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What is the PTA Council of Howard County?
The PTA Council of Howard County is the coordinating body for local PTA and PTSA units in Howard County, Maryland. According to its own site, it serves 74 PTA/PTSAs and their members, supporting PTA's mission and purposes through advocacy, leadership development, parent involvement and education. In practice, that means it sits between individual school PTAs and the state and national PTA structure: it shares guidance, runs meetings and training, and speaks to county-level issues that affect many schools at once.
The PTA Council of Howard County
H3 What it actually does for a local PTA
The site's navigation shows the practical work behind the mission statement:
- Advocacy and legislative affairs — tracking and acting on education policy matters.
- Leadership and officer guides — resources for presidents, vice presidents, secretaries and treasurers.
- Financial and compliance help — bylaws, insurance, 501(c)(3) status, reserve funds, sales tax, records retention and protecting PTA assets.
- Programs — Reflections art program, scholarship program, After Prom, technology initiatives and grants/donations.
- Meetings and materials — general meeting documents, plus a monthly general meeting on the first Tuesday at the Homewood Center.
- Unit support — a directory of PTA unit websites and delegate information explaining what a PTA delegate does.
H3 Who it is for
Its primary audience is PTA officers and delegates, not the general public. If you are a new treasurer wondering how long to keep records, a president preparing for elections, or a delegate who needs to understand the PTA–Board of Education structure, this is the layer that answers those questions. Parents looking for a specific school's events are better served by their own unit's site.
H3 A concrete example
Say your PTA's officers are unchanged from last year. The council still asks you to submit the 2026–2027 Officer Contact Form, because it uses that list to send notices about meetings, events and training. That single step is how a volunteer at one school ends up hearing about county-level workshops and deadlines.
H3 Trade-offs to weigh
A council-level site is broad by design. It gives you consistent rules and shared resources across 74 units, which is valuable when you need an authoritative answer on finances or bylaws. The cost is specificity: it will not tell you when your school's fall festival is, and some linked documents live behind separate systems. Expect to use it alongside your own unit's communications rather than instead of them.
How do I submit my PTA officers' contact information for the 2026-2027 school year?
Submit your 2026–2027 PTA/PTSA officer contact information to the PTA Council of Howard County by filling out the online 2026-2027 Officer Contact Form linked on the homepage of The PTA Council of Howard County. Complete it even if your officers are the same as the 2025–2026 school year — the council uses the form to send notices about meetings, events and training opportunities, and asks units to submit as soon as possible.
If you hold a PTA leadership role
- Submit the contact form first, then send your officer list separately to Free State PTA via Givebacks, as the page instructs.
- Watch for council communications, since the contact details you provide are the routing list for meeting and training notices.
- Note the related deadline: PTA Council dues for 2026–27 are due by November 1, 2026, payable to PTA Council of Howard County or PTACHC, with checks requiring two signatures. The dues and scholarship invoice is downloadable from the same page.
Practical next step
Before you fill in the form, gather each incoming officer's preferred email and phone number, confirm which role each person holds, and check whether your unit's officers changed at the last election. If nothing changed, you still need to resubmit — the form is an annual confirmation, not a change-of-officer notice.
For general PTA officer-list practices beyond this council, your state or national PTA body is the authoritative source; here, the council page itself is the correct starting point for the Howard County form.
What are the dues and payment deadlines for Howard County PTA units?
Howard County PTA/PTSA units owe the PTA Council of Howard County $200 in annual council dues, payable by November 1, 2026 for the 2026–27 school year, according to The PTA Council of Howard County. The council also asks units to include an optional scholarship donation of any amount with that payment.
Payment details worth noting
- Make checks payable to PTA Council of Howard County or PTACHC.
- Checks must carry two signatures.
- Download the Dues & Scholarship Invoice 2026-27 from the council site and mail it with your payment.
What this means in practice
If you are a new treasurer, block out time in October rather than late October. The two-signature rule usually means routing the check to a second officer, which is the step that most often causes a missed deadline. Confirm who your co-signer is at your first fall board meeting, and submit the officer contact form early so council meeting and training notices reach the right people.
A separate step applies beyond council dues: units also submit their officer list to Free State PTA via Givebacks, which the council notes as a distinct requirement rather than part of the dues payment.
Next step
Check whether your unit has already filed the 2026-27 officer contact form, since council uses it to send dues reminders and deadline notices. If your board has not met yet, put both the form and the November 1 dues date on the agenda for your first meeting.
What resources does PTACHC provide for PTA treasurers and financial compliance?
PTACHC's site groups financial-compliance help into a few clear buckets: treasurer guides, incorporation and tax rules, recordkeeping, and forms. It is written for local PTA/PTSA officers in Howard County, so the most useful pages assume you already hold a board or committee role.
Treasurer-specific guidance
- A dedicated Treasurer's Guides section sits alongside the Presidents/VP's Guide and Secretary's Guide.
- The PTA Financials section covers being "An Incorporated 501c3 Business," Carry Over/Reserve Funds, a Disaster Assistance Fund, Fundraising, Grants/Donations, Protecting PTA Assets, Records – How Long to Keep, Sales Tax, and Sponsorship vs Endorsement.
- Forms and Instructions collects the paperwork that goes with those topics.
