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Officers of the Mothers' Congress, Feb. 7, 1897, Wash., D.C.
As the list of acronyms in the world continues to breed confusion over meaning and definition, a new generation of parents coming to age in the era of the PTO might understandably assume it is the same as the PTA. They would be mistaken.
The PTA, Parent Teacher Association, is a nationwide organization with local chapters paying dues to both state and national offices. In return, the organization provides guidance, support and instruction on how local groups can work to help improve their schools. The PTA differentiates itself by also working on broad policy initiatives that are intended to benefit “every child”.
PTOs, Parent Teacher Organizations, are independent organizations with a primary focus on a local school. While the grandparents of many students today were members of their local PTA, the tide has turned with only 25% of today’s schools being represented by PTAs and the rest served by their local PTO. The major shift can be explained by economics with parents preferring to keep their money local and to forgo sending dues to regional and national offices. The change also has roots in politics, mission, and the power of the Internet.
First unit of the Georgia Congress of Colored Parents and Teachers, precursor of the National Congress of Colored Parents and Teachers.
News reports beginning in early December of 1896 began building expectations for the Congress of Mothers which was to have their first meeting in Washington in February of 1897. One of the most popular meetings during the convention was one discussing the impact a healthy diet has on the physical and mental development of a child, a subject still of major concern to mothers today. Through the work of its founders, Alice Birney and Phoebe Hearts, the National PTA became a force for child advocacy for in America. Their work was augmented by the establishment of the National Congress of Colored Parents and Teachers founded by Selena Butler in 1919; the two organizations merged in 1970.
The PTA was, and still is, a child advocacy group with a history of promoting car safety with the growing popularity of the automobile in the 1930s, advancing the research of Jonas Polk and the polio vaccine in the 1950s, and addressing the concerns of television violence as that became an issue in the 1970s. But it was in the 1980s that the political agenda of the national PTA began to conflict with local chapters who differed on how the organization should respond to the AIDs epidemic, sex education, union contracts, and other social issues which continue to be a matter of debate across the country.
Many school communities felt that they should concentrate their efforts and funds only on their local schools. This trend, which continues, soon began to raise concerns about inequality in education in larger school districts where the disparity in incomes was more evident. PTOs in wealthy areas were able to raise significantly more money for a particular school, while those in less affluent areas were subject to stricter budgetary restraints. Districts implemented a variety of measures to create a more equitable environment by imposing caps, or by the addition of a communal fund that could augment the fund raising capabilities of schools.
Although fiduciary matters played their part, the advancement of the Internet has also played a major part in diminishing the PTAs membership rolls. The PTA was often the primary educational resource on a variety of issues relating to children, health and education. Today parents can easily access an enormous amount of research relating to any number of issues impacting the welfare of children and students. PTOToday.com, a private online enterprise, has established itself as a provider of many of the same resources previously provided by the national PTA organization.
Advancements in communication have proportionally increased the number of specific advocacy groups that lobby on behalf of children, so getting members to buy into the national agenda of the PTA becomes more difficult every year. On a personal level, one would be hard pressed to find a difference in the volunteer work conducted by a PTA member and a PTO member on a daily basis. The PTA organization continues to provide benefits to members with its added emphasis on safety, educational, and health issues. Their identity as an advocacy group, rather than as a fundraising organization, provides members with the encouragement and tools required to become more deeply involved in the broader educational processes involved in their local school.
This week has some major events sponsored by local PTA and PTO organization. Franklin Lakes Middle School is hosting an Internet Safety seminar for parents from the surrounding communities on January 14th at 7:30pm. On Friday and Saturday, the Manito PTO will be holding its Comedy Jam to raise funds for new school supplies.
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