The Illinois PTA State Board of Directors has proposed a $0.50 dues increase starting July 1, 2023. Delegates to the Illinois PTA Convention will vote on the proposal as part of the business of convention on April 20, 2023. Here’s what PTAs need to know about the proposed dues increase. Why a Dues Increase? The … Continue reading What You Need to Know About the Proposed Illinois PTA Dues Increase
5 Keys to Running a Successful Nominating Committee
Many PTAs elect their nominating committee at their January general membership meeting. Electing the nominating committee is one of items that must be done at a general membership meeting (along with accepting the audit report, adopting and amending the budget, adopting the bylaws, and electing officers). If you’ve just been elected to your PTA’s nominating … Continue reading 5 Keys to Running a Successful Nominating Committee
Tweaking Your PTA’s Course in the New Year
New Year’s is a time of fresh starts for a lot of people, but for PTAs, it’s the middle of the year. Your PTA doesn’t need a fresh start, but perhaps you could use a few minor “course corrections.” Here are three such changes your PTA should be considering now. Membership Your PTA got off … Continue reading Tweaking Your PTA’s Course in the New Year
Improve Your PTA’s Family Engagement in the New Year
Family engagement is critical to student success, and it plays a big role in your PTA’s success as well. National PTA has rolled out several new resources to help your PTA step up its family engagement efforts. National PTA recently released the latest update of the National Standards for Family-School Partnerships. Accompanying the release was … Continue reading Improve Your PTA’s Family Engagement in the New Year
PTAs and Contracts
Every year, PTAs enter into a variety of contracts. Whether it is a contract with a fundraising company for a fundraiser, with a bounce house supplier for a fun fair, or a local artist to conduct a workshop at a PTA event, the PTA is entering into a legal agreement and needs to be aware … Continue reading PTAs and Contracts
The New Update of the National Standards for Family-School Partnerships
PTA’s National Standards for Family-School Partnerships were groundbreaking when they were first debuted. That families should be included in the conversations around their children’s education sounds like common sense today, but 20 years ago, the idea that families and schools should work together for student success was a novel idea. Now, National PTA has released … Continue reading The New Update of the National Standards for Family-School Partnerships
How the Illinois Report Card Can Help Your PTA or PTA Council
The Illinois Report Card, a comprehensive look at all public schools in Illinois, comes out every year near the end of October. This year’s report card shows a record high school graduation rate (led primarily by increases for students of color), student growth outperforming pre-pandemic levels, and Illinois’s teacher workforce defying national trends by adding … Continue reading How the Illinois Report Card Can Help Your PTA or PTA Council
Support Your Families with PTA Programs
As more and more data comes in, it is increasingly clear that many students fell behind during the first year of the pandemic. One way to help students begin to catch up academically is through out-of-school learning opportunities. A recent report by Bellwether shows that families often find barriers to participation in these learning opportunities. … Continue reading Support Your Families with PTA Programs
6 Steps to Rebuild Your PTA’s Leadership
When schools closed in the spring of 2020 to fight the spread of COVID-19, many PTAs ran into difficulties. Closed schools meant shifting to virtual PTA meetings, and PTAs with spring officer elections often struggled with running virtual elections. When school started back up in the fall of 2020, many schools were still online-only or … Continue reading 6 Steps to Rebuild Your PTA’s Leadership
Grow Your PTA with Membership Mania
Every PTA needs new members. Perhaps your PTA is looking to find people to help out. Perhaps you want to grow your membership to meet your membership goals in the Illinois PTA membership recognition program. Whatever the reason, you need to check out Membership Mania from National PTA. Membership Mania is the update of last … Continue reading Grow Your PTA with Membership Mania
Transform Your PTA with the School of Excellence Program
Is your PTA struggling to find volunteers? Do your PTA meetings always have the same six people showing up? Are you finding it hard to engage all families in your school? Did you know that PTA has a program that will help your PTA address all those issues? The School of Excellence program has been … Continue reading Transform Your PTA with the School of Excellence Program
Top 10 Tips for New PTA Treasurers
Most people think that president is the toughest job in PTA, but in reality, it is probably the treasurer’s job that is the hardest. Not that the work is difficult—it is mostly just addition and subtraction and attention to details—but that the stakes are high. As treasurer, you are ensuring that all the PTA funds … Continue reading Top 10 Tips for New PTA Treasurers
Make Membership Easy
You’ve used National PTA’s resources to plan out your membership campaign. You’ve got your elevator pitch down cold and can tell someone why it’s important to join your PTA in under a minute. You know that the main reason people don’t join PTA is that they aren’t asked to join. You’re as ready to recruit … Continue reading Make Membership Easy
PTA Secretary: Beyond the Minutes
When you are elected PTA secretary, you know your primary job is to keep the minutes at PTA meetings. But the role of the secretary goes beyond the minutes. About Those Minutes The PTA secretary keeps the minutes not only for the general membership meetings, but also for the meetings of the executive committee (officers) … Continue reading PTA Secretary: Beyond the Minutes
You Belong in PTA
PTA leaders have long known that the reason most people do not join PTA is because they were never asked to join. While your PTA does great things in your school and community, talking about what your PTA has accomplished and inviting others to join you can be difficult. National PTA has created a set … Continue reading You Belong in PTA
What the Heck Does a PTA Vice President Do?
Vice presidents don’t get a lot of respect (see US Vice President John Nance Garner’s infamous quote that the position was “not worth a bucket of warm spit”). If you are a newly-elected PTA vice president, you may be wondering what exactly it is you’re supposed to do. The answer depends on your PTA president. … Continue reading What the Heck Does a PTA Vice President Do?
7 Tips for a Strong Financial PTA Year
While running a PTA is a volunteer job, to the state of Illinois and the federal government, it is running a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. With that official role comes some legal obligations, most of which focus on financial issues. Here are seven tips to help you get your PTA year off on good financial footing. … Continue reading 7 Tips for a Strong Financial PTA Year
What Have I Done? Surviving Your First Few Months as PTA President
Last year’s PTA president said it was an easy job, just run a few meetings, so you said yes and got elected. But now they’ve dropped off this big box of PTA files and sped away like they had robbed a bank, and maybe you’re beginning to wonder what you’ve gotten yourself in for. Don’t … Continue reading What Have I Done? Surviving Your First Few Months as PTA President
Looking Beyond Illinois PTA for Resources
One of the great things about being a PTA is that you are never on your own. There are great resources available to you from both National PTA and Illinois PTA, and you always have an Illinois PTA person you can turn to for help. It’s easy to forget, however, that PTA is made up … Continue reading Looking Beyond Illinois PTA for Resources
PTAs and Referenda—Five Things to Know
The first time a PTA gets involved with advocacy is often when the school board puts a tax referendum on the ballot. Here are five things that PTAs need to know about handling this potentially first foray into advocacy. Your members decide if the PTA supports the referendum. While your school board and administrators may … Continue reading PTAs and Referenda—Five Things to Know
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