 |
The Hammond Council of Parent Teacher Associations |
Named the Outstanding Council in the State for 1999 |
|
This page gives you the basics of how to contact your legislators and why.
Please check the Current Issues for legislation
when the Indiana Legislature is in Session.
****Legislative Alert****
5/5/2010
Bipartisan Family Engagement in Education Act Introduced Today in U.S. House of Representatives
Legislation would engage parents as partners in raising student achievement
WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 5, 2010) – U.S. Representatives Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY-4) and Todd Russell Platts (R-PA-19) today introduced the Family Engagement in Education Act (H.R. 5211) which would strengthen family engagement in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act that Congressional leaders have said they would like to reauthorize this year.
National PTA®, the oldest and largest volunteer child advocacy association, has championed this bill along with leading researchers and practitioners, philanthropic groups, and policy experts in the field of family engagement. Founded in 1897, PTA continues to advocate to ensure every child is successful in school and in life. Over 40 years of research has shown that partnering with parents, regardless of their socioeconomic status or educational background, improves student achievement and graduation rates.
“Children spend over 70 percent of their waking hours outside of school," says Charles J. “Chuck” Saylors, National PTA President. Click here to finish the article and conect to the Take Action Page.
Hosting a Site Visit
As you are making plans for the 2010-2011 school year, please consider hosting a legislative event. This event could be a visit to your school, an information night or a legislative forum. Hosting visits for legislators at the local, state or federal level is an excellent way to build relationships between yourself and your elected officials, but also to establish yourself/your PTA as a resource for them and their staff. Site visits allow elected officials the opportunity to see that PTA is not about bake sales, but about school, family engagement and school reform. Your elected officials can see firsthand the things your local PTA is doing for the school(s) in his or her district. These are the steps that you will need to take:
- Plan the Visit
- Schedule the Visit
- Alert the Media
- Host the Visit
- After the Visit
You will find the NPTA Advocacy Toolkit at www.pta.org for a more details. Remember, your Indiana PTA Board of Managers is here to assist you and your PTA.
Indiana PTA sponsors a Day at the Capital.
This year it was on March 18, 2009.
Here is what our Indiana Ptesident Sonja Canterbury said:"The Indiana PTA held their annual Legislative Conference March 18, 2009. PTA provides this conference to all members to increase awareness of legislative issues affecting the health and education of children; to disseminate information; to gain support from members and the public on legislative issues; to sharpen the skills needed to advocate for children of the state of Indiana and the “how-tos” when it comes to contacting and meeting with the legislators.
We would like to thank Dr. Tony Bennett for taking time out of his busy schedule to bring greetings to the attendees. A sincere thank you is extended to Marilyn Shank, Dee Jones and Nate Schnellenberger for their participation. Also deserving of our appreciation is Representative Matt Bell.
There were over 100 students in attendance. The students participated in the first ever Student Panel offered during the conference. Their comments in response to posed questions were priceless and thought provoking.
Over thirty legislators from around the state took time to join us for lunch. They spent their lunch answering questions and addressing concerns. We appreciate their attendance and thank them for sharing their time with our attendees.
On a personal note, I would like to thank Julie Klingenberger and the committee for all the work they put into making this conference a great success.
Sonja Canterbury
President"
Legislators need to hear from parents regarding issues related to schools and children.
We must connect with legislators whenever there is legislation that relates to funding or school issues.
Continue to ask your legislators to keep all education funding options alive.
| The following links will help you find out information regarding legislative issues: | |
| http://www.in.gov/legislative/ | Click on this site to go the the Indiana General Assembly Home page to get to any other site regarding bills, legislators, and other related information. |
| http://www.in.gov/legislative/legislators/ | Click on this site to find your legislators information |
| http://www.in.gov/legislative/contact/index.html | Click on this site to contact your legislator |
Last Updated: 10-May-2010