I’m thinking of sending this out to the listserv of all the PTA presidents in San Francisco, but I wanted to get your take on it first. My readers always give me such thoughtful and insightful feedback; I know I’d be less nervous sending it if you all had read and responded first.
My name is (Noemi) and I am the PTA president at (daughter’s school) in Bernal Heights. We are a small PTA, with a board of only 6 people. We struggle every year to replace the officers that term out. Only 2-5 general members come to our meetings, and only very rarely are teachers or administrators able to attend.
(Daughter’s school) is a Tier 3 school. 75% of our student population qualifies for free or reduced lunch. The majority of our families speak English as a second language, if at all. Many of our students face generational poverty and/or other trauma at home. Some have significant behavioral challenges. Test scores confirm that our students are struggling significantly to perform at grade level, and that they need increased scaffolding and support to succeed. Teacher retention is also a very real challenge, as some leave because of student behavior issues and a perceived lack of support; there are currently multiple openings for full time teachers at our school. We’ve had three new administrations in the last three years.
As you can imagine, as a PTA we struggle to raise funds to support our teachers and students. While nearby schools with comparable student populations raise $25K or $75K, we haven’t raised $10K in either of the last two years.
I doubt anyone would argue that SFUSD’s public school system is broken. The city espouses equality of access and yet its school system provides the opposite. The affluent, well educated parents who do send their kids to SFUSD cluster at certain high demand schools, where they raise incredible amounts of money to provide enrichment programs that make their schools even more desirable, perpetuating the cycle.
When I was navigating the SFUSD lottery, Spanish Immersion programs were our focus. While I knew which SI schools were most popular, I didn’t know that the amount a school PTA raises every year is public knowledge and that families use that to rank their choices. I also didn’t realize that some schools in this district raise over $350K while others struggle to raise 1/100th of that amount.
I live in the city, but am a public school teacher at a affluent, highly desirable school district on the peninsula. I could have brought my daughter to a school in that district, but diversity is important to us, and we believe that well educated parents need to opt-in at SFUSD for real change to take place. We are being the change that we want to see, but it’s increasingly evident that the system is even more broken that we originally recognized.
The PTA is supposed to advocate for every student, but in San Francisco I can’t help be wonder if it’s actually helping perpetuate the cycle of haves and have not’s, deepening the discrepancies between the most desired schools, where affluent parents cluster, and the least desired schools, where minority students are left to languish. I wonder if it is helping create and maintain a system where those who have the resources to call for change are satisfied by the status quo and do not fight to affect change for those left at the schools where sufficient funds cannot be raised. Of course I recognize it’s not the intention of the PTA to maintain the considerable discrepancies between the most and least desired schools in the district, but if it is doing that, we need to recognize the reality and have some honest conversations about what it means.
I’m not writing this to call anyone out, but instead to start a conversation. It is not PTA’s job to fix the considerable failures of SFUSD, but if the PTA remains the only real way for parents to raise funds to support schools, and the amounts schools raise remain vastly different, we need to talk about what that means for ALL students. I look forward to hearing your perspective.
What do you think readers? Am I totally off here? Am I missing the mark? Obviously I don’t know what the solution is, but have I accurately identified a problem? How do you think other PTA presidents (some of whom are at the very schools I’m mentioning) will react?
Totally agree with the points you’re making. At least you’re trying to start a conversation, though you may get hostile responses.
And I say this as someone who’s part of the problem. One of my kids was in a public dual immersion school with a fair number of kids with behavioral challenges and massive teacher turnover.
I tolerated it for a few years, but ultimately got tired of banging my head against the wall and transferred my child in a private dual immersion school.
So, I totally see where you’re coming from. And I admire you for not choosing to opt out the way I did.
Don’t admire me too much, she’s only in 2nd grade. I don’t know that we’ll be able to stick it out either.
Reading this, my first thought is every person that is concerned about childhood education should read this. I pause about sending this to the PTA because I wonder if they will view this as an attack given they are reaping the benefits of a system that isn’t equal.
