April PTA Perspective
Spring is finally here! I love it when the flowers and trees bloom in my garden. You may not know this about me, but I love to garden. It is therapeutic for me. I enjoy digging in the dirt, mulching and planting flowers and veggies. I think it’s because the start of a new season with fresh and vibrant colors all around signals that summer will be here soon, and I cannot wait to sit at the pool with a book.
The evolution of our outdoor world is much like our PTA legacy. We watch our up-and-coming leaders evolve with the seasons and grow into our next generation of PTA leaders.
As the largest volunteer child advocacy association, we have been the conscience of the nation to better the lives of all children in America for over 127 years. We are proud of our extensive legacy and impact, but there’s still so much work to be done.
PTA dues are some of the lowest in comparison to other national associations, and we have not increased our dues rate in 13 years. The truth is that today, it costs more to meet the unique needs of children and families in our school communities across the nation. To keep our great association thriving to support the next generation, we must invest in our mission. This is why our National PTA Board of Directors is proposing a $1.00 dues increase to be debated and voted on by members of the voting body during our upcoming virtual convention June 27-29, 2024.
We want to provide an open conversation on this issue and as such, we will be launching PTA.org/DuesIncrease on April 8, where you will find what the proposed dues rate will do for all PTAs; how the portion of membership dues sent to National PTA is used to support our mission and leaders; and FAQs. Please direct any questions about the dues increase to ProposedDuesRate@PTA.org and I will personally respond.
As I have promised in these monthly briefings, I will focus on three key things: P-T-A—Programs, Training and Advocacy.
PROGRAMS
Five Years of PTA Connected! Our association remains committed to bringing knowledge, tools and resources into the lives of families to support their health, safety, well-being and success. This year marks the fifth anniversary of our PTA Connected initiative. PTA Connected has allowed us to specifically help thousands of families navigate the digital world by providing tangible tools to have proactive, open and ongoing conversations with children about building good digital habits. Check out our resources at PTA.org/Connected and see what volunteers and parents from Highland Creek Elementary PTA in North Carolina had to say about our PTA Connected: The Smart Talk program, sponsored by Norton (part of Gen).
· “This program provided an opportunity for our community to come together and unveil a need to discuss the importance of having the important conversation around technology use. This was a time for shared experiences, ideas, as well as additional resources, that might not have otherwise been shared.” —Program Leader
· "This was great. We are dealing with technology misuse in our family, and this gave us a way to start the conversation." —Participating Parent
TRAINING
Next Professional Development Institute. After the tremendous success of our first Professional Development Institute, we are excited to host our second one this Saturday, April 6. The first session will be 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. EDT and will cover parliamentarian procedures (Robert’s Rules of Order) and creating effective bylaws for your association. The second session will be 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. EDT and will cover how to write and implement a strategic plan. This training is designed for all state leaders. We are thrilled to bring networking sessions that come from topics you, our leaders, have requested. I look forward to seeing you all there.
Learn How to Develop a DIO Plan. Mark your calendars for Wednesday, May 22, 7-8 p.m. EDT to attend a webinar presented by the National PTA Field Service and Diversity, Inclusion and Outreach (DIO) Committees on how to create a DIO plan and stay in compliance with the National PTA Standards of Affiliation. I encourage all state presidents, state presidents-elect and anyone at the state level working on DIO to attend and learn how to develop an effective state DIO plan. Look for more information to come soon.
ADVOCACY
LegCon 2024 Wrap Up. LegCon was amazing! It was full of timely workshops, thoughtful speakers, important visits with members of Congress and so much more. We were incredibly humbled and honored to have First Lady Dr. Jill Biden join us and speak about the gun violence epidemic in our country. It was truly wonderful to be together in person and advocate for all children in the nation. If you have not submitted all of your Congressional meeting report forms, please submit them as soon as possible so our staff can address questions or concerns you may have. And to help make future LegCons even better, we ask that you take a moment to complete this survey, then share the link with members of your state delegation. We want to make sure future planning includes your feedback!
And, we must always remember membership is everyone’s responsibility…
It’s time to start thinking about getting our PTAs ready to hit the ground running next fiscal year and part of that is supplying membership cards. If you need membership card templates for next year (2024-2025), please complete this quick two-minute survey no later than Monday, April 15 so we can provide the membership card templates that work best for your state PTA.
