A resource for PTA and parent involvement project ideas
Encouraging Advocacy
Our school district's current situation isn't exactly unique. We are facing budget cuts. Our governor cut the state's education budget for the CURRENT year by $300 million dollars. Our district is now trying to figure out how to cut $4 million from our budget, which isn't easy when 91% of the budget equates to people (salaries or benefits). We are facing big changes in our district.
I was very happy to see around 160 parents and staff at the school board meeting last night where they submitted the recommendations to the board to help face this crisis. Over the next month there will be 2 community dialogues and some budget work sessions and then the school board should be voting on the plan this time next month. The word is getting out to the parents in our district that big changes are coming and their voices need to be heard.
There are a couple of important education bills on the floor in Indiana right now. One is SB150 reguarding regulating school start dates. The other is SB309/HB1367 which could allow some flexibility of funds to our schools to help save teachers' jobs. On the national level, there is also the PIRC issue that needs addressed AND later this year we expect to start hearing about the reauthorization of NCLB.
I am wanting to try to encourage more advocacy efforts from our parents. Our PTA newsletter going out today talks about the bills that we need to talk to our legislators about and also mentions the PIRC funding issue. Beyond that, what can we do to try to encourage more involvement from out parents? Have any of you done letter writing campaigns? How do we make it easy for our parents so that they will be willing to help cram our legislators emails, mailboxes and voice mails, etc. with contacts about these bills?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by PTA Administrator on -
National PTA provides an Advocacy Toolkit online with helpful strategies for communicating with members of Congress. The tips work on the state level, too.
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Permalink Reply by Carissa Dollar on -
So many people think "I'm too busy.....someone else with contact them" - so how do we engage more members and get them to make those contacts?
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Permalink Reply by Dania Melendez on -
Hi Carissa,
I'm in Hollywood, Florida, and we too are facing major cuts in our school's budget for next year. There is a "Rally in Tally", our state's capital at the end of this month and we are trying to encourage parents to attend, but the response is minimal. We are putting out our newsletter next week specifically letting parents know how the cuts will affect our school. "Our prinicpal has informed us that specials including media and art will be eliminated". We included the website addresses they can access to find out who their representatives are and how to contact them. We are trying to get our county PTA unit to start a petition drive. We feel a campaign at this level would unify our cause, increase awareness and give parents unable to attend rallies and meetings a way to support the cause. There is power in numbers. We are in the process of doing this, so I'll let you know what the outcome is. But, I think the key is to let parents know specifically how their child's education will be affected at their school and to make it easy for parents to make the contacts. Maybe write a sample letter, or a link on your PTA's website to their state representatives, etc. We are exploring all options as well, so if you have found anything else that is working for you, please share. Thanks!
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