Hill Issues and Hill Training

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Hill Issues and Hill Training
Mishaela Durán, Director of Government
Affairs Keri Haars, Public Policy Specialist

• Legislative Conference
• March 11, 2009

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Todays Agenda

• Key changes in PTAs policy department
• How PTA determines its Public Policy Agenda
• PTAs Public Policy Agenda
• Conducting successful Hill visits

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Key Changes in PTAs Public Policy Department

• Prioritization of issues and development of issue
  expertise and resources
• Transition from a 2-year broad public policy
  program to annual public policy agenda with
  specific recommendations for Congress and the
  Administration
• Shift from local-level advocacy to federal-level
  advocacy

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How PTA Determines its Public Policy Agenda

• Timeliness of Issues (is it being considered
  before Congress/Administration)
• Gaps in Advocacy Efforts Among National Partners
• Alignment to Mission and Resolutions
• Ability to achieve meaningful policy outcomes for
  children and families
• Timeliness of issues (is it being considered
  before Congress and the Administration)
• Gaps in Advocacy efforts among National Partners
  (where can NPTA exert influence)
• Responds to school-based issue confronting
  parents
• Ability to achieve a meaningful policy change
  that will produce positive results for children
  and their families

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PTAs 2009 Federal Policy Agenda

• Parent engagement (NCLB-ESEA)
• Equity and opportunity for all children (NCLB,
  JJDPA, Budget/Appropriations)
• Child health and wellness (Child Nutrition Act)
• See 2009 Public Policy Agenda for Details

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Which Title in NCLB includes the bulk of the
Parental Involvement Provisions?
Title V Promoting Informed Parental Choice
Title IV 21st Century Schools
Title II - Preparing, Training, and Recruiting
High Quality Teachers and Principals
Title I Improving the Academic Achievement of
the Disadvantaged
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How many times is the word parents mentioned in
NCLB-ESEA?
Less than 50 times
Over 300 times
535 Times
Over 1,000 times
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What does the acronym PIRC stand for?
Parenting Innovation and Research Center
Parental Information and Resource Center
Parent Involvement Resource Center
Purple Iguana Research Consortium
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Parent Engagement
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Reauthorization of the NCLB-ESEA

• ESEA was last reauthorized in 2002 as NCLB and
  PTA advocated for additional parental involvement
  provisions in Title I and other sections of the
  bill
• NCLB-ESEA is up for reauthorization, having
  expired in 2007

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Did you know

• That schools receiving Title I funds have to
  develop written parent involvement policies?
• That school districts receiving more than
  500,000 in Title I funds must set aside at least
  1 for parent involvement activities?

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Implementation of Parent Involvement Provisions

• Federal monitoring of Title I implementation has
  determined that most states are not implementing
  the parent involvement provisions within NCLB
• Funds set aside for parent involvement are not
  supporting effective parent engagement

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NCLB-ESEA Reauthorization Recommendations

• Retain and strengthen the parent involvement
  provisions within Section 1118, Title I
• Add a statutory definition and framework for
  effective family engagement to provide guidance
  to SEAs, LEAs, and schools
• Increase Parent Involvement allocation from 1 to
  2 and establish allowable uses of funding

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NCLB-ESEA Reauthorization Recommendations contd

• Align NCLB-ESEA to support the Parent Information
  Resource Centers (PIRCS) new strategic framework
  to support statewide leadership and capacity
  building.
• Increase authorization level of PIRCS to 86
  million
• Pilot local family engagement demonstration
  programs

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At what level is the PIRC Program currently
funded at?
1.6 million
38.6 million
55.7 million
1.3 billion
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What is an example of a status offense?
Being out of bounds when you catch a touchdown
pass
Skipping school or truancy
A misdemeanor assault in a school-setting
Shoplifting
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School Absenteeism has been linked to?
Teen Pregnancy
Substance Abuse
School Drop Out
All of the Above
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Opportunity and Equity
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Federal Funding for Education

• Increase funding for the Parental Information and
  Resource Centers (PIRCS) to 88.5 million
• Increase funding for Title I, IDEA, and Teacher
  Quality State Grants
• Restore funding for Teacher Quality Enhancement
  grants

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Chronic Absenteeism, Truancy, Out-of-School
Suspension

• 1 out of every 10 children is chronically absent
  during the first 2 years of schooling
• Truancy has been reported as a problem in schools
  districts nationwide, with urban areas reporting
  thousands of unexcused absences on any given
  school day
• The number of students suspended from school
  doubled to 3.1 million every year between 1974
  and 2003

