17th District PTA News/Updates Blog

Attention units and councils:

Have you put together programs or events that have been successful? Have you been successfully building up your membership? Do you have any great accomplishments that other units or councils could benefit from hearing about? We want to hear from you! We’re planning to expand future editions of the Seventeena and our website with success stories from our units and councils. Please tell us about these accomplishments by sending them to Catherine Steffen, Seventeena Editor.

The “Get Healthy” San Mateo County School Wellness Committee, the Bay Area Nutrition Youth Action Group, and 17th District PTA will be holding a Fundraising Fair on Saturday, September 13th to present parents and schools with healthy fundraising ideas. They are currently looking for volunteers to help serve on the committee for this event. If you are interested in helping out, please contact Jean Abeles, 17th District Vice President of Health and Community Concerns.

Our 2008 California State PTA Convention in Long Beach was very successful. Seventeenth District PTA is well represented on the State PTA board, so we were all “working” at our convention. Seventeenth District PTA also had seven delegates in attendance, including one delegate who was also a convention exhibitor!

Colleen You, CAPTA Vice President of Parent Involvement; Deborah Kemper, 17th District President and Communications Commissioner; Douglas Bell, State PTA Student Representative; and Kathryn Cross, State PTA Communicator Editor all taught workshops, convened workshops, packed convention tote bags, participated in the resolutions committee hearings, and served as an assistant site manager, to make the 2008 convention a success.

Convention kicked off with a celebration at the Aquarium of the Pacific on the first night of convention. Dinner (BBQ!), awesome aquarium tours, and lots of dancing started convention for the approximately 5,500+ convention participants.

Our convention guest speakers were Jack O’Connell, Superintendent of Public Instruction; Dr. David Long, Secretary of Education; Jan Domene, National PTA President and Past California State PTA President; Craig Scott, “Rachel’s Challenge: A Story of Inspiration, Courage, and Kindness” about his sister Rachel Scott, killed at Columbine High, and the foundation set up to work with schools to continue her challenge to “start a chain reaction of kindness and compassion”; Lewis Chappelear, 2008 California Teacher of the Year; and Erin Gruwell, Educator and Catalyst for Change (portrayed in the film “Freedom Writers” by Hilary Swank).

Lori McBride, one of our delegates, will provide write-ups about some of these speakers’ presentations and also some of the sessions she attended in future Seventeena issues and on the website.

Our 2007-2008 State PTA membership total was announced: 954,963 PTA members, and the challenge to every unit, council, and district for 2008-09 is three more members than last year. Our 2008-09 membership theme is “A Million Voices for Children.”

Reflections Program artists, dancers, musicians and writers were featured at the general meetings. From 17th District, we had Jordana Cahen, Brewer Island Elem. PTA, SM-FC Council, receive an Award of Excellence, so her artwork will go on to National PTA! Congratulations to Jordana! Our Award of Merit recipient from 17th District was Candace Tsai, Foster City Elem. PTA, SM-FC Council, for dance. The Convention display included a photograph from Avery Lang, Audubon Elem. PTA, SM-FC Council. The Reflections theme for 2008-09 is “Wow!”

Five resolutions were adopted at the general meetings. You can see them as well as photos from Convention on the State PTA website.

Next year our State PTA Convention will be held in San Jose from April 30 to May 3, 2009. 17th District is one of the convention hosts in San Jose, and we will be asking for convention volunteers as well as encouraging delegate participation from our district PTAs. Save the dates and plan your budgets for the 2009 convention! See our Convention page for more details.
–Kathryn Cross, 17th District Vice President for Programs & Convention

Download May/June 2008 Issue

California State PTA recently released some questions and answers about the May Revise and State PTA’s stance on the May Revise. Please use these whenever you’re answering people’s questions about Flunk the Budget, and continue to contact your legislators on Fridays!

Here are some photos from our Spotlight on PTA event last Saturday. Thanks to Pam Selli (our Parliamentarian) for taking these! Click on a photo for more detail.

PTA Connects is State PTA’s monthly e-mail newsletter which contains news updates and links to numerous resources that are available to PTA officers and members. This month’s issue includes a Convention recap, Flunk the Budget info, and resources for Summer Planning. For more, download the May 2008 PTA Connects [PDF]. You can also subscribe to PTA Connects by e-mailing PTAConnectsenews@capta.org and typing “Subscribe” (without quotes) in the Subject line.

On May 14, 2008, the Board of Managers of 17th District PTA adopted the following resolution. We also encourage units and councils to adopt a similar resolution at their meetings. There is a sample resolution available and you can also see others who have adopted it.

