Ours is called a Parents and Citizens Association (P&C). In our school their role is pretty much fundraising to buy extra resources for the school or to help fund capital works around the grounds - last year we finally got a covered walk way for the bus students to use when walking to and from the front gate. Took them ages to raise money for that. They also run the second hand uniform pool as well. This year they paid for a full set of formal school uniforms for our captains and prefects to wear for special occasions and assemblies. They were also the ones pushing to change the schol uniform a few years ago. How well supported it is really depends on the parents we have at the school - some years there are heaps of people involved and other years they are scraping for numbers. it's usually dependent on how well liked the exec committee is as to how many people they get involved. I've never gotten overly involved in them because I've always been involved in other committees and don't have the time, but I did take a role on the committee of my eldest kid's high school this year (in a welfare role that I'm familiar with because I'm a teacher and understand the policy documents) I'd say the level of involvement in the school depends on both the school and the committee. At the school I work at where my kids go for primary school, it's not a huge involvement - just working away quietly in the background, but with the highschool that my eldest two attend the P&C is a huge deal and they have a lot of input into things.