I guess my question is, instead of sending this only to the PTA presidents listserv, can you instead get this out to the general public? Basically a call for your neighbors who can to do what you’re doing and make the conscious choice about sending their children to these disadvantaged schools? Or even an Op-Ed? Because I think you’re insights and observations are something everyone should hear and be a part of.
Your post reminds me of this Op-Ed: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/12/magazine/choosing-a-school-for-my-daughter-in-a-segregated-city.html
Looking for a broader audience for this is an excellent idea. You’re right that sending it to PTA will probably be met with hostility and not generate effective discussion. I will look into other possible outlets.
I don’t think it’s off the mark but I don’t think sending this would be effective. I think you need to develop actual relationships with pta leadership at other schools. Change is easiest when it is generated from people who have ties to one another. I would reach out and try to initiate one on one contact, both within your school and without. And I wouldn’t use the letter to reach out because it feels like you are pushing an agenda and it seems less authentic. Are there any grassroots groups in SF that organize parents of public school students?
I totally agree with Christie and Annie that sending this to other PTAs may not be the most effective strategy.
But, on the other hand, you are absolutely right about the issue and the fundamental unfairness of the system….
Oops. Sorry that I misspelled your name, Cristy.
I know how annoying that can be.
There is a group, Parents for Public Schools, but their Mission is to make the school district seem more palatable, so I don’t think they would be interested in posting something about how it is actually pretty fucked up. They’re trying to convince parents that it is fine, so they are probably not my best bet. And reaching out to other school leaders is a great idea, I don’t really know how I will find the time or resources to do that, but it would surely be more effective than sending this out.
Here’s something for you to consider. Just stop. No more new projects. Just do what you’re doing and focus on that. You’re running yourself ragged and it might be giving you the crazy-eye and making you unhappy and stressful to be around. Someone at our school very kindly told me that about myself, and it was hard to hear, but I think it was good advice. The PTA might be more successful with a narrower mission, and then you would have more bandwidth to consider the fundamental issues like how to bring in more parents.
Well, everything that I’m doing is already well past “starting”, so there is no stopping really right now, but I will definitely be thinking long and hard about what I will be taking on next year. This is definitely too much, and it doesn’t make sense to try to do it all, especially when all the work ends up equaling so little. It’s definitely good advice. Thank you.
I think if you want to work on this issue next year, you should stay involved in the PTA but have your role limited to building relationships within your school to cultivate leaders and also maybe reaching out to leaders at their schools. Don’t take on any PTA obligations that require you to meet specific benchmarks.
I would be very wary of sending that out. I think your points are all good, but this is a pretty broad condemnation of your school system and I think you could raise a firestorm that might blow back on both the school itself and you professionally. PTAs will share these with their school administrations and it will make its way up through the general administration. Do the PTA presidents ever meet? Could you call a couple of them and discuss this with them first?
Leaving the school system’s failures aside, sending the message asking for guidance in finding people to stay longer and how to fundraise better and pointing out the inequities between what some PTAs raise vs others would be a better start to the conversation. I think you want to play the long game and be a known entity in this community before you start blowing things up.
“sending the message asking for guidance in finding people to stay longer and how to fundraise better and pointing out the inequities between what some PTAs raise vs others would be a better start to the conversation” <— Yes, this. This is what I need to do. I will attempt this.
1. Rich PTA schools will ignore you; the rest will not have time/people to respond. I think your objective for outcomes from such a letter are not clearly defined or stated clearly and concisely.
2. You say you want a conversation: topics exactly? You state a problem (not able to raise funds) but not any ideas on progress/change/actions from other PTAs. Richer PTA’s only want to raise money for THEIR school and children so their children have better access to Lowell and top universities. There is some tone of moral superiority in choosing immersion and diversity versus top ranked academics which will rub some people wrong as no one wants to say they selected for economic class especially when that may have been significant in their choices. Lots of SF parents rank their top school choices and if they get a school in ‘wrong parts of city’ plan to move to suburban areas with racial diversity but a common socioeconomic level.
3. What governmental funding per child does your school receive versus that of those schools where the PTO raises lots more money? (I have heard administrators say ‘poor schools’ get more public money than ‘rich ones’. I do not know if this is true.)
