TL;DR: Every school Parent-Teacher Association in the Philippines runs under DepEd Order No. 013, s. 2022, the Omnibus Guidelines on the Regulation of Operations of Parent-Teacher Associations. It makes membership dues purely voluntary and bars non-payment from affecting membership; lists seven DepEd-authorised voluntary contributions for Grades 5 to 12 and restricts Kindergarten to Grade 4 to membership dues only; caps fundraising at not more than four activities a school year; requires elections within thirty calendar days of the first day of classes with no proxy voting; and prohibits PTA officers from drawing any compensation from PTA funds, running a school canteen, or selling insurance and pre-need plans to parents. Non-payment of any contribution can never be a basis for withholding a report card, clearance or good moral certificate.
Most Filipino parents meet the PTA the same way: a general assembly in the first month of classes, a figure announced for membership dues, and no clear sense of whether any of it is optional. It is, and the document that says so is a 74-page DepEd order that almost nobody outside PTA officer circles has read.
This guide sets out what DepEd Order No. 013, s. 2022 actually requires: who can be a member and an officer, exactly which contributions may be collected and at what amounts, what the PTA may spend on, what it is forbidden from doing, and what happens to a parent who declines to pay. Where it touches money coming out of your pocket, it sits alongside the no-collection policy, which is the broader rule on school fees.
Which DepEd Order Governs the PTA?
DepEd Order No. 013, s. 2022, issued 18 March 2022. Its stated objectives include streamlining the processes for managing PTA affairs — election of officers, requirements and privileges of recognised PTAs, conduct of general assemblies, fundraising projects, and financial management and transparency — and to "update and harmonize DepEd policies and guidelines on PTA for clarity and consistency."
It supersedes the earlier framework built on DepEd Order Nos. 54, 77 and 117, s. 2009, which it lists among its references, and its repealing clause states that "all prior issuances, rules, and regulations inconsistent with these guidelines are hereby repealed, rescinded, or modified accordingly." If a rule you are quoted traces back to DO 54, s. 2009, check it against the 2022 order first — our guide on finding and reading DepEd orders covers how.
The order applies to public schools offering the K to 12 programme, and covers private and non-DepEd-managed basic education schools to the extent applicable.
Disclaimer: PTA rules are set by DepEd issuance and applied locally by your Schools Division Office. For a live dispute, raise it with the school head and the division PTA Affairs Committee rather than relying on this summary.
Are PTA Fees Mandatory?
No, and the order says so twice over. Section 8.6 states that "membership in the PTA shall not be restricted by the non-payment of the PTA membership dues, which shall be purely on a voluntary basis." A footnote to the authorised contributions table adds that PTA membership dues, being a voluntary school contribution, cannot be a ground for disqualifying a parent from membership, and cannot prevent them from exercising the rights and privileges of a bona fide member.
The enforcement clause is blunter. In no case shall the non-payment of voluntary school contributions "be made as a basis for non-admission, non-promotion, or non-issuance of a Report Card, Certificate of Good Moral Character, and/or school clearance or denial of any benefit to a student by the school concerned."
Three further limits sit around the same point:
- Collection of voluntary school contributions is allowed only through the PTA, and only where it supports programmes and activities identified in the School Improvement Plan.
- All PTA collections begin on the third month of classes and run until the end of the school year.
- PTA membership fees are collected once per school year per parent or guardian, regardless of how many of their children are enrolled in the school.
What Can a PTA Actually Collect?
The order splits this by grade level, and the Kindergarten-to-Grade-4 rule is the one most parents do not know.
Kindergarten to Grade 4: only PTA membership dues, in a reasonable amount determined by the School PTA Board of Directors. Except for that, "no other VSCs shall be collected from kindergarten to Grade 4 learners."
Grades 5 to 12: the DepEd-authorised voluntary school contributions are listed in the order as follows.
| Contribution | Amount per learner |
|---|---|
| Philippine Red Cross | ₱50.00 |
| Parent-Teacher Association membership dues | Reasonable amount determined by the School PTA Board of Directors |
| Learners organisations | Based on existing school policies |
| Boy Scouts of the Philippines | ₱50.00 |
| Girl Scouts of the Philippines | ₱50.00 |
| School publications — elementary | ₱60.00 |
| School publications — high school | ₱90.00 |
| Anti-TB Fund Drive | ₱5.00 |
Other contributions supporting activities identified in the School Improvement Plan may also be collected from Grades 5 to 12 learners. The order notes that these amounts and rules are subject to change or adjustment by subsequent DepEd issuances, so confirm the current figures with your school before treating the table as final.
Whatever is collected has to follow the handling rules: amounts for PTA fundraising projects are agreed at the General Assembly and concurred in by the school head; PTAs "shall refrain from setting exorbitant amounts"; collection is by the PTA Treasurer or a Board-approved representative issuing pre-numbered receipts; and the daily total deposited must tally with the receipts. No other school personnel may collect, safekeep or disburse those funds.
How Many Fundraising Activities Is a PTA Allowed?
Not more than four in a school year. The order lists among the privileges of a recognised School PTA the conduct of "not more than four (4) fundraising activities to support the school's academic and co-curricular programs, projects, and activities," subject to DepEd policy and provided the PTA complies with the no-collection policy — meaning the collection is purely voluntary.
Exceeding that limit is not a grey area. "Engaging in fundraising activities in excess of what is allowed" appears in the order's list of prohibited acts, carrying the sanctions provided in its disciplinary section.
What Is a PTA Forbidden From Doing?
