If you are looking to grow your PTA membership, you might have already heard that the number one reason people haven’t joined PTA is because they were never asked to join. And while, “Would you like to join our PTA?” will get some people to join, it’s not always enough. Fortunately, National PTA has created … Continue reading Creating Your PTA Value Message
School of Excellence Recognizes 9 PTAs for 2022-2024
National PTA’s School of Excellence program is designed to build strong partnerships between families and schools and create meaningful family engagement. This year, National PTA has recognized nine Illinois PTAs as Schools of Excellence for the 2022-2024 period, with Twin Echo Elementary PTA in Collinsville earning the Phoebe Apperson Hearst Family-School Partnership Award of Merit … Continue reading School of Excellence Recognizes 9 PTAs for 2022-2024
Get Ready for PTA Grant Season
One of the great benefits of being a PTA is that National PTA offers a huge number of grants on a variety of topics. Last fall, 18 local PTAs in Illinois received $1,000 grants supporting programs in STEM, tobacco prevention, reading and literacy, arts education, internet safety, and digital device use. An additional 8 local … Continue reading Get Ready for PTA Grant Season
5 Steps to PTA Financial Success
You may think of your role with your PTA as “just a volunteer job,” but in reality, you are helping to run a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. That’s why both the state and federal governments have specific legal requirements for your PTA, most of which focus on financial issues. Here are five steps to PTA financial … Continue reading 5 Steps to PTA Financial Success
Help, I’m the New PTA President!
So the previous PTA president just dropped off a box of stuff and sped off down the street (and was that a cackle you heard?). The person from the nominating committee had said it was an easy job, just run the PTA meetings, but there’s so much stuff in the box and nothing about running … Continue reading Help, I’m the New PTA President!
The Secret to PTA Leadership Success
What if there was a tool to avoid the most common problems PTAs run into—a tool that made your PTA meetings run smoother, made board conflict less likely, and helped avoid legal issues with the IRS and the state of Illinois? What if learning to use this tool effectively only took a few hours of … Continue reading The Secret to PTA Leadership Success
6 Steps to Grow Your PTA Membership
July kicks off the start of a new PTA membership year. As a PTA leader, you know that members are the lifeblood of your PTA, but perhaps you are unsure how to grow your membership. Here are six simple steps to growing your PTA membership. Have a membership goal. It’s hard to grow your membership … Continue reading 6 Steps to Grow Your PTA Membership
Engaging Immigrant Families
Family engagement is critical to student success, and PTA has emphasized this for decades. With one in ten public school students being English language learners, engaging with immigrant families is becoming a growing challenge for PTAs and schools. The Carnegie Corporation of New York recently released a report, Becoming an Ally: Partnering with Immigrant Families … Continue reading Engaging Immigrant Families
Build Your Membership with Membership Minutes
National PTA has a wealth of tools to help your PTA build its membership. One tool that you might have missed is the Membership Minute short videos shared on social media. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be an easy way or a location where you can find all of these videos in one place, so … Continue reading Build Your Membership with Membership Minutes
10 Steps to a Smooth PTA Transition
With the school year coming to a close, it’s time for current PTA officers and board members to wrap things up and hand them over to the incoming PTA leadership team. For incoming officers and board members, it’s time to what you need to do and what you need to know to be successful in … Continue reading 10 Steps to a Smooth PTA Transition
6 Keys to Running a Successful PTA Election
In January, we discussed the five keys to running a successful nominating committee. Now, as your school year nears the end, here are six keys to running a successful PTA election. Your election must be held at a general membership meeting. Much of the day-to-day running of a PTA can be handled by your PTA … Continue reading 6 Keys to Running a Successful PTA Election
Get Some Extra Credit from Texas PTA
While we generally focus on resources from National PTA and Illinois PTA here on One Voice Illinois (it is the Illinois PTA blog, after all), we have occasionally highlighted resources from other state PTAs. While other states might have laws or requirements that are different from those here in Illinois, many PTA resources on leadership, … Continue reading Get Some Extra Credit from Texas PTA
Top 5 Reasons to Attend the Illinois PTA Convention
The 2023 Illinois PTA Convention is coming up on Thursday, April 20 (7pm-9pm) and Saturday, April 22 (9am-2pm). Here are the top five reasons you should attend. It’s online. No need to travel, and if you don’t turn on your camera, no one will know you’re having a bad hair day. Plus, it’s only $15.00/person … Continue reading Top 5 Reasons to Attend the Illinois PTA Convention
What You Need to Know About the Proposed Illinois PTA Dues Increase
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
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