Dues, deadlines and money handling The site states that PTA Council dues for 2026–27 are due by November 1, 2026, are $200.00, and should be payable to "PTA Council of Howard County" or "PTACHC." It also notes that all checks must carry two signatures and that a Dues & Scholarship Invoice 2026-27 should be downloaded and mailed with payment; an optional scholarship donation of any amount is requested. Treat those figures as the council's own published terms for that year, not as a general PTA norm — always confirm the current year's amount and deadline before you write a check.
Governance and meeting context Bylaws & Committees, PTA Board, and the PTA General Meeting Materials archive give treasurers the documents behind budget votes and reporting. General meetings are listed as the first Tuesday of each month at the Homewood Center, which is where financial questions typically get raised. Separate pages cover the BOE structure and advocacy, useful when a treasurer needs to explain why a line item exists.
Officer records and state reporting The 2026–2027 Officer Contact Form asks every PT(S)A to submit officers even if nothing changed from 2025–2026, and the site directs units to submit their officer list to Free State PTA via Givebacks. New treasurers should file this early, since PTACHC uses it to send meeting, event and training notices.
A practical first week for a new treasurer
- Read the Treasurer's Guides and the PTA Financials pages end to end.
- Confirm your unit's 501(c)(3) status and check the Sales Tax and Sponsorship vs Endorsement pages before accepting any donation or sponsor payment.
- Pull the Records – How Long to Keep list and match it against your predecessor's files.
- Submit the officer contact form, then set a calendar reminder ahead of the November 1 dues deadline.
- Bring the Dues & Scholarship Invoice and your two-signature check to a general meeting rather than mailing at the last minute.
For county-wide policy questions, the council itself is the first stop at The PTA Council of Howard County. For state-level filing and officer-list submission, use Free State PTA, and for national financial and compliance standards, National PTA maintains the underlying guidance that local treasurer handbooks usually follow.
How can my PTA unit participate in the Reflections art program or scholarship program?
The PTA Council of Howard County site lists a Reflections Art Program and a Scholarship Program under its resources, and it also publishes a Dues & Scholarship Invoice for the 2026–27 school year. So participation runs on two tracks: your unit takes part in Reflections through the council's program resources, and it supports the scholarship program through dues and the optional scholarship donation noted on that invoice.
Reflections art program
- Start with your unit's Reflections chair or president, since the council resources are aimed at PTA/PTSA officers and unit volunteers rather than individual students.
- Use the council's program materials to run your unit-level call for entries, then follow the council's submission steps and deadlines for advancing entries.
- Confirm your unit is in good standing and your officer contact information is current, because council notices about programs, meetings and training go to the contacts on file.
Scholarship program
- Council dues of $200 are due by November 1, 2026, payable to PTA Council of Howard County or PTACHC, with two signatures on the check.
- The invoice also asks for an optional scholarship donation in any amount your unit can give.
- Download the Dues & Scholarship Invoice and mail it with your payment.
A practical first step
Fill out the 2026–2027 Officer Contact Form even if your officers have not changed from 2025–2026, and submit it as soon as possible. Council uses those contacts to send meeting, event and training notices — including program information your Reflections and scholarship volunteers will need. The page also notes that officer lists should be submitted to Free State PTA via Givebacks, which is separate from the council form.
For questions about either program, use the council's Contact Us page at The PTA Council of Howard County.
What training and support does PTACHC offer for local PTA presidents and delegates?
PTACHC's support for local PTA leaders is built around written guides, monthly meetings and role-specific resources rather than a formal course catalog. The site groups material under Delegate, President/VP and Secretary/Treasurer headings, and lists an Advocacy & Legislative Affairs section alongside programs like Reflections and Scholarships.
For delegates, the site provides a "What does a PTA Delegate do?" page and a Delegates guide, plus Advocacy & Legislative Affairs material. The practical value is in knowing what to report back to your own board and how Howard County's Board of Education structure relates to PTA positions.
For presidents and vice presidents, there is a Presidents/VP's Guide and a Principal and the PTA guide, covering how the officer team and school administration typically divide work.
For the whole board, the recurring channel is the PTACHC General Meeting, held the first Tuesday of each month at the Homewood Center. Meeting documents from previous general meetings are posted for download, so a new officer can read past agendas and minutes before attending a first session. There is also a private Facebook group restricted to local PTA officers, and PTACHC collects officer contact details each year to send notices about meetings, events and training opportunities.
| Need | Where to start on the site |
|---|---|
| Understanding your delegate role | Delegates section and "What does a PTA Delegate do?" |
| Running a unit as president or VP | Presidents/VP's Guide |
| Handling money and filings | Treasurer's Guides, PTA Financials |
| Keeping records and insurance straight | Records – How Long to Keep, Insurance |
| Attending the monthly forum | PTA General Meeting Materials |
Two things worth noting for planning. First, the guides are reference documents, so the training is largely self-directed; the monthly meeting is where questions actually get answered. Second, PTACHC asks every unit to submit its officer contact form for the coming school year even when officers have not changed, and separately directs units to submit officer lists to Free State PTA through Givebacks. If you are a new president, submit the contact form early so you receive meeting and training notices, then read the previous year's general meeting documents before your first Tuesday session.
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