WSPTA Testifies on Education Funding
Advocacy in Action! Angela Steck, President of Washington State PTA, testified on January 8 before the House Appropriations Committee, thanking Governor Jay Inslee for investments in school meals and lifting the cap on special education from 15% to 17.25%. Angela also noted that 113 school districts would remain above the 17.25% cap, so it was…
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Advocacy
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Legislative
2024 Session Preview: Legislature convenes January 8 for short session
By Marie Sullivan, legconsultant@wastatepta.org The Washington State Legislature convenes Monday, January 8th, for the second year of the 68th biennium and a 60-day session that is scheduled to end by March 7, 2024. Legislators must adopt supplemental budgets for operating, capital, and transportation based on updated revenue forecasts and changes to caseloads. Lawmakers also will…
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Advocacy
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Legislative
Attend National PTA’s LegCon Hill Day: March 5-7 in Alexandria, VA
National PTA’s Legislative Conference and Hill Day (LegCon Hill Day) will take place March 5-7, 2024 in Alexandria, VA. Learn from advocates across the country. Share PTA priorities with your members of Congress! Here’s the link to the National PTA website page with all the relevant information. Here’s the link to the Eventbrite page…
Individual State Awards – Nominate Someone Now!
Help to recognize leaders for their work in statewide service, advocacy, and teaching (including staff) by submitting a nomination! The all-in-one form for nominating leaders is now available on the WSPTA Application & Submission Portal and has been updated to make it easy and quick to apply. Visit this page for more information about all…
Legislative Update: School Construction Funding Basics
On December 5, Tyler Muench, OSPI Director of Advocacy and External Outreach, briefed members of the House Capital Budget Committee on school construction, modernization and building assistance programs. This hour-long update is a must-watch for anyone seeking to understand the complex formulas used by the state to match voter-approved bonds and what OSPI is proposing…
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Advocacy
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Legislative
Share the Public Policy Priorities of National PTA and WSPTA
By: Susan Baird-Joshi, WSPTA Federal Legislative Chair, fedleg@wastatepta.org What does PTA have to do with federal legislation? It turns out, quite a bit. 2024 is the second of the two-year legislative cycle for Congress. 2024 is also a big election year. It’s important that we engage in the federal public policy process and vote. Here…
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Advocacy
2023 WSPTA Legislative Assembly Recap
WSPTA held its 45th annual Legislative Assembly October 21-22, 2023. This virtual event was an incredible weekend of advocacy, education, networking, where delegates adopted several additions and updates to our 2023-24 Legislative Priorities and our permanent resolutions. The theme this year was school facilities, and we heard from guest presenters and panels on this important…
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Advocacy
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Legislative
Announcement from the WSPTA Special Education Committee
Hey PTA leaders, did you know there are now resources to support and include disabled students and their families in your PTA community and at your events on the Washington State PTA website? Under the focus area tab, you can find a link to the Special Education page. There are resources including how to ensure…
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Uncategorized
memberplanet Text Message Update
For those PTAs that use memberplanet’s communication tools to send text messages to members, please note memberplanet is updating how that feature will work moving forward: “Recently, all major US mobile phone carriers have created a new regulation (A2P 10DLC) that has changed the way bulk text messages are sent. Due to these changes, groups…
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Membership
Whose Money is it?
Andrew Estep Dear Members, As we slowly recover from the pandemic, a few bright spots shine. One that is shining through is that many PTAs have much larger bank balances than they had in the past. For some, that seems to be a luxury and not a problem. It can, however, be a problem. Charitable…
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Uncategorized