U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, reportedly will be in San Francisco Friday to meet with Mayor Gavin Newsom, educators, community leaders and policymakers as part of a nationwide “listening and learning” tour to gather feedback on No Child Left Behind (NCLB).

So far, the Secretary has toured West Virginia and Michigan, meeting with students, community leaders and elected officials on how to reform education and how the federal government can advance reform.

The National PTA has expressed interest in participating in these tours. However, the Department of Education has indicated that the Secretary wants to hear the local or state perspective from groups who aren’t normally heard in Washington.

If this tour comes to your PTA school in California or if a PTA member is selected to participate, we would like the Secretary to hear how important parent engagement is to children’s academic achievement. Talking points that may be useful are provided below.

Information on when, where, which schools, and who will be selected is limited. There is speculation, however, that the next states targeted for this potential events include Vermont, Montana, Wyoming, New Jersey, Tennessee, North Carolina, Ohio, Indiana, Florida, Utah and Alaska. Washington, D.C., also has been suggested as a possible event location.

Additional information on these tours is available in a U.S. Department of Education press release, which you can read here. Please keep us updated if you hear or know of any tours happening within your community. California State PTA wants you to be involved.

Please report any local scheduled events to the California State PTA as soon as possible:
916. 440.1985 ext. 311
Legislation@capta.org

Parent Engagement Talking Points

• Research shows that family engagement raises student achievement and is cost effective, regardless of socioeconomics.
• Please share a personal story about successful family engagement in your school or district.
• There are parent involvement provisions within NCLB: Any school receiving Title I funds has to develop written parent involvement policies; and school districts receiving more than $500,000 in Title I funds must set aside at least 1 percent for parent involvement activities.
• Unfortunately, most states are not implementing the parent involvement provisions within NCLB, and funds set aside for parent involvement are not supporting effective parent engagement.
• The federal government can help increase parent involvement by:
  1. Retaining and strengthening the parent involvement provisions within Title I;
  2. Adding a statutory definition and framework for effective family engagement to provide guidance to state education agencies (SEAs), local education agencies (LEAs), and schools;
  3. Increasing Parent Involvement allocation from 1 percent to 2 percent and establish allowable uses of funding; and
  4. Piloting local family engagement demonstration programs.

For more information, refer to the 2009 National PTA Public Policy Agenda, which you can find here.

The grant program complements PTA’s long-standing commitment to quality arts education in public s chools by providing funds to local PTAs to establish or enhance school arts programs in one or more arts areas: visual arts, photography, music (including dance), and literature (including theater). Local PTAs must submit complete applications and provide funds that match the amount they are requesting from the national PTA organization.

Mail the completed application form [PDF], selection criteria, and letter of commitment for matching funds to:
PTA National Headquarters
Attn: Arts Enhancement Grants
541 N. Fairbanks Court, Suite 1300
Chicago, IL 60611-3396

Don’t wait! The application must be received in PTA’s Chicago office by Monday, June 1st!

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.

Take Action!

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.

Congress is in the midst of deciding our nation’s future. Tell them that any future must depend on the health and education of our children. Call your Representative and both Senators in Congress and let them know that you believe education and health must remain top priorities in the economic stimulus package.

Since Congress will be acting on this legislation as early as tomorrow, we encourage you to call your members of Congress.

Visit the PTA Takes Action Center to call or e-mail your senators and representative and let them know today!