Reply to Janney PTA raised $1.4 million in one year

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Reply to "Janney PTA raised $1.4 million in one year"

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[quote=Anonymous]We are at an EOTP Title I school and I have to say this article is unfair to Janney in particular. I don't know the details of the other schools' PTAs but I am aware that Janney funds aftercare through its PTA. This is a fee-for-service activity that could otherwise be done by the Janney PTA or the school inviting a third-party service provider to provide aftercare on school property and charge the parents directly.

And this is exactly what happens at Title I schools in DC. The school invites a third party provider or more often providers plural. One of these is usually DCPS OSTP which I believe gets charged to the school budget at least partially? I say partially because administration of the OSTP program city-wide is handled by DCPS central office and these costs are probably not recovered from the participating schools.

In addition to OSTP, most Title I schools have other service providers that fill in gaps in aftercare, for example providing aftercare to early childhood or providing additional aftercare spots when the OSTP spots allotted to the school do not meet demand. These other providers are 501(c)3 organizations that raise their own funds and provide aftercare free to low-income families. Even the "unsubsidized" aftercare fees that higher-income parents pay at Title I schools may be subsidized by the provider's fundraising. Unless you are paying at least $500/month for your aftercare it's likely subsidized somehow. 
  
If Center for American Progress wanted to make a fair comparison of "all-in" aggregate school budgets, which includes DCPS budget but also PTA budget, then it would also need to calculate the full unsubsidized value of the services provided to Title I schools by the various non-profits that serve them, including aftercare providers, reading or math tutoring providers, everything, and add these to the school's "all-in" budget.

I am not arguing that parental incomes make no difference in education inputs or outcomes! I am just pointing out this flaw in the CAP analysis and the article.

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