Local elections are coming up on April 6, 2021, and it is these elections, often featuring school board races and school funding referenda, that PTAs and their members are most often involved with. Because PTAs are 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations, the IRS sets specific limits on what PTAs can and can’t do regarding elections. Failure to … Continue reading Elections—A Guide for PTAs
What the Education Omnibus Bill Means for Your Child’s Education
The Illinois General Assembly wrapped up its legislative session with a lame duck session in January just before the new legislators were sworn in. Among the bills passed was HB2170, known as the Education Omnibus Bill. As an omnibus bill, HB2170 contains lots of different pieces of legislation ranging from early childhood education all the way … Continue reading What the Education Omnibus Bill Means for Your Child’s Education
Education in a Pandemic
Last week, Advance Illinois released a report, Education in a Pandemic: Learning from Illinois Students & Caregivers to Plan for the Road Ahead. The report encapsulates what Illinois’s school communities—including students, parents, and caregivers—are experiencing during the COVID-19 pandemic and what they will require in the long term to recover and rebuild. A recording of the … Continue reading Education in a Pandemic
The 2020 Illinois School Report Card: What’s New and What’s Missing
Illinois releases its school report card every year at the end of October, and the data presented can help you and your PTA understand what is happening in your district and in your child’s school. This year, because of the pandemic, there are a lot of exceptions noted on the school report card, but there is still … Continue reading The 2020 Illinois School Report Card: What’s New and What’s Missing
Play the Fund Education Instead Game
Schools are underfunded, both here in Illinois and across the nation. You probably already knew that. Now a new online game called Fund Education Instead from the Partnership for the Future of Learning and the National Education Policy Center seeks to highlight that this underfunding is not a fact of life, but a result of the choices our elected leaders make … Continue reading Play the Fund Education Instead Game
Join National PTA in Ensuring #EveryStudentConnected
Among the many issues the pandemic has highlighted, perhaps none is more critical than the lack of online access among a significant portion of our students. While schools districts have tried to connect with every student during online learning through distributing technology to students, putting WiFi access points on school buses and parking them near … Continue reading Join National PTA in Ensuring #EveryStudentConnected
How to Advocate for Healthier School Food
School lunches (and breakfasts) are lifesavers for some children, providing critical nourishment they might not have at home. But even for children who are food-secure, school lunches can help support their education, as well-fed and active children have fewer absences, higher self-esteem, better behavior, and increased academic performance. The Chef Ann Foundation, a non-profit that … Continue reading How to Advocate for Healthier School Food
How to Advocate for the Arts at Your School
Illinois funding of schools has long been woefully inadequate, and now the pandemic has made school finances even more challenging due to flat state funding and increased costs as schools struggle to provide online learning for all students or supplies for in-person classes. When school budgets get tight, the arts are often among the first … Continue reading How to Advocate for the Arts at Your School
Host a Voter Registration Drive
The upcoming election is just under two months away. Illinois PTA has shared what PTAs can and can’t do regarding elections, as has National PTA in partnership with Nonprofit VOTE. One thing that PTAs can do is host a voter registration drive, and if you are a middle or high school PTA or PTSA, this … Continue reading Host a Voter Registration Drive
National PTA Position Statement on Addressing Institutional Racism
On July 27th, National PTA adopted a position statement on addressing institutional racism. The statement reaffirms National PTA’s commitment to listen, educate, and advocate beyond rhetoric and to rise to correct all inequities and injustices. “As an association that represents all children and families, it is our duty to disrupt the systems that propagate institutional … Continue reading National PTA Position Statement on Addressing Institutional Racism
National PTA Statement on Racial Inequity and Injustice in America
National PTA President Leslie Boggs and National PTA Executive Director Nathan R. Monell released the following statement on Tuesday. Illinois PTA stands in solidarity with National PTA on this statement and encourages our local PTAs and PTA Councils to do so as well. National PTA condemns the inequitable and brutal treatment of all African Americans … Continue reading National PTA Statement on Racial Inequity and Injustice in America
Free Kit Helps Families Address Screens in the Classroom
As a parent, you probably keep an eye on how much screen time your child is getting at home and what they are doing on those screens. But what about the screens your child sees in school? Are what’s on those screens really helping your child learn? What about the data collected by such technology? … Continue reading Free Kit Helps Families Address Screens in the Classroom
Current EBF School Funding Will Never Get Us to Adequately Funded Education
Illinois PTA strongly supported the passage in 2017 of the new Evidence-Based Funding (EBF) formula that directs additional school funding to those districts most in need. As part of that new formula, the legislature committed to increasing school funding by $350 million per year for 10 years. The results from the first two years of … Continue reading Current EBF School Funding Will Never Get Us to Adequately Funded Education
Human Trafficking: A Primer for PTAs
January is National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month. While you may not think that human trafficking is an issue in your community—a 2017 poll in Illinois indicated more than half disagreed that it was happening in their area—in fact, Illinois ranks 11th in the nation in the number of cases of human trafficking. What … Continue reading Human Trafficking: A Primer for PTAs
What’s New with the Illinois School Report Card
The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) released its annual school report card last week. There is one significant change to the report card this year as more of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) goes into effect: site-specific expenditure reporting. That means that the school report card now shows the federal and state/local funding … Continue reading What’s New with the Illinois School Report Card
News from National Convention—The Opioid Epidemic
One of the workshops at the 2019 National PTA Convention focused on the Opioid Epidemic. Misuse of prescription pain medication is one of the fastest growing health issues in the United States today, and the problem is on the rise at an alarming rate not just among the general population but among youth as well. … Continue reading News from National Convention—The Opioid Epidemic
News from National Convention—Resolutions
At the 2019 National PTA Convention last week in Columbus, OH, delegates adopted one new resolution and amended two other existing resolutions. The first, dealing with financial literacy, came from Illinois PTA. The other two dealt with energy drinks and lead. The financial literacy and lead resolutions both had minor amendments approved by the delegates, … Continue reading News from National Convention—Resolutions
How School Districts are Using Their New Funding
Illinois enacted a new school funding formulain August 2017. Known as the Evidence-Based Funding (EBF) model, it calculates what adequate funding for a district would be and directs the majority of additional state funds to those districts furthest from adequacy. The legislature has committed to providing an additional $350 million per year for the next … Continue reading How School Districts are Using Their New Funding
School Wellness Policies—Is Your PTA at the Table?
Do you know if your school district has a school wellness policy, and if so, what’s in it and what the district is doing to implement it? If your district participates in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast programs, they are required to develop such a plan and to permit parents to participate in … Continue reading School Wellness Policies—Is Your PTA at the Table?
Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child
Children’s success in school isn’t limited to just academics. PTA has known this since our founding, focusing our advocacy efforts not just on children’s needs at school, but at home and in their community as well. Now, the education and public health sectors are aiming to better align their efforts to improve each child’s cognitive, … Continue reading Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child
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