Legislation
5 week campaign
Dear PTA Presidents & Board,
Thank you to all who attended the IUSD Community Budget Forum last night and who chose to speak to the board on a particular issue. For those of you unable to attend, the room was packed and overflowing, with concerned parents and staff on hand speaking on a variety of topics. There was an especially large turn-out of supporters for elementary art, but the school board members commented that they had received emails and calls from people on a wide variety of topics.
The primary purpose of last night's meeting was for the board to hear from the community; the limited budget information presented by staff was similar to the information we heard at last week's council meeting. The projected shortfall is still $22.5 million, but CEO Lisa Howell cautioned that the number could still change based on CA budget issues. IUSD is also working on expanded budget FAQs on the website for community information.
At last night's meeting, IPSF announced that they are starting an immediate 5 week campaign to raise as much money as they can by March 1st, focusing on class size support. The school board votes on the budget on March 2, so dollars raised between now and then can help mitigate the cuts. As you all know (but not all your members do), PTAs cannot hire staff; that can only be done by the district, and IPSF funds can be used for that purpose. Once hired, PTAs may be able to supplement positions, as several schools do now with roles such as health clerk, library/media and K-2 music. But PTA units can only do that if the staff is there in the first place and supporting IPSF's campaign is the way to do that. Expect to see more information from IPSF in the next few days and please, if you have not already scheduled your school board member and IPSF to come your next meeting, put that on the top of your "To Do" list.
I spoke last night as well, encouraging parents to write to Sacramento, join and support PTA, and also to support IPSF. Advocacy Chair Wendy Bokota has prepared a letter to the governor (attached) that we passed out last night and encourage you to distribute to your members. We need to speak out against further cuts to education, to keep that $22.5 million shortfall from increasing any further.
If you have any questions, please contact me or Wendy Bokota at pwboko@cox.net. Thanks for all your efforts on behalf of our schools!
Steffanie
Thank you to all who attended the IUSD Community Budget Forum last night and who chose to speak to the board on a particular issue. For those of you unable to attend, the room was packed and overflowing, with concerned parents and staff on hand speaking on a variety of topics. There was an especially large turn-out of supporters for elementary art, but the school board members commented that they had received emails and calls from people on a wide variety of topics.
The primary purpose of last night's meeting was for the board to hear from the community; the limited budget information presented by staff was similar to the information we heard at last week's council meeting. The projected shortfall is still $22.5 million, but CEO Lisa Howell cautioned that the number could still change based on CA budget issues. IUSD is also working on expanded budget FAQs on the website for community information.
At last night's meeting, IPSF announced that they are starting an immediate 5 week campaign to raise as much money as they can by March 1st, focusing on class size support. The school board votes on the budget on March 2, so dollars raised between now and then can help mitigate the cuts. As you all know (but not all your members do), PTAs cannot hire staff; that can only be done by the district, and IPSF funds can be used for that purpose. Once hired, PTAs may be able to supplement positions, as several schools do now with roles such as health clerk, library/media and K-2 music. But PTA units can only do that if the staff is there in the first place and supporting IPSF's campaign is the way to do that. Expect to see more information from IPSF in the next few days and please, if you have not already scheduled your school board member and IPSF to come your next meeting, put that on the top of your "To Do" list.
I spoke last night as well, encouraging parents to write to Sacramento, join and support PTA, and also to support IPSF. Advocacy Chair Wendy Bokota has prepared a letter to the governor (attached) that we passed out last night and encourage you to distribute to your members. We need to speak out against further cuts to education, to keep that $22.5 million shortfall from increasing any further.
If you have any questions, please contact me or Wendy Bokota at pwboko@cox.net. Thanks for all your efforts on behalf of our schools!
Steffanie
