paying third-party vendors who come with their own staff and curriculum, according to PTA Co-President Am\u00e9lie Walker-Yung. The fees collected from families for after-school and extracurricular programs and clubs amounted to $991,000.<\/p>\n Walker-Yung said the after-school program regularly changes its offerings based on what parents and students want. Clubs and activities range from chess and STEM-based programs to drama, dance and sports. She said her son is currently taking a comic-book drawing class.<\/p>\n Gothamist\u2019s analysis found a $200 difference on average in how white students benefit from PTA fundraising compared to Black students.<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aIt doesn’t sound like much,\u201d Murray said, but it can be spent in \u201chighly impactful\u201d ways. A field trip or an after-school program that fosters an interest in science or technology can pay off in the long run, she said.<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aWhen you accumulate that across the whole school, that can make a big difference,\u201d she said. \u201cWhether it’s supplies, whether it’s grants for teachers, whether it’s field trips, that goes a long way across a school building.\u201d<\/p>\n Her research<\/a> shows that the PTAs that raise enough money to afford additional programs and activities are most likely to be in white, affluent neighborhoods.<\/p>\n P.S. 29\u2019s PTA in Cobble Hill spent $1.6 million on its after-school program, which included $700,000 for staff. Additional money went to staff training, supplies and insurance. The program in turn raised $1.5 million in fees, according to tax filings. Some of the instructors in the after-school classes are also classroom teachers at the school. The PTA also covers training for teachers in the program.<\/p>\n After-school offerings at P.S. 29 change periodically, said Kasey Noziska, one of the school\u2019s PTA presidents. Students have taken classes in cooking, fashion design and understanding the stock market. Parents pay from $25 to over $100 per session, depending on whether the class needs extra materials or equipment, which is a bargain compared to private school programs in the area. Noziska said the PTA offers financial assistance for families who can\u2019t afford it.<\/p>\n In addition to academic and artistic enrichment, the after-school programs fulfill a more basic parental necessity: childcare.<\/p>\n \u201cIt started because there was a huge need for childcare after school, and there weren\u2019t many affordable options,\u201d said Noziska. \u201cAnd there wasn\u2019t a real diversity of options catering to children\u2019s interests.\u201d<\/p>\n For schools without PTA-funded after-school programs, the city operates 900 free programs<\/a> across the five boroughs.<\/p>\n PTA tax filings for some schools include more detail than others: P.S. 158\u2019s PTA on the Upper East Side spent $39,000 on a fifth grade trip and $10,600 on the school yearbook. Records also show the PTA supported a \u201cphoto day\u201d to the tune of $5,900.<\/p>\n Other PTA tax filings are more vague. Take Stuyvesant High School, the highly selective high school that integration advocates criticized<\/a> for admitting just three Black students this school year. Its PTA provided $841,253 in grants to the school for \u201cadditional funding for various departments, educational & extracurricular programs\u201d while also earning $32,000 in \u201cinvestment income.\u201d What those investments were are not detailed in the association\u2019s tax forms and PTA leaders at Stuyvesant High did not respond to emailed questions about either of these amounts.<\/p>\n PTA funding vs. public funding<\/p>\n Hannah-Jones\u2019 New York Times magazine article about her family\u2019s experiences with school segregation and disparate educational outcomes in Brooklyn has reignited calls to fix what advocates say is a broken system.<\/p>\n