Kimball Elementary PTSAKimball Elementary PTSA
General meeting2026–27

PTSA meeting: clubs, budget and school spirit

In-person meeting, about 18 attendees

PTSA Overview (Sandra)

  • Part of national PTSA and part of SESSFA - network of South Seattle schools that fundraise together
  • Main priorities
    • Build school community network - provide communication
    • Volunteer support for school staff and school events
    • Fundraise - for school supplies, community events, resources
  • Everyone is part of the PTSA community

Principal update (Ms. Bogan)

  • The principal was unable to attend.

Report out on recent activities (Katie)

  • Popsicles on the playground
    • Aki attended the event to welcome K families
  • Back to school event
    • PTSA provided the pizza and tabled to provide info for families
  • Kindergarteners received Kimball t-shirts and welcome packets

Upcoming activities

  • After school clubs (Matt)
    • Registration is now open for fall clubs
    • Priorities this season
      • A varied program with room to grow
      • Participation regardless of ability to pay
      • Clear costs and sustainable program
      • Transparency around how the projected prices work
    • After registration closes, we will review enrollment, scholarship request an expected contributions
    • An instructor emphasized inclusion, said they considered costs above $20–30 excessive, questioned the transparency of the cost information, and asked that program and administrative fees be shared with families.
    • Q: What’s the admin fee going towards?
      • The discussion referenced on-site school staffing and $2 snack costs.
      • On-site Kimball staff are required to hold after school clubs
    • Steps being taken to lower costs
      • No party this year, because that requires staff time
    • Suggestions
      • When families register, make the breakdown of costs more obvious (they are already listed)
      • Make an infographic that shows the breakdown of costs
      • Create a separate link for families to donate for scholarships for after school clubs
      • Add a note to registration that after school clubs are volunteer-run and if you want to learn more, sign up for Cougar Connection
    • The notes recognized work to keep after-school clubs sustainable.
  • Fundraising (Beth)
    • After school program
      • Last year, PTSA took a loss of $3,000 to run the after school clubs, the year before was $11,000; in order to keep offering after school clubs, needed to make it sustainable
      • Families are not required to pay, they also have the option to contribute for scholarships
      • Last year, took in $50,000 in registration fees, including $7,000 in donations for scholarships
    • Last year passed a red budget by $10,000+
    • Budget overview
      • Main source of revenue is SESSFA - last year about $23,000
      • SESSFA takes give back % for dollars contributed to KImball PTSA
      • School supplies cost $9,000
      • Modest contributions through other campaigns (like end of year campaign)
      • PTSA provides $300 for teachers for school supplies
      • $750 per grade level for field trips
      • $1,200 for 5th grade promotion
      • $4,500 for 4th grade outdoor education trip
      • All specialists get classroom stipend
      • $1,000 for librarian to get books
      • PTSA provides support for events, including Lunar New Year, Multicultural Night
      • Stipend for Mr. Abdi to buy warm weather clothing
      • No membership fees!
    • HIstorical budget story
      • Big difference between PTSA budget pre and post COVID
      • There were no events happening for a few years
      • There’s been more partitciaption in school events and better staff retention but activities and events cost money!
    • Fundraising moving forward
      • According to Kimball stats from OSPI, 49.3% low-income
      • If 25% of 400-420 families can contribute $100-$200 per year beyond school supplies, we won’t be in the red
      • How can we make it more of a cultural norm for families to contribute if they can? How do we start this new tradition?
      • We welcome all ideas about how to spread the word!
    • SESSFA move-a-thon
      • SESSFA has a page, each school has a page, families can make an individual page
      • Kimball contributes more to SESSFA than what we get back
      • We need to focus more on raising money for Kimball!
    • Q: Is it better to donate at the end of the year to Kimball rather than SESSFA?
      • Give to both! If you had to choose, give to Kimball because SESSFA gets grants from foundations and Kimball does not
    • Suggestion
      • At the top of the Cougar Connection, put two numbers: how much PTSA has spent, how much has been raised
  • T-shirt sales (Carrie)
    • Selling Kimball gear October 13 to middle of November
      • Keep an eye out on Talking Points, newsletter for how to order
    • K students received t-shirts in an older design
      • Option to switch to a new logo; survey to staff came out 50-50
      • Option to do a spring sale offering updated design and potentially make a decision about what to do then
      • Old design represents languages spoken at Kimball at the time the mosaic was made
    • Q: Is it possible to add another language to the back of the shirts?
      • Carrie will look into whether the PDF design is editable

Final announcements

  • Call for liaisons for constituent groups (e.g. SpEd families)
    • Q: What did the Special Education family liaison do last year?
      • Communicating with SpEd staff and families and reporting out about any events/activities with the PTSA
      • Angela is willing to that this year
      • Idea to host an event on neurodiversity - are there funds to bring in a speaker? Email kimballptsacomms@gmail.com to follow-up
  • Kimball Sidewalk Solidarity (Aki)
    • The source notes for this update are incomplete.

Upcoming PTSA meetings

- November 18 on Zoom
  • Matt created Kimmy to automate processes and document procedures