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PTA Capital Watch
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Part of the National PTA’s threefold mission is to speak on behalf of all children and youth before governmental bodies and other organizations. For over 100 years, PTA volunteers have used their time, energy, experience and knowledge to bring about changes in laws, policies and programs for the benefit of children. In order to maintain a nonprofit status under federal rules, the Georgia PTA is nonpartisan and works to direct its efforts at members of both political parties in order to enact change. When PTA officers or lobbyists participate in legislative activities that educate lawmakers about officially adopted PTA positions, or support a particular piece of legislation that is in agreement with the PTA Legislative Program, it is done on a strictly nonpartisan basis. What is Advocacy?
Advocacy can be broken down into basic parts: the Advocate, the Issue, the Act and the Decision-maker. - Anyone who speaks for another is an advocate. PTA members are advocates for children and their parents.
- PTA members advocate on a wide variety of child-related issues: education, health, nutrition, safety, juvenile protection, welfare reform, parent and family life, and drug abuse prevention, to name a few.
- Advocacy is simply communicating about an issue for which PTA has adopted a position by speaking, writing, phoning, faxing or emailing. The purpose of the communication can be to inform, educate, persuade or increase the level of awareness about the issue.
- The decision-maker is any individual or body that has the power to address the issue or solve the problem. Decision-makers include elected and appointed officials, legislative bodies, school boards, county commissioners, and judges.
Every PTA member can be an effective advocate. The process is always the same: identify, research and understand the issue; identify, research and understand the decision-maker; and develop and communicate the message. The process is not always easy, and dedication and perseverance are usually required. Sometimes success is achieved quickly, sometimes slowly. - Know your issue. A thorough understanding of the issue is critical. Get the facts, complete research, read articles, consult the experts. Be sure you define the issue properly - otherwise you cannot identify the appropriate remedy.
- Know your goals. Set realistic goals that can be accomplished.
- Know your limitations. Assess your organization’s abilities and resources and be sure you are not exceeding your limits. Figure out how much time and how many individuals will need to be involved and determine whether your needs can be met by existing resources.
- Know the level of membership support. Many important issues may not gain widespread support. Issues that address the concerns of the membership and present a likelihood of success will motivate more people to act.
- Know your allies. Identify and reach out to individuals or groups that might support your position on the issue. The broader the support for an issue, the greater the chance for success.
- Know your opposition. Identify potential opposition and understand opposing arguments. Determine the resources of the opposition and gauge how powerful they may be.
- Know your obstacles. Even if there is no organized opposition to an issue, there may be obstacles. Funding is one of the biggest obstacles to achieving success. Sometimes the obstacle may be an existing law or policy that needs to be changed. Identifying obstacles will help you assess the feasibility of achieving your goals.
- Know your decision-maker. Identify who has the power to help you resolve your issue. It could be a school board member, a legislator, a county commissioner, or another elected official. Once the appropriate individual or body has been identified, learn all you can about that individual or body.
- Know your message. Design an effective message that is simple and understandable. Tailor your message to the audience and keep the message consistent. Make sure every messenger carries the same message.
- Know your ultimate purpose. Always keep in mind the reason you are involved - to improve the lives of children. Don’t get so caught up in the issues that you fail to advocate effectively for children.
Advocating for Every Child Georgia PTA’s Legislative Update for April 2, 2012 What a session it has been. When the gavel came down at midnight on the last day even veteran Capitol watchers commented that this has been one of the roughest sessions they could ever remember. Today’s report will highlight some of the bills that passed this session, including those in the final days but a more comprehensive report, including updates when the Governor signs (or vetoes) a bill can be found on Capitol Watch. For that report, click here. A special thank you to Education Policy Specialist, Sally FitzGerald. Much of what you see written here today is her work. She was at the Capitol every legislative day, monitoring legislation that affects children and youth so that you, our PTA members, could stay informed about the issues. Significant legislation that passed: HB 692: Teachers who falsify standardized test scores or who knew of or caused the falsification shall get an automatic decrease in salary; take back any bonus money they have earned because of the falsified scores. HB 713: Delays the required implementation of the pathways, courses related to a specific trade or vocation, in the high school curriculum by one year, to fall 2013. A minimum course of study for college and career readiness shall be available K-12. A post secondary readiness assessment to be done in grade 10 and that remediation will be offered those that have not yet mastered understanding. HB 797: OPPOSE This bill establishes the State Charter Schools Commission as a state-level authorizing entity working in collaboration with the Department of Education under the supervision of the State Board of Education. The Commission would have the power to approve or deny petitions for state charter schools, and renew, non-renew, or terminate petitions in accordance with State Board