PTA speaks for every child with one voice. As the largest volunteer child advocacy organization in the nation, we are the conscience of the country for issues affecting children and youth.
We are asking each of you to get informed on the current budget crisis, speak up, and be an advocate. The easiest thing you can do is join the PTA. As our membership increases so does our voice.
We are asking all parents to please write to your state legislators. The Washington State legislative session is currently underway. The legislature has a two-year cycle, so we need to act NOW, or we won’t have another similar opportunity until 2025. Let’s come together to call for increased education funding and push for Washington to restructure our education funding moving forward, such that we can maintain Shoreline’s high-quality education.
Please contact Representatives Duerr and Kloba, and Senator Stanford to express your support for an increase in the education budget. Senator Stanford has elementary-aged kids in the Northshore district and Representative Kloba started her career in PTA.
To make it easy, we’ve provided a sample letter to send to legislators. Real world stories from constituents are especially impactful, so we’ve included an area at the top of the letter where you can add how your family will be personally affected by the budget cuts. Here’s what to do:
Copy the letter here
Personalize the letter by filling in the bracketed section at the top
Add your name and address at the bottom
Send!
You can view the Shoreline School Board schedule here.
Families may also submit public comments, either live at the meeting or beforehand via this online form (comment form is open at least one day prior and closes at noon on the day of the meeting). If several parents are willing to attend in person, it has been powerful in the past for multiple people to read a joint statement since public comments are limited to 2 minutes per person. View previous meeting agendas and recordings here. Invite your friends and neighbors in the community, too!
The advantage of commenting using the form or live at the meeting is that this community feedback becomes part of the public record, collected en masse for consideration and can influence the board to change course.
BE AN ADVOCATE
And ask them to do the same! Think about neighbors/friends in Shoreline School District who don't know what's going on, especially those with kids who will be enrolled in the future. Budget cuts this severe will have repercussions for years to come.
Subscribe to Washington State PTA’s Action Network Group to receive short action alerts that help support WSPTA’s advocacy efforts during the 2023 WA legislative session, including calling for protecting and increasing school funding. These action alerts provide quick, easy ways for families to communicate with their representatives on topics the legislature is actively working on.