Resolution in Opposition to the Proposed 2008-09 Budget

WHEREAS, The California State PTA advocates for adequate and stable funding to support student academic achievement and to promote programs for the health and safety of all children and families; and

WHEREAS, The California State PTA and the voters of California strongly supported the passage of Proposition 98 to guarantee a minimum level of funding for the State’s public schools; and

WHEREAS, California has the most rigorous academic standards and one of the most stringent accountability systems in the nation, but is currently ranked 46th among the 50 states in K-12 spending per student; and

WHEREAS, California is near the bottom in the nation in almost every category of school funding, including school nurses, librarians, counselors, and other critical support staff per student; and

WHEREAS, The governor’s proposed budget for 2008-09 recommends a $4.4 billion cut to K-14 education (which would require the suspension of Proposition 98) on top of a $400 million reduction for education in the current year, with a net effect of approximately $800 less per K-12 student; and

WHEREAS, The Governor’s proposal would lead to dramatic reductions in support staff at schools as well as widespread teacher layoffs and increased class sizes; and

WHEREAS, The California State PTA believes that new revenue sources must be considered to balance the state budget and avoid harmful cuts; now therefore be it

RESOLVED, That the Seventeenth District PTA OPPOSES the proposed budget cuts to education and to programs that ensure the health and protection of ALL of the state’s children, youth, and families.

The California State PTA has issued a Legislative Alert concerning the May Revise. Today is “Flunk the Budget” Friday so please contact your legislators TODAY to tell them that the revised budget continues to flunk the basic test of good government: it hurts our children. Additional points about the revise can be found in this Leg Alert.
Download the Leg Alert [PDF]

You can find this and other past California State PTA Legislative Alerts on their website. There are also instructions on there on how you can subscribe to these Leg Alerts by e-mail.

Cross-posted from California State PTA Press Release

SACRAMENTO, CA- The California State PTA, representing nearly one-million volunteer members across the state, announced it will intensify efforts calling for a state budget solution that does not jeopardize children or California’s future. The announcement comes in response to the release of the May Revision to the state budget on Wednesday by Governor Schwarzenegger. “We truly appreciate the Governor’s desire to try to mitigate some cuts to schools, and his desire to think about long-term fixes, but the fact is our children need more resources right now in order to have the best chance at success in school and in life,” said Pam Brady, California State PTA President. “As the state’s largest volunteer children’s advocacy organization, PTA has a responsibility to speak up for the safety and welfare of all children, and to advocate for a quality public education for each child. This budget still does not meet the needs of our children or our state; therefore, we will continue to raise our voices in strong opposition to the proposed cuts.”

Initial analysis of the May Revision show that as much as $4 billion in cuts to education continue to be proposed, as well as severe cuts to children’s health and other support services. The PTA’s Board of Directors is scheduled to meet with the Governor next week to discuss its concerns about the cuts affecting children.

“These cuts would be devastating to the health, safety and education of our children and our future workforce,” Brady said. “In addition to the education cuts, a huge concern for us is the proposed hit on health and support services for children. We know for a fact that healthy children are more likely to attend school and be ready to learn – and that helps us raise achievement for all students. A responsible budget doesn’t make people choose between the health of children and their education – both are essential.”

PTA acknowledges that the latest proposal meets minimum education funding requirements. “But, more importantly,” Brady noted, “the proposal still makes drastic cuts to many vital programs that help student achievement, like class size reduction, instructional materials and career technical education programs. The conversation that needs to occur at the Capitol and across the state is, how do we get a balanced budget solution that does not jeopardize our children’s future or our future workforce? We need our legislators to ask: how can we make sure we’re investing properly in our future, not what can we afford to cut right now?”

Since January, California State PTA and parents throughout the state have voiced strong opposition to the damaging cuts to education and children’s services proposed in the state budget. Brady said that effort will continue.

Today in Los Angeles, PTA and other parent groups will hold a rally downtown calling for a greater investment in education. PTA’s across the state will continue holding similar rallies, as well as contacting their legislators and the Governor, and delivering thousands of letters and postcards. “The response from parents since January has been overwhelming,” Brady said. “Parents and the public are ready to fight for what is right for our state’s future.”

The California State PTA is a branch of the 110-year old National PTA, with over a million members statewide. The PTA is the nation’s oldest, largest and highest-profile volunteer organization working on behalf of public schools, children and families, with the motto “Every child, one voice.” PTA volunteers work in their schools and communities to improve the education, health and welfare of all California children and youth. The PTA also advocates at national, state and local levels for education and family issues. The PTA is non-profit, nonpartisan, non-sectarian and non-commercial. For more information, go to www.capta.org