SACRAMENTO, JULY 12, 2021 – California State PTA has released the following statement in response to the education package signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom on Friday, July 9, 2021:

“This education package is great news for students and families in California,” said Carol Green, President of California State PTA. “There is a lot to celebrate in the $123.9 billion PreK-TK–K-12 education package. It includes funding for top PTA priorities including early childhood education, community schools and wrap-around services, universal school nutrition, and mental health services. PTA also supports the return to in-person instruction that includes a robust option for students who may need distance learning for health or other reasons.”

The safe return to in-person instruction is a priority for PTA members, and this budget prioritizes the safe return to in-person learning. As an organization that advocates for all children, including our most vulnerable, PTA wants to ensure that an option for quality distance learning also exists. We are pleased the Independent Study program is vastly improved under this plan and includes some of our recommendations, including standards aligned instruction, synchronous learning, access to college and career readiness courses, and stronger communication with students and families.

“We are also thrilled with the investment in universal transitional kindergarten for all four-year-olds by 2025.” Green added. “California State PTA has been advocating for this for years. We know this will go a long way toward closing opportunity and achievement gaps for future generations.”

The trauma of the pandemic highlighted inequities across our society. PTA continues to advocate for all children and families across California, and we are proud to be part of a process to bring a historic budget into reality.

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About California State PTA: California State PTA connects families, schools and communities. We are part of the foundation of our public education system and a trusted messenger to millions of members, parents, families, educators and allied agencies throughout the state. PTA is the nation’s largest volunteer-led child-advocacy association working to drive improvements in the education, health and well-being of all children and families. For more information, visit www.capta.org.

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Robin Klau
Vice President for Communications
communications@capta.org
925.380.1591

Sherry Skelly Griffith
Executive Director
sgriffith@capta.org
916.955.1699

California State PTA is writing on behalf of the children and families of California who want to see their children return to school as soon as it is safe to do so. It has been almost a year since California closed its school campuses and our children are falling behind academically and their mental health is suffering. We ask the Legislature and the Governor to work together on a coordinated plan that incorporates our recommendations for a safe reopening.

Ten Recommendations

We urge the Legislature and the Governor to adopt 10 recommendations for the timely and safe reopening of schools.

1. Coordinate Efforts The Legislature and the Governor must agree on a coordinated approach to reopening schools as quickly as safely possible.
2. Equitable Sufficient Funding There must be sufficient funding to cover the additional costs related to opening schools in person. And it must be equitable. All students should generate the same base funding grant with an LCFF adjustment that recognizes the impacts of the pandemic on disadvantaged students. Opening schools will require social emotional support for students and staff, and services to meet students’ and families’ needs including safe transportation for students.
3. Extra Funding for Health-Related Costs Funding to pay for testing, vaccines, contact tracing, and other COVID-related health costs should not be from Proposition 98 funds. Every Proposition 98 dollar spent on non-instructional costs is one less dollar to educate our children.
4. Protect the Health and Wellbeing of Students, Staff and Families The Governor, the Legislature and local governments must prioritize vaccinations for school staff, early childhood educators and childcare staff, especially those who are already working in-person.
5. Parent Communication and Input School districts must provide opportunities for robust input and feedback as they prepare and execute reopening plans. They must ensure parents representing the diversity of the community are included in decision-making.
6. In-Person Attendance Parents and families should be able to choose whether a child returns to school in-person depending on the health of the child and their family situation.
7. Mental Health Matters Support the mental health and wellbeing of our students and staff by providing adequate resources to support their individual needs. To protect student health and well-being, middle schools should not start before 8:00 am and high schools before 8:30 am.
8. Expanded Learning and Learning Loss Afterschool, summer school and childcare programs need to be available, fully funded and coordinated with the school day. All schools should develop programs to address learning loss and meet the needs of the whole child.
9. Follow Health Guidelines Schools should not open in person unless it is safe for students and staff. School districts should adhere to the requirements set forth by the California Department of Public Health and county health departments regarding the reopening of schools.
10. Realistic Timeline Any timeline for the reopening of schools should consider the needs of parents and teachers and respect the most accurate health guidelines. This includes making sure the school facility is safe for re-opening.

