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MEET California State PTA:

• PTA members in over 3,300 schools across the state
• 160 volunteer advocates meeting with their legislators this week as part of our conference!

Choose 2 or 3 of these that are important to your community:

INTRODUCTION

• PTA believes that all children deserve a quality education regardless of the community in which they live, the color of their skin, their language, their gender identity, or their immigration status.

POVERTY, INCOME AND RACIAL EQUITY

• PTA is seeking legislation to address poverty, and the income and racial inequities that affect millions of California’s families.

HEALTH & WELFARE

• PTA supports school and community programs that protect the health and welfare of children and families, and support items in the state budget including money for:
  • Community schools
  • School based health services
  • Counselors
  • School nutrition

EDUCATION

• California’s school finance system must provide stable, adequate and equitable funding to meet the
  diverse needs of all our students, including before and after-school programs, summer school and
  distance learning.
• We support the recruitment and development of an educator workforce that is reflective of the students
  at each school with qualified and effective teachers delivering a full curriculum that includes the arts,
  P.E., and civics.
• All students deserve an education that prepares them for successful participation in society and entry
  into college and the work force.
• Coursework must address racism and bias to counteract institutional and structural biases that often
  drive inequitable outcomes for students.

SCHOOL REOPENING

• Schools should not open in person unless it is safe for students, staff and their families.
• School districts must provide opportunities for input and feedback from parents before and during
  school reopening planning and implementation.
• Parent and families should be provided with choice in determining whether their child returns to the
  classroom full or part time.

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1. Establish your agenda and goals.

• Know what subject you are going to address. Don’t overload with issues – stick to no more than two or three.
• Decide what you would like to get out of the visit, ie. a commitment to vote for your issue, leadership on the issue, or you may decide the visit is simply informational.
• Allow time for small talk at the outset, but not too much. Remember, it’s your visit.

2. Listen well.

• Much of lobbying is listening, looking for indications of the elected official’s views, and finding opportunities to provide good information.
• Listening can allow you the opportunity to find areas of common ground on an issue.
• If you are meeting with a “silent type,” draw her/him out by asking questions.
• If you are confronted with a “long-winded type.’ Look for openings to bring her/him back to the point.

3. Be prepared, but don’t feel that you need to be an expert.

• Most elected officials are generalists, like many of us. Do your homework, but don’t feel that you need to know every little detail of an issue. Air personal feelings and experiences where appropriate. Relate the concerns of your friends and members of the community.
• Know when to admit “I don’t know,” and offer to follow up with the information.
• Be open to counter-arguments, but don’t get stuck on them. Don’t be argumentative or confrontational.

4. Don’t stay too long.

• Try to get closure on your issue. If you hear what you had hoped for, express your thanks and leave. If you reach an impasse, thank the legislator, even if disappointed, and say so. End the meeting and continue the discussion at another time.

5. Remember you are there to build a relationship.

• If the elected official is good on an issue you’ve been involved in or has supported your position in the past, be sure to acknowledge your appreciation during the course of the visit.
• If the opposite is true, think of the phrase, “No permanent friends, no permanent enemies.” Someday, on some issue of importance to you, they may come through. In the meantime, your visit may prevent the official from being an active opponent of your issue.

6. Follow-up is important.

• Be sure to send a thank-you note after the visit. If commitments were made in the meeting, repeat your understanding of them. If staff members were present, write to them too. They can often be important allies.

California State PTA sent the following letter on July 29, 2020 to Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives, House of Representatives Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer:

Dear Speaker Pelosi, Minority Leader McCarthy, Majority Leader McConnell, and Minority Leader Schumer:

On behalf of our 700,000 members, California State PTA is writing to express our deep disappointment that the proposed HEALS Act does not respond adequately to the funding needs of our schools and the health and safety needs of our students and school staff.

The Senate HEALS ACT provides little healing and in fact tries to force schools to open with in-person learning despite the worsening of the coronavirus pandemic throughout the country.

Instead of protecting public education by funding at the levels school experts recommend, the HEALS Act shortchanges kids and teachers.  The Council of Great City Schools estimates that schools need at least $200 billion to meet the needs of students   The HEALS Act provides far less: $70 billion is allocated to the country’s K-12 schools BUT only one-third, or about $23.3 billion, will be available immediately.

The bill tries to persuade schools to reopen in person by dangling about two-thirds of the funding ($46.6 billion) — only to schools that reopen with more than 50% in-person instruction.

Schools that are reopening mostly with distance learning will not be eligible for any additional funding outside the initial $23.3 billion.

This punishes states that are opening primarily with distance learning and prioritizing the health and well-being of students and staff.  California, the state with the most students in the nation, will not get enough money to support its schools because it is putting safety and health first.

The timeline for the reopening of schools should be based on the current impact of the virus on individual communities.  Using the promise of extra money to re-open schools in person violates our responsibility to protect the safety and health of our children.