4. Are you suggesting ‘rich schools’ share their PTA money with your school? Not going to happen. Rich companies keep their money for their top execs, see Krugman’s article today in NYT. PTA’s will do the same.) ‘Separate is not equal’ legal judgement refers to race not money.
5. What would it do for your commute, etc, if you took both your children to schools where you teach? What would it do for their education? Have you given it serious consideration this spring? Your husband wants to live in SF, would he approve of his children going elsewhere for school so that happens? Will your in-laws plans to move to Texas make alternative housing an option with ‘family pricing’? Would that alter school choices for your children.
6. Sorry to be a downer. You are an excellent writer. AND YOU ARE CORRECT THE SITUATION IS NOT EQUITABLE. But PTAs with the money and political muscle to change this will not find it in their interest, or the educational interests of their children, to change anything.
These are all super valid and important points. And you are right starting a conversation was way too vague a hoped-for outcome. I guess ultimately I want to find a solution, but you are right that the people who are benefiting will NOT be interested in finding a solution at all. At my district we have an Ed Foundation that raises money for enrichment and elective programs at all the schools and then separate PTA entities that raise money at each site for teacher stipends and to find small projects and field trips. They also organize teacher appreciation efforts. Something like that might work in San Francisco, but I doubt it for exactly the reasons you stated in your comment. And yes, tier 3 schools like my daughter’s generally do get more funding, or at least are eligible for more funding, but that funding gets tied up in bureaucratic redtape more quickly and easily than PTA funds to do. The idea that PTAs can actually support teacher salaries is totally mind-boggling to me, but it is happening in schools around the city. I honestly don’t know what the solution is. And maybe I don’t even know what my desired goal is. Maybe my goal is just for people to recognize the part they are playing in the broken system. Honestly that is probably what I wanted to accomplish from this, because I am so sick and tired of being on the losing end of this equation.
Thank you for kindness in your response. I was afraid I was brutal.
YOU WORK SO HARD for your daughter’s school. The impact of your effort would be different at a school with a different socioeconomic student body and you would be less alone.
The concept behind the lottery program in SF was that all schools would have more equivalent student bodies and parental affluence. The reality has been that faced with an ill-perfoming school or ‘hour plus public transportation commute diagonally across the city’ financially able parents move out of SF or select private schools with astronomical tuition costs.
It isn’t just the time to transport a child across distances, it is also that people have to be at work early and late, and care programs also do not accommodate parental work hours with commute times to and from schools. Your husband’s job is an example.
I don’t think you are in a position to change the school district or PTA organization. Either effort could blow back on you in damaging ways. What about changing your children’s district if not your home address? You mentioned teachers leave daughter’s school due to disruptive students in class; what impact do those students have on your daughter’s learning?
I wish I had better ideas or could offer hope but I see PTA’s where I am requesting $1000 at the start of each year for extra music and art teachers (funds in addition to those raised in participatory fund raising activities) while other schools can only raise amounts like yours. We do not have equality of access to public schools here, Ms. De Vos and her school vouchers for private schools too will not improve it. After all, Lowell, (Outstanding Public SF High School) has a limit on how many applicants it will take and is VERY picky … not a lottery school.
Glad my children are out of that age, worried about impact on my grands!
HUGS.
There are no excessive behavioral issues in my daughter’s grade (or below). None of these issues have negatively affected my daughter yet. She has been very happy in her 2.5 years at the school, and I do believe she is learning what she needs to learn. Do I wish they actually had science? Of course! But right now that is not reason enough to move her. She has a lot of really good friends at the school, and so do I, and so far it’s been a positive enough experience FOR US. But I see and hear about issues in the older grades, especially at the middle school, that are VERY troubling. Right now I have ZERO intention of keeping her at that school in middle school. If they extended the Spanish Immersion program, MAYBE, but that is a very shaky maybe. Other big changes would have to happen at that grade level for me to consider sending her there in 6th-8th grade. But the reality is all the middle schools in the district are a mess. That is when I would probably start sending her down here, to my district. Of course that means I have to stay here, and not get a high school job, but if it gives me a Plan B for my kids, then it’s probably worth it.
