Thank you to all the PTA parents on the Island who completed the annual PTA legislative survey in early September. Your voice was our vote at the recent PTA Assembly, where 13 members of the Mercer Island PTA legislation team discussed, debated, and voted for the top priorities of the statewide PTA with delegates from across Washington. Your PTA has incredible muscle; the State PTA boasts a membership of 400,000 and works with a leading lobbyist dedicated to our causes…nationwide, the PTA stands tall as the largest advocate for children’s education and welfare.

Simple Majority - A very important education decision will be on your ballot this November. The public will get a chance to decide whether a different standard should apply to schools than for jails, parks, libraries, and other services. All these services require only 50% plus one vote to pass; education levies require a supermajority or 60%.

Mercer Island parents’ chosen priorities mirror the top 3 priorities voted by state delegates. This should mean that we can see the most pressure, and hopefully progress, in the areas which matter to us most:

1. K-12 Education Funding. Our focus is to ensure the State updates its definition of basic education and commits to a corresponding funding formula. The State’s current definition dates principally from 1977 and excludes special needs, school transportation, technology and more, leaving local districts scrambling to make the difference. Mercer Island steps up to provide for 23.3% of its operating budget but it falls behind every year with inflation alone. Washington ranks 46th in spending per pupil in the U.S., a full $1000 below national average.
2. Math and Science Education. Our focus is to support legislation that would strengthen science and math education, including a balanced program, more professional development, and family collaboration in teaching math and science. It is a sequential process with no major impact in our schools until 2011. It starts with standards which should be revised this year; the curricula will then be revisited; then finally WASL will be addressed and the programs piloted. The momentum is there, the PTA needs to keep up the pressure, but the sequence will take time.
3. Quality Teaching. Our focus is to push more professional development for teachers, resources for retention and recruitment of the most proficient teachers, respectful and reasonable evaluation and support strategies for teachers, and the PTA’s customary spotlight on involving the family and community for support. Quality teaching is the most important factor in determining educational achievement. We as a PTA wish to provide teachers with the support they need to attain both high levels of proficiency and job satisfaction.

Meet your legislators – up close and focused on education. Our legislators hear from lobbyists every day, but they rarely get to spend time with “real” people. It is difficult for them to get the “pulse” of their community. Come help give our legislators a clearer understanding of our children’s needs. You’re welcome to attend the PTA Legislative Roundtable on Thursday, November 15th, from 7-9 p.m., at the Newport High School.

A parent powerhouse advocating for children and education. That is your PTA – 400,000 members strong across Washington state. Here on Mercer Island, a team from all of the Island’s 6 PTAs work together on our district and state education issues, from passing Mercer Island’s education levies, to lobbying for change statewide in funding, WASL, math/science, and more. Read each month about current issues in this space…contact your school’s PTA legislative rep to get more involved.

Simple Majority - A very important education decision will be on your ballot this November. The public will get a chance to decide whether a different standard should apply to schools than for jails, parks, libraries, and other services. All these services require only 50% plus one vote to pass; education levies require a supermajority or 60%.

Why had Washington put such a high passing hurdle for education but not jails? It passed in 1944, in the aftermath of war and depression, when landowners feared that renters would run up their taxes. At the time, Washington had 2000 school districts, all with taxing authority. Times have changed, and finally after 15 years of political wrangling, legislators have voted to change this constitutional amendment.

Last year, voters considered 225 education levies and gave all but one over 50% of their votes. However, 32 of those levies failed because they didn’t reach 60% or supermajority. Since districts count on levies for up to 25% of their operating budget (like Mercer Island), a levy failure means deep budget cuts, teacher layoffs and other disruptions. These hurt our kids. They can take years to fix. Re-running a levy campaign costs taxpayer money and volunteer time.

For Mercer Island which has habitually passed its education levies, a simple majority hurdle would likely mean that more districts succeed in passing their own levies, saving Mercer Island from contributing as much to an equalization fund that supports Washington districts who are as not as fortunate.

This issue's importance ought to continue beaming the spotlight on the fiscal distress most of Washington's 296 school districts operate under. Local property-tax levies can account for one-fourth of district operating budgets, paying for everything from teacher salaries to buses.

Simple-majority passage for levies won't be a magic bullet for these districts. Improving education funding is likely to remain an arduous task. But a simple-majority rule levels the playing field a bit.

MIPA is all about supporting each other, as parents of young children and as individuals, while we find our way through that maze (haze for some of us!) called early childhood. This mutual support is a key benefit from being in MIPA. Turning that mutual support outward, to collectively and positively impact our community, is another key benefit – and a benefit that becomes a legacy for the next generation of MIPA families.

For 70 years, MIPA has had a lasting impact on young families on Mercer Island through its advocacy efforts, and an impact on the greater education realm statewide with its legislative advocacy. MIPA parents have collectively identified need in the community, and then worked with community partners and fundraised to make the solution happen. That’s empowering!

What has MIPA advocated and accomplished?

• Nursery School… MIPA launched the Island’s first nursery school in 1942– a full 2 years before the first kindergarten began on the Island.
• Kindergarten… MIPA helped fund the Island’s first kindergartens and their supplies, and even advocated, selected, and paid for teacher training.
• Elementary School… MIPA pushed for, and achieved, world language classes - first for preschoolers and then for students at the elementary schools. At one point, a MIPA parent even chaired a curriculum committee for the School Board.
• Library… MIPA helped select the property, raise the funds and build the library. Enrichment Activities…MIPA contracted teachers to offer drama, art, babysitting, safety classes to MI families – most of these classes eventually became permanent offerings from the Parks & Recreation department.
• State PTA and Education… legislative reps work with other PTAs on this Island as well as from across the state on issues varying from junk food in schools to kindergarten class size to special needs.
• Indoor Play Spaces… MIPA worked with the Boys & Girls Club, and most recently, the Community Center, to establish ongoing sessions for drop-in play during the rainy months.

As parents, we naturally seek to do the best for our own children. Being a part of MIPA, we as an organization have the stature and the clout to make a difference for children in the broader community at large. Empowerment to beget change begins with MIPA.

Consider joining the MIPA Legislation and Advocacy Team!

• Stowe Sprague, VP, Advocacy & Legislation, stowesprague@hotmail.com
• Susan Mattison mattison@seanet.com
• Debbie Bertlin debbie@bertlin.net
• Tsering Short yuthokshort@comcast.net

What is the PTA Legislative Assembly?

It is an annual meeting of PTA representatives from across the state where delegates vote to decide the top five issues the PTA will push in the coming legislative session.

It is an opportunity for you, a PTA parent, to help shape public policy by deciding which educational issues are most important to our children.

What are the five educational issues that Mercer Island parents care most about?

In September every year, PTA parents across the Island are polled for their top 5 priorities.

Last year, Mercer Island PTA parents selected the following priorities. They are compared with what PTA parents across the State voted.

These priorities became the priorities of the WA State PTA lobbyist who works in Olympia on our behalf.

It was exciting to see so many of Mercer Island’s top issues voted in to the state top five! Now what? Here are ways for you to continue to advocate for children at a local and state level:

• Sign up for PTA Action Alerts at http://www.wastatepta.org/ (click on “Legislation”).
• Contact your PTA Legislative Representative to get involved locally (Tsering Short, email: yuthokshort at comcast dot net).