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NCLB-ESEA Reauthorization Recommendations

• Develop and encourage states to adopt a common
  definition of chronic absenteeism and a universal
  student identifier
• Assist states with integrated data systems
• Increase investment for technical assistance,
  training and implementation of Positive Behavior
  Interventions and Supports and other school-based
  interventions

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NCLB-ESEA Reauthorization Recommendations

• Require school-parent compacts to include
  expectations for attendance, expectations and
  supports for positive behavior, and the phase-out
  of out of school suspension
• Invest in early childhood programs and other
  family-focused, strength-based interventions

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PTA and Juvenile Justice

• PTA passed its first resolution to create a
  separate juvenile justice system in 1899
• In the 1950s and 1960s, PTA partnered with the
  family court judges to train volunteer advocates
  to work with children and families involved in
  the juvenile justice system

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Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act

• JJDPA was first passed in 1974 and is the primary
  federal law regarding juvenile justice reform.
  JJDPA expired in 2007
• JJDPA includes four core requirements
• PTA priorities for reauthorization is to
  strengthen two core requirements
• -Deinstitutionalization of Status Offenders
• -Jail Removal

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Did you know????

• More than 400,000 children were arrested for
  status offenses in 2004 (18 of juvenile arrests)
• Status offenses are behaviors, which under law,
  would not be considered offenses if committed by
  an adult (truancy, running away, curfew
  violation, etc.)
• Truancy cases account for over 1/3 of status
  offense cases handled in 2004

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Did you know????

• Almost 40 states allow children prosecuted in
  adult court to be held in adult jails
• Children are serious risk of assault, sexual
  abuse, and fatalities in adult jails
• Children are 36 times more likely to commit
  suicide in an adult jail than in a juvenile
  detention facility

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JJDPA Recommendations

• Eliminate the Valid Court Order exception to the
  DSO core requirement of JJDPA and prohibit states
  from locking up youth with non-criminal behaviors
• Decrease the over-reliance on secure detention
  and promote family-focused interventions.
• Extend the Jail Removal and Sight and Sound
  Protections to all children under 18
• Change the definition of adult inmate so that
  states can place children convicted in adult
  court in juvenile detention centers

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What Does the Acronym SCHIP Stand for?
School Community Health Integration Plan
State Childrens Health Insurance Plan
Supplemental Caregivers Health Insurance Program
100 million
State Cant Help Insure People
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How many children participate in the National
School Lunch Program?
15 million
30 million
100 million
60 million
100 million
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What percent of the National School Lunch Program
participants receive their meals for free or at a
reduced price?
20 percent
40 percent
100 million
60 percent
100 percent
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Child Health
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Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization

• The Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act
  was last reauthorized in 2004 and will sunset on
  September 30, 2009
• The Act authorizes essential programs including
  the National School Lunch Program, School
  Breakfast Program, and the Summer Food Service
  Program and Child Adult Care Food Program

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Did you know????

• According to USDA, 30.5 million children
  participated daily in the National School Lunch
  Program in 2007
• Studies demonstrate that eating breakfast helps
  children achieve in school and grow up healthy
  and strong.
• A 2003 study showed that being overweight and
  obese accounts for 9 of US medical spending

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Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization
Recommendations

• Require policies for the provision of recess,
  physical education and regulation of food
  marketing in schools to be included in school
  wellness policies
• Require monitoring and review of school wellness
  policies
• Provide competitive grant funding through the
  USDA Team Nutrition Network for effective
  implementation of school wellness policies

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Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization
Recommendations

• Update the national nutrition standards for
  school foods sold outside of the school meals
  program
• Increase reimbursement rate for school meals
• Authorize non-food assistance grants to allow
  schools to purchase food preparation equipment
• Require qualified nutrition professionals to
  approve school food services
• Increase funding for Dept. of Defense Fresh
  Program

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Conducting Successful Hill Visits
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Conducting a Hill Visit

• Do your research
• Prepare for the meeting
• State Hill Visit Collaboration Time
  (600pm/Ballroom)
• Arrive early
• Introduce yourself
• State the purpose of your visit
• Make it local

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Conducting a Hill Visit

• Listen, respond and dont argue
• Rap-up the meeting
• Follow up
• Fill out a Hill Visit Report form

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Contact Us

• PTA National Office of
• Programs and Public Policy
• 1400 L St., NW, Suite 300
• Washington, DC 20005
• [phone]
• www.pta.org

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