Smarts News on the arts

Speak up for arts education today

On May 25, 2011 the U.S. House Education and the Workforce Committee, by a vote of 23-16, approved the "Setting New Priorities in Education Spending Act" (HR 1891). This new piece of federal legislation terminates 42 federal education programs, including the Arts in Education program at the U.S. Department of Education. This bill is more serious than the annual funding measures that threaten to de-fund arts education, as HR 1891 permanently strips policy language out of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) that allows the Arts in Education program to be funded each year. 

To find out about critical federal legislation that impacts arts education funding, visit the Americans for the Arts' Action Center.

Who is PTA!

PTAs celebrate 114 years of service

on behalf of children 

We'll help you count the ways - 114, one for each year PTA has been around - that our volunteers help all the children of California. We've compiled this list  just in time for Founders Day this Thursday, commemorating the founding of PTA on February 17, 1897.

  

From the very beginning, PTA volunteers have worked to forge and strengthen vital connections between home and school to benefit children and youth, with information, training and resources.

  

PTA is the largest and most respected children's advocacy association in the nation, with nearly 1 million members in California. For more than a century, PTA volunteers have advocated at the local, state and federal levels to improve the education, health and safety of all children.

At the local level, PTAs are part of the fabric of nearly 4,000 communities throughout the state. This list is just a sampling of the many relevant ways PTAs make a difference every day, culled from a Local Leaders Survey completed by thousands of PTA leaders throughout the state.

Don't miss the party: We invite you to join with us and to contact your local PTAs to find out how they're celebrating Founders Day, and the many ways they help the children and families in your community.

everychild. onevoice.

The California State PTA has nearly 1 million members throughout the state working on behalf of public schools, children and families, with the motto, "every child, one voice." The PTA is the nation's oldest, largest and highest profile volunteer association working to improve the education, health and welfare of all children and youth. The PTA also advocates at national, state and local levels for education and family issues. The PTA is nonprofit, nonsectarian and noncommercial.

For more information about the California State PTA, visit www.capta.org.