Advocacy

Advocacy is at the heart of the PTA mission where nationally and at Washington State PTA levels the motto is Every Child One Voice. Read on to learn more about advocacy in Washington State and at the National level and what you can do to contribute.

What are the state and national priorities?

The Washington State PTA legislative platform is a two-year platform to mirror the Washington state legislative cycle. On the even-numbered years, the new platform is voted on by members at the legislative assembly in the fall. The top five issues become our short-term platform and consist of our priority issues when advocating throughout the year. Other issues are placed on an “also supported” list. During the odd-numbered years, members vote to amend current issues or to add new, emerging issues to the also supported list.

The Top 5 Legislative Priorities for 2020-21 are:

Increase access to nursing, mental health, and social emotional learning staff
Support students and preserve education funding
Increasing educational equity by closing the digital divide
Supports and funding for students with disabilities and their families
Prevent and reduce gun violence and suicide

For additional details, please visit https://www.wastatepta.org/focus-areas/advocacy/

National PTA Position Statements are official documents outlining the opinion, will, or intent of the association to address national problems, situations, or concerns that affect children and youth and require national action to seek resolution on the issue. National PTA has adopted hundreds of position statements on a wide variety of national education, health, and safety issues since its first convention in 1897.

Visit: https://www.pta.org/home/advocacy/ptas-positions/Individual-Position-Statements for a list of a few of National PTA's position statements. For questions about these position statements or help finding others, contact National PTA's Department of Government Affairs at govtaffairs@pta.org.

What Can I Do?

Attend WSPTA Legislative Assembly taking place every October. This is when Washington State PTA decides on our legislative platform, or what our focus for lobbying will be to our legislature. Please see the following link for additional information: https://www.wastatepta.org/events-programs/legislative-assembly/

Attend WSPTA Legislative Focus Day taking place every January. PTA members across Washington gather on the steps of the Capital to rally for public education and meet our legislators. Please see https://www.wastatepta.org/event/focus-day/ for additional information.

WSPTA Advocacy Week is held in January each year. During Advocacy Week, WSPTA asks members to take action from home or your phone. To participate, subscribe to the WSPTA Action Network to stay informed.

January 2021 topics included:

Monday, January 18 – Call to Action: Focus on anti-racism
Tuesday, January 19 - Call to Action: Focus on equity
Wednesday, January 20 - Call to Action: Focus on mental health and wellness
Thursday, January 21 - Call to Action: Focus on preserving and flexing funding
Friday, January 22 - Call to Action: Focus on safety and emergency preparedness

Go Grassroots

As parents of children who will be growing up in a public school system, it is vital that we advocate for them. The PTA grassroots connection is a blog maintained by Washington State PTA, and can provide you with information on upcoming bills in the legislature. You can also opt to click links to write to your legislator easily from the form letter and find your legislator through the website. Grassroots Connection makes advocacy easy by informing us on what education bills the PTA supports for passage.

http://wsptagrassroots.blogspot.com/

Contact Your Legislator

Students attending Issaquah Valley Elementary live in Washington State Legislative District #5. Our legislators and their contact information are listed below.