The prohibited-acts section is short and specific. PTAs and their officers may not:
- Engage in any partisan political activity within school premises, or use the School PTA in any partisan political activity
- Operate a canteen or school supplies store, or hold a concession for one inside the school or nearby premises, or offer those services to the school as a client, directly or indirectly
- Sell insurance or pre-need plans, or recruit learners and their parents or guardians into multilevel marketing or similar schemes
- Receive any salaries, honoraria, emoluments or other compensation from PTA funds — this is written to cover officers, Board and Executive Committee members, and other committee members
- Use the name of the school for unauthorised solicitation of financial or other resources from private donors or stakeholders
- Charge service fees against amounts collected as voluntary school contributions
- Exceed the four-activity fundraising limit
The canteen and insurance prohibitions exist because those were the two most common routes for a PTA position to become a private income stream. The compensation ban closes the third.
Who Can Be a PTA Member and Officer?
Membership is limited to parents — or, in their absence, court-appointed guardians — of duly enrolled learners, plus teaching and non-teaching personnel of the school, whether public or private.
Officership is where the order is unusually detailed, because the conflicts it is guarding against are real ones.
| Person | What they may hold |
|---|---|
| Teacher-member elected to the School PTA Board | May not be elected an officer except as Secretary of the School PTA |
| Teacher with a child in the school where they are assigned | Participates as a parent-member; may only be elected Secretary of the Homeroom PTA |
| Teacher whose child is in another school | May be elected to any Homeroom PTA position there except President, Vice-President or Treasurer |
| School head of the school | Serves only as adviser to the School PTA |
| School head with a child at another school | May be elected a PTA officer there, except Board Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson or Treasurer |
On voting: each member has one vote, and a parent or guardian gets one vote per learner enrolled — so a mother and father of the same child share a single vote in that homeroom, not two. No proxy or absentee voting is allowed.
When Are PTA Elections Held?
Within thirty calendar days from the first day of classes. The indicative dates must be included in the annual calendar of school activities, and both the General Assembly convened before the election and the election itself must fall inside that window. The Election Committee, through homeroom advisers, must disseminate the Notice of Meeting at least ten calendar days before the election, using methods such as notice slips through learners, posting on the school bulletin board, and posting on the school's official channels.
If you are trying to work out when that falls for your child's school, our DepEd school calendar guide has the opening dates for the current school year.
Recognised vs Non-Recognised PTAs
The order sorts School PTAs into two classes, and the class determines what the association may do.
An officially recognised School PTA may collect voluntary school contributions and other authorised contributions at any time in the school year, subject to the collection rules above, and enjoys the full list of privileges. To be recognised, a School PTA must, by the end of the current school year, elect all Homeroom, Grade Level and School PTA officers, submit the list of elected officers with their Oaths of Office, adopt an official name bearing the school's name, open a bank account, and meet the order's other reportorial requirements.
A non-officially recognised School PTA — newly created, or one that failed the requirements for two consecutive school years — may still collect PTA membership dues at any time of the school year, and may be allowed to exercise the other privileges at the sound discretion of the school head.
Privileges of a recognised PTA include using available space in the school as its office at its own utility cost, representing parents in the School Governance Council, the Child Protection Committee and Brigada Eskwela technical working groups, accepting donations, and acting as an observer in the school's procurement activities under RA 9184.
Where Does the Money Go, and Who Checks?
Financial controls are the longest article in the order. School and Federated PTAs must open and maintain an "and/or" bank account, preferably a checking account, in the names of the Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson and Treasurer, all three of whom must be signatories. Collections are deposited on the day they are made or the next banking day.
Every PTA must maintain an official logbook recording all activities and financial transactions, in cash or in kind, with the estimated value of in-kind contributions recorded and supporting receipts kept on file. Records are maintained subject to the Data Privacy Act (RA 10173) and the government's Freedom of Information framework under Executive Order No. 2, s. 2016.
What a PTA may spend on is enumerated rather than open-ended: support to learners (supplementary learning resources, school supplies, ICT equipment, hygiene kits and nutritional supplements, reading and enrichment activities), support to school improvement (Brigada Eskwela participation, School Improvement Plan input, construction and renovation, furniture, sports and sanitation facilities, safety components), and support to community development.
What to Do If Your PTA Is Not Following This
- Ask which section authorises the collection. Every authorised contribution has a line in the order. A figure that cannot be traced to one, or to an activity in the School Improvement Plan, has a problem.
- Ask for the receipt. Collections require pre-numbered receipts issued by the Treasurer or a Board-approved representative. A collection taken by a teacher at a homeroom meeting without one is outside the rules.
- Raise it with the school head first, who serves as adviser to the School PTA, then with the Schools Division Office's PTA Affairs Committee. The order provides grievance and disciplinary proceedings with sanctions, and gives the Office of the Secretary a residual power to review decisions.
- Do not pay under pressure. Nothing in the order permits a school to condition admission, promotion or the release of records on any voluntary contribution. If it happens, that is the specific violation to report. Parents new to the system may also find our guide to education in the Philippines useful for the wider picture of what schools may and may not ask for.
Ready to find the right school? Browse schools or compare tuition, facilities and reviews across hundreds of Philippine schools on SchoolFinderPH.
Sources
- DepEd — DO 013, s. 2022: Omnibus Guidelines on the Regulation of Operations of the Parent-Teacher Associations (official)
- DepEd — DO 013, s. 2022 full text (official PDF)
- DepEd — DO 54, s. 2009: Revised Guidelines Governing Parents-Teachers Associations at the School Level (official, superseded)
- DepEd — DO 19, s. 2008: Implementation of No Collection Policy in All Public Elementary and Secondary Schools (official)
- SchoolFinderPH — DepEd No-Collection Policy
- SchoolFinderPH — How to Find and Read DepEd Orders
- SchoolFinderPH — DepEd School Calendar 2026-2027
