A Letter to the PTA from a Parents Across America Member
Hello, PTA leaders!
I am a parent with two children in Portland Public Schools. I have been a PTA member for five years and recently came onto our PTA board as a legislative co-chair. I am writing to see if there is any possibility of the PTA dropping its affiliation and funding from the Gates Foundation. I know that must sound shocking that a parent wants less funding, but the reason is that the Gates Foundation is supporting and pushing education policies that are NOT good for our schools and children. If you are not already familiar with well-regarded experts likeDiane Ravitch, Stephen Krashen, Deborah Meier, and other groups like Parents Across America and the nationalSave Our Schools movement, please become familiar with them to realize that there is a growing body of people completely alarmed and speaking up against the policies Gates and his front groups like Stand for Children and
First Posted: 11/29/11 12:55 PM ET Updated: 11/29/11 01:14 PM ET
More than 16 million children now live in poverty in the United States, the highest number since 1962. In all, 19.8 percent of school children were living in poverty in 2010, and childhood poverty rates increased significantly in one of every five U.S. counties between 2007 and 2010, according to a Census Bureau report released today.
And in places like Seminole County, Fla., where the construction industry crumbled during the recession, more than 1,100 homeless students traverse the public schools.
In a heart-wrenching follow-up to a report from eight months ago on the newly homeless in Florida, CBS's 60 Minutes aired a report Sunday that profiles the