Contact Your Members of Congress Today!
The Parental Information and Resource Center (PIRC) funding is the only source of federal funding intended exclusively to help schools and communities meet the requirements of parent involvement mandated in Elementary Secondary Education Act – No Child Left Behind (ESEA-NCLB). PIRCs provide parents, organizations, schools, school districts, and state educational agencies with comprehensive training, information and support for parent involvement from early childhood through adolescence.
In the Fiscal Year (FY) 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Act, Congress funded Parental Information and Resource Centers (PIRCs) at $39.25 million. This is far short of the $86 million needed annually for PIRCs to effectively implement their critical role since their strategic reorganization in 2007, to provide state wide leadership, technical assistance, and training to support effective family engagement.
Ask your members of Congress to increase funding for PIRCs to $86 million with in the FY 2010 appropriations bill, by visiting PTA Takes Action Center.
Include information about the services your school community may receive from the PIRC centers.
Or paste the following message in the body of the letter:
PIRC1, Project Inspire at the California Association of Bilingual Education, Covina, CA and PIRC2, Cal-PIRC at Cambridge Academies, Modesto, CA. Please visit the website here).
PIRC1, Project Inspire is the result of a partnership among the California Association for Bilingual Education, the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools, and the Alameda County Office of Education. Project Inspire provides parent training workshops and will be funded through 2011. A list of workshop topics and a brochure in English and Spanish that describes services are available. Workshops are available in multiple languages.
Project INSPIRE proposes to directly serve 25,143 parents over the course of the next five years, as well as another 5,500 parents to be served by parent leaders completing the leadership development components of the project. A comprehensive program for the education of parents of very young children (birth through age five) has also been developed, including implementation of the Virtual Pre-K program.
Project INSPIRE offers a comprehensive parent leadership development training program covering the following selected workshop topics:
- Understanding the American System of Public Education
- State System of Accountability
- State Standards and Special Academic Programs
- Participation in Parent Advisory Committees
- School/Home/Community Connections
- Use of Technology and Online Resources
- Helping Your Child’s Academic Success at Home
- Road to the University
- Parental Rights under No Child Left Behind Act.
- Early Childhood/ Virtual Pre-K
PIRC2, Cal-PIRC has established three Parent Information and Resource Center hubs in Northern and Central California. CalPIRC provides direct services to parents and schools in selected communities within Merced and Stanislaus Counties, and West Sacramento areas. It also provides support throughout the state through conferences, workshops, and a Web site. Cal-PIRC will be funded through 2011. Whenever available, resources are posted in English, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Arabic, and Hmong.
