Washington State PTA to Members: Not Qualified to Talk about Money for Education
There was a speech that was delivered by Duncan Taylor, the interim Legislative Director, at this weekend's PTSA convention in Yakima. I heard about it from several PTA people who told me they were quite surprised at what he said. He skipped going over what happened at the last legislative session in Olympia which is surprising.
So the lessons learned from this past legislative session were not so important to talk about for Mr. Duncan. Unfortunately, there was one key thing that it would behoove all ed groups to understand - bring the kids. It certainly was the tipping point for some Democratic legislators for charter law legislation.
What did he say?
Basically, Mr. Duncan is saying PTSA shouldn't advocate for money for public education for two reasons.
One, all those numbers are too big and complex for parents to understand.
Two, it's not their mission as a group.
He said that for the last 30 years that the issue of full-funding for public ed has been on their list and why was that?
I'll bite; that education keeps costing more money because of mandates from the state and the need for more student supports? Let's look at the PTA website; here's their mission statement:
Our Mission:
PTA is
So he advocated for members to work for issues that "transcend what happens in the classroom." He also said the phrase "whole child" which seems to be a new push from PTA to go away from the classroom.
But Mr. Duncan cannot deny the deep ties to education that is PTSA. I have to wonder if PTA would be in so many schools if their main goal isn't education. If it's not, why does PTSA get to be the only parent advocacy group directly linked with the overwhelming majority of schools?
Maybe if we are talking about issues around children and schooling in Seattle Public Schools, maybe Soup for Teachers should be the group representing parents, not PTSA.
So the lessons learned from this past legislative session were not so important to talk about for Mr. Duncan. Unfortunately, there was one key thing that it would behoove all ed groups to understand - bring the kids. It certainly was the tipping point for some Democratic legislators for charter law legislation.
What did he say?
Basically, Mr. Duncan is saying PTSA shouldn't advocate for money for public education for two reasons.
One, all those numbers are too big and complex for parents to understand.
Two, it's not their mission as a group.
He said that for the last 30 years that the issue of full-funding for public ed has been on their list and why was that?
I'll bite; that education keeps costing more money because of mandates from the state and the need for more student supports? Let's look at the PTA website; here's their mission statement:
Our Mission:
PTA is
- a powerful voice for children,
- a relevant resource for families, schools and communities, and
- an advocate for the well-being and education of all children.
- When local levies failed in the 1950s and kindergartens went unfunded, Washington State PTAs first organized kindergarten "co-ops," then worked to secure state funding for universal kindergarten.
- Thousands of volunteers from Washington State PTA helped secure the passage of the "simple majority" amendment to the state constitution in 2007.
So he advocated for members to work for issues that "transcend what happens in the classroom." He also said the phrase "whole child" which seems to be a new push from PTA to go away from the classroom.
But Mr. Duncan cannot deny the deep ties to education that is PTSA. I have to wonder if PTA would be in so many schools if their main goal isn't education. If it's not, why does PTSA get to be the only parent advocacy group directly linked with the overwhelming majority of schools?
Maybe if we are talking about issues around children and schooling in Seattle Public Schools, maybe Soup for Teachers should be the group representing parents, not PTSA.
Comments
I guess Washington's Paramount Duty IS the only game in town willing to advocate on this issue?
Ballard
Right.
It'll take all of 10 minutes before the legislators are calling foul, complaining about how public schools are wasting public money, using kids for political purposes, even though a double standard exists for charter schools (which also got double funding).
Whatever. WSPTA is no better than the majority of the ed deform astroturf groups like Stand on Children.
CT
Director of Operations at Washington Bankers Association
I've never had success sending LinkedIn links.
The bit that jumped out - besides the general tenor of jobs and corporations:
Product Specialist Apex Learning
..
Mr.Taylor has reached out to me and I'll listen to what he says and report back.
I wonder why anyone would see value in remaining as part of PTA as a result of this.
RosieReader
My own view is that WSPTA should be exactly focused on lobbying for state tax reform, i.e., a progressive income tax/regressive sales tax swap, with significant net increased revenue to fund McCleary mandate, while causing a net decrease in overall tax burden for most WA taxpayers. Not the only scope of PTA, but should be a major one at this time in our state, given the funding crisis.
My opinion is that if the PTA leadership is dead set against the historical mission of the PTA as a child advocacy organization to lobby our state government to amply fund public education, then (1) new leadership should be voted in that will, and (2) outside organizations like WPD could step in to fill the void in the meantime.
Brian Duncan, parent at Ballard HS and Salmon Bay K8
Agree with you Brian.
-MT