An Army of Advocates

Members of Mass PTA in DC, March 2013

Even before the financial crisis of 2008, many of our children were attending inadequately funded and over-crowded schools. Silent Auctions, Spring Fairs, and the like, are great community-building events that also raise money to shore up some budget shortfalls, but they can only go so far.



Funds necessary to cover operational and capital expenses (like teacher salaries, essential technologies, new school buildings, and important curricular offerings) are examples of some decisions made at the local level; many more decisions affecting children, teachers, and classrooms are made at the state and federal level of government. To effect change at all levels of government requires an army of advocates.

PTA has been training advocates longer than anyone - since 1897. PTA has the tools necessary to amplify voices for children at the local, state, and federal level and there are many opportunities to increase your advocacy skills, including:

• State PTA-sponsored workshops and conferences offered at various times throughout the year;
• Free online e-learning courses;
• DVDs to take you through the steps of identifying a problem and putting together a plan;
• Scheduled conference calls and webinars, based on your interest areas.

I encourage you to join the PTA movement. If you don't have a PTA at your child's school, or your children are long out of K-12 public education, no problem. Many of the tools I mentioned are free and available to anyone at the National PTA website. One may also join as a national member directly from the site.

Boston State House

If you're interested in having your parent group have more of an impact at your child's school, contact the state PTA for your state (in Massachusetts, the email address is: info@masspta.org)