California State PTA has several additional concerns beyond the low level of funding for schools to open safely.

• Oppose Private School Tuition Scholarships The bill provides money for private school tuition scholarships.  Public money should be used for public schools.  Private school voucher programs undermine our nation’s public schools by diverting desperately needed resources away from the public-school system to fund the education of a few, select students in private, often religious, schools.
• Increase Funding for Childcare The HEALS Act would allocate $15 billion to help childcare providers reopen, including $190 million for programs aimed at preventing family violence and promoting child welfare.  Childcare experts estimate that $50 billion is needed to provide for personnel, sanitation, training and other costs associated with reopening and running childcare facilities. Childcare is one of the most critical needs to allow parents to get back to work.
• Fund Special Education Missing from the bill is what most school districts put as one of their highest needs: fully funding special education. The costs of special education have grown much faster than revenues and schools are forced to reduce services for other students to meet their legal obligations.
• Support Internet Connectivity It is unacceptable that Congress is not providing needed resources to connect students and teachers to the internet as schools have already announced plans to conduct remote learning or a hybrid combination to start the school year. This is an equity issue that prevents students living in poverty from accessing public education.

Congress must invest at least $175 billion for K-12 education to ensure that students can keep learning and schools can reopen for in-person instruction when it is safe to do so.

Sincerely,

 

Celia Jaffe
President California State PTA
president@capta.org

cc:  Senator Diane Feinstein
Senator Kamala Harris

California Budget: Bad News For Schools – PTA Parent Advocacy Needed Now

Despite efforts by Governor Newsom to minimize cuts to education and children’s services, the revised May California budget proposal leaves schools and other programs facing significant cuts.

The largest cut to K-12 funding is a 10 percent reduction to the Local Control Funding Formula ($6.5 billion in 2020-21).

Schools throughout the state, already bracing for cuts before the pandemic, now have to cut budgets even further. The financial hurt stretches beyond the coming school year, with even greater economic challenges in the following years.

The pandemic has overwhelmed the state’s capacity to adequately support the education, health and welfare of California’s children.

Time for Parent Advocacy

Before we get to details about the proposed budget, let’s address what parents must do now to cushion this blow. We need to speak up and advocate for more money: More money from the federal government, more money at the ballot box, and more revenue in the state budget.

• Contact your state representatives: Let them know what the impact of the proposed budget will be on your school. To find your representatives click here.
• Advocate for More Federal Funding: Contact your federal representatives and ask them to support an additional $200 billion in federal funds for schools. Unless Congress acts, schools will experience major budget cuts triggered by the pandemic. Click here to send a message to your federal representatives.
• Help pass the Schools and Communities First ballot initiative which is on the November ballot: This could raise about $11.5 billion dollars each year for our schools and local communities. Click here to volunteer.

Budget Process

In May, both houses of the legislature make their own budget recommendations. Then the legislature and the Governor negotiate a final budget, which must be adopted by June 15.

Efforts to Protect School Funding

The financial crisis is so big that funding schools at the minimum Proposition 98 guarantee would have decimated public education. It would have meant an almost $19 billion cut from the Governor’s January proposed budget. The chart below from the Department of Finance shows the projected drop in state revenues.

The Governor is recommending significant education investments in addition to the Prop. 98 minimum guarantee to reduce this precipitous drop.

These include:

• Supplemental general fund payments for several years to avoid a permanent decline in school funding.
• Federal money to address student learning loss caused by school closures and for Title 1 schools.
• Limits on tax credits and other changes in the state tax code to generate more money
• Deferrals of state payments (late payments) to school districts.
• Increases in special education funding.
• Pension relief for school districts.

The Governor is also drawing down from the state’s rainy day reserves. Click here for details.

Proposed Cuts

The budget proposes major cuts to existing programs, such as after school and career technical education totaling $353 million and the elimination/reduction of many of the new programs the governor had included in his January budget proposal. This includes increased funding for school food programs and efforts to address the teacher shortage (about $1.5 billion).

Early Education

While some early childhood education programs benefit from extra federal money, there are significant cuts to others. There is extra funding for COVID-19 related childcare activities ($350.3 million) under the federal CARES Act. But there are also $706 million in cuts to childcare and $490 million to state preschool programs.

Federal Money Helps Plug Budget Holes

California received $1.6 billion in federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds. Ninety percent ($1.5 billion) will be allocated to schools through Title 1 funding to help low-income students. The remaining 10 percent ($164.7 million) will support community schools, training and professional development for educators, and the state department of education for COVID-related costs.

The budget uses $4.4 billion in federal CARES funding to address learning loss and equity issues exacerbated by the COVID-19 school closures this spring. These funds will be used by districts to support summer learning and other programs that address equity gaps. These funds will also be used to make necessary modifications so that schools can reopen in the fall and help support parents’ ability to work.

Budget Details:

K12 and Early Childhood education

Health and Human Services

Homelessness and Local Government