of Education rules and regulations. The State Board of Education would be able to overrule the approval or renewal within 60 days of the decision upon a majority vote of the members of the state board. The Commission would also have the power to conduct facility and curriculum reviews of state charter schools (but will only meet bimonthly). The bill goes on to outline the requirements for eligibility to put in a petition, the responsibilities of the state charter schools in the event that petitions are approved or terminated. The legislation also provides for appropriations of funds for the state charter schools by the Georgia General Assembly and shall be treated consistently with all other public schools in this state, pursuant to the respective statutory funding formulas and grants. These schools will each be treated as an LEA and will qualify for administration funding as well as nutrition, transportation and capital outlay. This Act would become effective on January 1, 2013, only if a Constitutional amendment authorizing the General Assembly to create charter schools as special schools is ratified at the November, 2012, general election. Still no answer where the funds will actually come from. HB 766: Displays by the Foundation of American Law depicting the history of law may be erected in any public building, including schools. Currently, such displays are restricted to courthouses and judicial facilities. The display includes the Ten Commandments, Declaration of Independence, Magna Carta, among others. HR 1151: SUPPORT Creates a 13 member Joint Human Trafficking Study Commission. Includes 3 Senators and 3 House members, one of each will co-chair, a district attorney, a police chief, a juvenile and a superior court judge, a public defender, and two persons appointed by the Governor’s Office for Children and Families. The commission is to study what is done for rehabilitation of victims in other states, cost out preferred alternatives, and report back by December 2012. Many of the victims of these crimes are children who sometimes have to grow up to be able to gather the strength to report these offenses. HB 1166: Any insurer offering policies in GA would also be required to offer individual child-only health insurance policies. SB 227: Interstate Commission on Educational Opportunity for Military Children Lite Georgia joins the Military Interstate Compact adopting all the provisions for assisting students transferring to GA schools without the language of letting the Compact Board overrule state law and rule. Military students transferring into GA will receive favorable consideration in such areas as placement, grade, IEPs, extracurricular participation, graduation requirements, and discipline. SB 289: Bill changed significantly. SBOE is to maximize the numbers of students who take at least one online course in high school. End of course tests shall be offered online by 2015-16. Providers of online courses can be the GA Virtual School run by the state DOE, or post secondary institutions with online courses. Removes public school students from their priority status when signing up for courses delivered by GA Virtual School. Bans a local school from prohibiting a student from taking a course online because it is offered at the local school. By the fall of 2012, every K-12 student must be provided the opportunity to take part time or full time virtual instruction. Allows personal electronic devices to be used in school with parameters set by the local school board. The barrier to every school having the capability to take online courses or taking tests online is having the bandwidth available at the school. Metro Atlanta schools can get it. Rural areas do not have the infrastructure. DOE is aware of and working on it. Charter schools are included in this proposal. SB 403: SUPPORT School nurses are to be included in the QBE formula for funding and use the FTE (full time equivalent) student counts in calculation of the grant to go to school districts. Elementary schools will get one nurse per 750 students; middle and high schools will get one per 1500 students, with a 3 year phase-in. Provides for clinic supplies, heretofore never funded, and a state wide coordinator in DOE as grants, not QBE formula items. All funds appropriated must be spent on nurse salaries. Effective in FY14. The state coordinator is at State Superintendent’s option. SB 410: Evaluation of schools, resulting in grading of schools with a numerical grade on student achievement, and uses 1-5 stars each for financial efficiency and school climate grades. Financial awards may be awarded subject to appropriations for closing the achievement gap. SB 432: OPPOSE Political subdivisions of the state, which include local school districts, cannot by rule or ordinance put additional restrictions on knives than what is in state law. Significant Legislation that didn’t pass SB 34: Rachel Sackett bill: allows charter and virtual school students to return to their zoned residential school to participate in extracurricular activities if those activities are not provided at the charter school. The final approval for such participation shall reside in the discretion of the principal of the school in accordance with local board policy (after the State Board establishes guidelines). Could be contentious is public school students are displaced off competitive teams by charter or virtual school students. SB 493: OPPOSE Lowers from 21 to 18 the age that someone canny get a license to carry a concealed gun. Amended to apply to only those with military training. PTA opposes youth access to guns. HB 641: SUPPORT Child Protection and Public Safety Act: this rewrite of the juvenile code was stalled in the Senate Rules committee twice. The Governor supported this bill, he was concerned about the cost of his criminal reform bill and didn’t want to add this bill to it. This bill will be reintroduced again next year. Karen Hallacy GA PTA Legislative Chair
Your Legislators:
State Senate - Steve Thompson (D-33)
State House - David Wilkerson (D-033)
Varner Elementary School PTA 2011-2012
4761 Gaydon Road
Powder Springs, GA
30127
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