You’re right that I can’t change the system myself, but does that mean I don’t try? I don’t know what the answer is. I really don’t.
In the schools that raise a lot of money, how many teachers does PTA money actually hire? I think people may look at PTA money raised as a proxy for the wealth of the student body, which usually correlates with more parental involvement in the school and students without life stressors that make it more difficult to function in a classroom.
In our system, PTAs can raise several hundred thousand dollars a year. If that were spent all on teachers, you could hire three or four. Often it goes to provide extra aides.
I’ve heard of a few schools that hire a dedicated art teacher and a dedicated science teacher for elementary schools. They also help pay for aids and other support staff.
I know districts in wealthy areas have PTAs that do this. The one I worked in hired 12 teachers total across the district (but the whole district had a single PTA w local branches rather than individual PTAs). They raised millions a year.
In some places there is more money for “poor” schools. Title I funding for example. However, in my view (as a PTA leader at a low-income school) it is not enough money to truly adequately meet the needs of a low-income population, so the high-income schools still come out ahead. Serving these kids and their families, especially when they are a large percentage of the student body, is a lot more expensive than people want to acknowledge.
I would put the question to the high-income schools, if the low-income schools have more money, why is your school so much nicer and has so much more stuff? If the funding truly is equal? They never have a good answer for that. I say that our PTA does raise money (and I mention a pathetic little sum) and that we spent it on a washer and dryer for the homeless families to use. That tends to shut them up.
1. If there’s a lottery then how do the affluent cluster?
2. What are you hoping for as a response? It s not clear what if anything state PTA organization can do.
I hate to hear public schools disparaged. You might turn some otherwise sympathetic people off by saying school district is broken, middle schools are a disaster etc.
1. There are ways to work the lottery to your advantage, and the people who learn and take advantage of it work the system to cluster at certain schools (they keep playing the lottery for several rounds, learn the strategies for upping chances of getting a top choice, etc).
2. As I stated in response to someone else, I would obviously like to find a solution, but honestly I think I originally wrote this to make people aware of the reality of the situation and get them thinking about the part they play in sustaining the broken system.
I also hate to hear public schools disparaged, but we also can’t achieve change if we don’t talk about what is wrong. If I send this to PTA presidents, it would be read by people who are already opting in, but if I published it elsewhere, it would be read by people who may not be sure if they want to participate yet. Which is a valid concern. Having said that, I think most people living in SF know how broken the school system is, that is why they leave, en mass, for other districts. And why 85% of white parents in the city send their kids to private schools.
Yeah, definitely don’t send that email. I have a lot of sympathy for you and agree with what you say, but there’s no point in sending it. If I read it, I would just shrug– are you saying anything that people don’t already know? Sure, people should help low-income schools– I’m a PTA leader at a school that sounds a lot like yours without the Spanish and six board members would be amazing for us– so I get that it’s really hard. But people are working on a lot of causes, and low-income schools are only one issue among many. So if I read that I would just shrug and move on.
In my view, the problem is way more than just poverty– it’s the incompetence and corruption of the school district itself (which is of course connected to racism and poverty theoretically but also just means that our computers don’t work and a lot of the staff don’t show up to work and things like that). If I thought the school and the PTA would use my money effectively, I would be more willing to give it. But unfortunately, I have no confidence in that. The more I learn about our school system, the more bleak my outlook– the head of our system just resigned in disgrace for cheating on the lottery system to get his child into a better school, and numerous high schools are being flagged for graduating functionally illiterate kids who don’t even come to class. The good schools are full of out-of-state residency cheaters. It’s such a scam and I really question whether there’s any point in even trying. The problems go way deeper than just poverty. So if people seem checked-out, consider that. It sucks and I’m burned out and I don’t know what to do. But more money is not going to change things as long as the system is run by fools and liars.
Maybe you could ask the PTA list for some other things. That list sounds like a valuable untapped resource and you are right to want to use it. Is there a specific project you’d like to try, and someone experienced could mentor you? Maybe someone could help you set up Amazon Smile or a grocery rewards program? Grants like those from Target and Wal-Mart can be a lot easier if you have a successful application from a friend to use as a model. As a PTA leader with a few years under my belt, I’d love to offer help with those things to other schools, as they don’t require me to persuade my own disgruntled parents to give up some of their hard-earned PTA funds. Because even though I would totally support that, I know in my heart it would not work.
