Model Local Unit Bylaws

Updating your bylaws is not difficult! As long as proper procedures are followed, bylaws may be updated at any time as voted on by a Unit or Council. At a minimum, all Unit and Council bylaws must be reviewed and updated, then submitted to the Oklahoma PTA State Office for approval, every three years. This is to keep local bylaws current with the OK PTA bylaws, and to ensure that Units practice what is written in their bylaws.

Bylaws are the constitution for your Unit-they are a legal document describing the purpose of your Unit, the type of organization it is, IRS tax status, and what the Unit will do to accomplish its purpose. Although the language of bylaws can seem complex, the basic information contained in bylaws is not. The language of bylaws is meant to ensure that the bylaws say exactly what they are meant to say.

These Model Unit bylaws are the basis for the bylaws of every PTA unit in Oklahoma. They contain the language that conforms to the requirements of National PTA and Oklahoma PTA as well as for non-profit organizations. Every member of a local PTA is also a member of the state and National PTAs. As such, there are sections in these bylaws (marked with the number (#) symbol) which may not be altered and which must be present in their entirety in your Unit bylaws. Unit bylaws may not conflict with the National PTA Bylaws or the Oklahoma PTA Bylaws.

These bylaws are updated to reflect any changes made in the Oklahoma PTA bylaws at the Annual Convention. Please insert the items specific to your Unit into the text of these bylaws.

As you begin this process, here are some important questions for your Unit to consider:

  • Do the practices of our Unit match our bylaws? (They should!) If they do not, what do we need to change?
  • Are the quorums for Executive board meetings and Unit meetings reasonable?
  • Do we need to increase our quorum due to growth, or reduce the quorum because we cannot reasonably expect that many people to come to the meetings?
  • Has our school size increased or decreased significantly since the last bylaws revision? If so, do we have the right officers to do the work of the PTA?
  • Are we able to meet the minimum number of times required by our bylaws? (Remember, you can always meet more times than specified, but not fewer.)
  • Are our dues adequate for our needs? (The combined state and National portions of each member's dues is $2.75. The remainder is the local unit portion.)
  • Are we experiencing difficulties in our unit due to lack of procedure? What needs to change.

If the conclusion is that your current bylaws meet the needs of your Unit without any changes, then simply insert the information specific to your Unit into the text of these bylaws and submit them for approval. If changes need to be made, then the bylaws committee will need to present the changes to the Unit for a vote prior to submission to Oklahoma PTA for approval.

Steps to take for updating or changing bylaws:

  1. Convene a nominating committee (an uneven number, no less than 3) to review your current bylaws.
  2. Consider changes which need to be made. Pay special attention to Article VI Section 2, Article VIII Section 7 and Article X Section 4.
  3. When setting Quorums, use a numerical value-the Number of people who could reasonably be expected to attend-rather than a percentage.
  4. Keep in mind that National PTA does not recognize co-presidents, and will accept only one name for mailing purposes. If you choose to have co-presidents then your bylaws must stipulate that co-presidents may serve in the capacity of president.
  5. Use Standing Rules to provide further detail on how your Unit will do the work put forth in your bylaws. For example, if your 2nd Vice President serves as membership chair, you could put that in the standing rules; if you have a deadline by which items for the newsletter have to be submitted, then that could be a standing rule. Standing rules are items that might change as officers or needs change; bylaws are more permanent, and remain in place regardless of who is in office. Standing Rules may not take the place of, or contradict, the bylaws. See your Annual Resources for more information on Standing Rules.
  6. Present proposed changes to the Executive Board for approval.
  7. Post proposed changes for your membership a minimum of 30 days prior to vote.
  8. Vote on changes using your current bylaws and Robert's Rules of Order to govern the meeting.
  9. Once changes are approved (or if no changes were made from existing bylaws), insert new information and information specific to your unit into the text (blank spaces in the Model Unit Bylaws) of the bylaws.
  10. Use these Model Bylaws for your new bylaws. Do not "cut and paste" or use older versions, as information may be lost, incorrect or illegible.
  11. If your unit is a PTA, then all references throughout the bylaws should be to PTA. If your unit is a PTSA, then all references should say PTSA.
  12. It is suggested that you use the footer feature of your word processing program so that each page will reflect the page number/number of pages (1 of 8, 2 of 8, etc.) and the date of revision. This will prevent future headaches for your unit.
  13. Please do not use a font size smaller than 10 on your computer/word processor.
  14. Include current standing rules with your bylaws so that they can be filed together.
  15. Mail (do not fax or email) 4 complete copies of your bylaws to the State Office for approval:
    Oklahoma PTA
    2801 N. Lincoln Blvd., Suite 214
    Oklahoma City, OK 73105
  16. Your bylaws will be reviewed in a timely manner. If there are problems which need to be corrected, then you will be notified of what those are so that you can re-submit them. When your bylaws are approved, they will be stamped and signed, and will have the next renewal date written on them. Do not remove old copies of the bylaws from notebooks until you receive the new, approved copy of your bylaws.
  17. When your approved bylaws are returned to you, you will need to provide 1 copy to your Council (if applicable) and copies to your officers and chairs for their procedure notebooks. An original, approved copy should be in the Secretary's book.
  18. Your current bylaws are the only bylaws in effect. Any old bylaws should be removed from procedure books and replaced with current bylaws.