Schools need to open as soon as practically possible while protecting the health and well-being of students, staff and families. California’s students are counting on the Legislature and the Governor to come up with a realistic school reopening plan that meets the needs of all our school communities.

This statement was adopted by the Board of Managers on Feb. 20, 2021.

To download a PDF version of this statement, click here.

Exciting news: our partners Create CA and ArtsEd411 are merging! Through the coming months, they will integrate and combine efforts as California’s largest organization working to ensure every student has access to a full and relevant arts education. The statement below was released by Create CA and CAAE on February 11, 2021.

We know that arts education helps students heal from trauma and build resilience. This moment requires us to put student’s mental health and well-being at the forefront. That’s why we are thrilled to see our friends and partners at California Alliance for Arts Education (the Alliance) and Create CA seizing an opportunity to become stronger in the fight for every student’s right to receive an arts education by merging their organizations.

This merger builds on a longstanding partnership and unites them in their shared mission to make sure that a quality arts education is part of every student’s life.

Operating together under the Create CA name, they will combine the power of Create CA’s dynamic communications and innovative data project with the Alliance’s proven policy and advocacy track record and statewide network supporting districts and counties to provide a full arts education to all students. They recognize that students who are low income and of color face the greatest barriers to a full and relevant arts education. Collectively, they will continue to fight for students to get what they need and deserve, because ultimately they know this is an equity issue.

Together, they have the opportunity to reimagine the entire school system – centering student’s social and emotional needs, defeating systemic racism and making sure that arts education is part of every student’s life. By coming together, they’ll go farther faster in insisting that arts education is a student right.

With the stakes higher than ever, we’re so excited about what they will do together.

Para leer este mensaje en español, desplácese hacia abajo en la página.

California State PTA is excited to announce that capta.org now offers English-to-Spanish translation*, using the Google Translate plug-in tool.

How to use it: Simply navigate to the page you want to translate, then click the “Translate” icon in the upper right corner and select “Spanish.” When the page automatically reloads, it will be all Spanish! No need to do this on every page you navigate to, but you can always toggle back to English if you’d like, using the same procedure.

We think this tool will make our website more accessible to the thousands of PTA members who primarily communicate in Spanish. Of course, Google Translate is not 100% perfect, but it comes pretty close!

Make sure you use the right web browser: The translation feature is only visible by navigating to capta.org using one of the following web browser versions:

1. Microsoft Edge, Version 84.0.522.40
2. Google Chrome, Version 84.0.4147.89
3. Firefox, Version 7.8.0.2

* PDF documents on the website are not translated by this tool

Nueva función de traducción del inglés al español en el sitio web

La PTA del Estado de California se complace en anunciar que capta.org ahora ofrece traducción del inglés al español *, utilizando un sistema de Google Translate.

Cómo se usa: simplemente navega hasta la página que deseas traducir, luego haz clic en el ícono “Translate” en la esquina superior derecha y selecciona “Spanish”. Cuando la página se recargue automáticamente, ¡todo estará en español! No es necesario hacer esto en cada página a la que navega, pero siempre puede volver al inglés si lo desea, utilizando el mismo procedimiento.

Creemos que esta función hará que nuestro sitio web sea más accesible para aquellos de ustedes que se comunican principalmente en español. Por supuesto, Google Translate no es 100% perfecto, ¡pero se acerca bastante!

Asegúrese de usar el navegador web correcto: La función de traducción solo es visible al navegar a capta.org usando una de las siguientes versiones del navegador web:

1. Microsoft Edge, versión 84.0.522.40
2. Google Chrome, versión 84.0.4147.89
3. Firefox, versión 7.8.0.2

* Esta funcion no traduce los documentos PDF del sitio web