Where I live, we have a Google Group just for leaders at Title I schools that are gentrifying, and it’s really helpful whether you need advice, the latest intel, or just a sympathetic ear. Perhaps that could be created.
Thank you very much for your considerable insight. I SO appreciate hearing from someone in a similar situation. There is a lot to unpack here and definitely will be thinking about all of it for a long time to come.
This. All of it and said so much better than I ever could have.
Yes to the grants. Yes to mobilizing the network of parents you do have. But also yes to talking about gentrification as having a school transition is also a problem given that many people tend to exclude the existing kids in order to promote their own.
And damn to being a hard problem that is universal.
I have no insight, but this sounds so unreasonable. Here, practically all schools are public schools, under city/county jurisdiction, and cities/counties simply give a lot of extra money to schools in “challenged” areas (e.g. areas with a lot of immigrant families) and this has helped those schools tremendously. What you have to deal with is so backwards.
Meant to add that I really liked your letter and I second the idea of trying to get some version of it distributed to a larger audience.
The inequities are beyond a PTA fix. Legislation/taxes (both—repeal F’ing Prop 13) are the only viable solution. I hate that PTAs are even needed.
California will never repeal prop 13 because people care more about paying less in property taxes than they do about adequately funding public education.
They may repeal for commercial properties though. You benefit form prop 13 as a homeowner and with the federal tax bill, a reassessment would be a financial hit. But for commercial properties it’s deductible as a business expense.
I do benefit from prop 13, that doesn’t mean I support it.
I would love for them to repeal it for commercial properties, but that probably won’t happen either. It hasn’t happened in 40 years (it will be 40 years this June!) and I doubt it will happen moving forward.
This idea of repeal for businesses is opposed by businesses… gee, why. And the message they use is that it would also impact doctor and dentists and local small businesses including small coffee shops driving them out of business. Let’s ignore BIG BUSINESS benefits like was done with the tax overhaul. Right. Big Business gives Big Bucks to politic candidates so no holding of breath there. Persist and VOTE.
PS: This sort of thing is called a ‘split rail’ in the political world.
https://www.google.com/amp/ktla.com/2017/12/18/proponents-of-changing-californias-prop-13-take-first-step-toward-getting-initiative-on-2018-ballot/amp/
THANK YOU WORKING MOM for sharing hope.
I know the idea of PTA-to-PTA funding transfers was floating around a while ago, and I have to say (in my role at the struggling PTA of a high-poverty school), I’m not a fan. I really cannot see moving large amounts of money through a bunch of volunteer-run nonprofits that might not even have a bank account, let alone an adequate system of preventing theft. The hard truth is that there is a lot of embezzlement from PTAs. I think asking more established PTAs to partner with you in non-financial ways is a great idea and many of them would be likely to do it. You could ask for volunteer mentors and mentees, matching partner schools or little mentoring groups of 4-6 people around a specific project. I just can’t see handing a significant chunk of money (in the event we ever have any) to some people I don’t really know, who probably don’t have an outside auditor or anything. This isn’t because I don’t trust low-income people– I really don’t trust anyone, and there has been way too much financial scandal even at the highest-income schools in our system, in the parent organizations but also theft by school and school district employees.
Secondly, if we ever raised a significant amount of money and wanted to spend it on something to improve the overall equity in the system, it would probably be spent on something that is still somewhat related to our school. My pick would be spending it on the middle school to which we feed, because that would help a very low-income group of kids who are being poorly served by adults who should know better. But it would also benefit our school by improving retention, and as feeder parents, we would have some of input and have the relationships and physical proximity needed to make sure that things go according to the plan. This choice is somewhat out of self-interest, sure, but it’s also appealing because there’s more accountability and we’d have more voice in what actually happens. Just handing money over to some district-wide pool means we wouldn’t have much say, and that’s unappealing because the people who run our school district are a disaster and would probably waste it on something stupid, if not steal it outright.