Anonymous wrote:
For example, Kojo asked her whether she thought the disparaties in PTA funding contributed to poor student performance. She said yes they did because studies show that if more money was invested in poorly-performing schools, they would do better. That wasn't the question. No one doubts that many of these schools are underfunded. But that doesn't necessarily mean that PTA funding of wealthier elementary schools hurts poor schools. The question is also what are these PTAs funding in the first place.

If wealthier parents couldn't prop up their schools by contributing to the PTA, don't you think that they might be more likely to agitate for improvement across the whole system? By allowing wealthier parents to do things to improve their situation, you lose their advocacy for improving the situation as a whole which is especially unfortunate because often it is the wealthier people who have the knowledge, time, and ability to successfully advocate for change.

By allowing the PTA funding, it increases the chances that there will be no more money invested in poorly performing schools, perpetuating the problems of underfunding.

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, but if I attended a school where my donated money was given to another school, I stop donating. The money I donate is address needs at my DC's school. That isn't to say I wouldn't support needy schools, just not with my PTA donation.

+1

I'm a janney parent - I've seen no communication at all on this. I can't get on the janney PTA listserv, where it's supposedly been discussed, because my account hasn't been approved for some reason. I'm not opposed to the concept, but it has to be clear before you donate - not after. The school asks for quite a chunk of change from folks and if I'm going to shell that out under the auspices of it supposedly paying for extra teachers and such (already a bit of a straw man since money is fungible), I need to know it's funding teachers at Janney. I don't even know what the sister school IS because, again, no communications.

Sorry, but if I attended a school where my donated money was given to another school, I stop donating. The money I donate is address needs at my DC's school. That isn't to say I wouldn't support needy schools, just not with my PTA donation.

Sharing the small amount of money these ptas raise after accounting for aftercare and other after school classes and field trips will not close the achievement gap.

Anonymous wrote:Funny. I don't agree fully with the CAP study, but I disagree on how each came off. I thought the former PTA president was pretty inarticulate actually, and missed a lot of opportunities to make his points. The point about the wrong PTA fundraising number was completely missed. If you were not already in the know, you wouldn't have guessed it was an issue, and the Washington Post story would still be your reference point (if you read that). It still came off like the money that Janney's PTA raises is a big deal for the achievement gap, rather than several percentage points of the school's total budget. If you didn't know any better, you likely came away thinking that "taxing" wealthy PTA in DC is a good idea, because the money that they raise is an unfair advantage and it would help other PTAs a lot (despite being a drop in the bucket for a nearly $1 billion DCPS budget). It was a missed opportunity for Janney.

What you fail to understand is that "equity does not lead to equitable outcomes," as stated by the CAP woman. Only by re-distributing money so that the less well-off get more can you hope to even begin correcting the structural injustices in our society that begin at birth. This is why the former Janney PTA president suggested locating a "sister school" in which to share the contributed money. He and the CAP woman seemed to agree it would be a fine idea.

Funny. I don't agree fully with the CAP study, but I disagree on how each came off. I thought the former PTA president was pretty inarticulate actually, and missed a lot of opportunities to make his points. The point about the wrong PTA fundraising number was completely missed. If you were not already in the know, you wouldn't have guessed it was an issue, and the Washington Post story would still be your reference point (if you read that). It still came off like the money that Janney's PTA raises is a big deal for the achievement gap, rather than several percentage points of the school's total budget. If you didn't know any better, you likely came away thinking that "taxing" wealthy PTA in DC is a good idea, because the money that they raise is an unfair advantage and it would help other PTAs a lot (despite being a drop in the bucket for a nearly $1 billion DCPS budget). It was a missed opportunity for Janney.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kojo did a show on this topic - and a former Janney PTA co-president was on the panel -

Really interesting discussion - love how Kojo nails it by saying that DCPS turns a blind eye because it doesn't want more-connected, knowledgeable about influence-wielding parents to start demanding an increase in DCPS funding (which would then benefit all students - from affluent and non-affluent families)

http://thekojonnamdishow.org/shows/2017-04-27/how-pta-fundraising-may-exacerbate-school-inequities

I'll listen to it later, but please tell me Kojo was smart enough to pull the aftercare figures from the PTA budgets....

Kojo did not need to point this out, as one of the first things the guy from Janney mentioned was that money generated to pay for aftercare at Janney is not really PTA money. The lady on the other side didn't really apologize for over-dramatizing the situation, but everyone listening knew she was full of it. Janney also pointed out that DCPS pays for the aftercare programs for many low-income schools in DC, while Janney has to self-fund theirs. D.C. is not really a good example for what's going on in the country as a whole. We're already socialist.

Funny that you're so sure about what "everyone" in the audience thought, and equally amusing that you think a mild effort to funnel more money to schools with the most pressing needs (= more children in poverty, homeless, and/or below grade level academically) is "socialist." Maybe AynRandLand is looking for some residents.

I don't think it is fair to blame the PTAs. The issue is with the mayor who talks a big game about "Deal for All" and then pushes for a tax break and less money for schools

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kojo did a show on this topic - and a former Janney PTA co-president was on the panel -

Really interesting discussion - love how Kojo nails it by saying that DCPS turns a blind eye because it doesn't want more-connected, knowledgeable about influence-wielding parents to start demanding an increase in DCPS funding (which would then benefit all students - from affluent and non-affluent families)

http://thekojonnamdishow.org/shows/2017-04-27/how-pta-fundraising-may-exacerbate-school-inequities

I'll listen to it later, but please tell me Kojo was smart enough to pull the aftercare figures from the PTA budgets....

Kojo did not need to point this out, as one of the first things the guy from Janney mentioned was that money generated to pay for aftercare at Janney is not really PTA money. The lady on the other side didn't really apologize for over-dramatizing the situation, but everyone listening knew she was full of it. Janney also pointed out that DCPS pays for the aftercare programs for many low-income schools in DC, while Janney has to self-fund theirs. D.C. is not really a good example for what's going on in the country as a whole. We're already socialist.

Good. I'll listen tonight.

The CAP person really wasn't good and just spouted off a lot of platitudes about "educational disparaties" without actually saying anything substantive. It made me question CAP generally, which I've always thought was a solid think tank. For example, Kojo asked her whether she thought the disparaties in PTA funding contributed to poor student performance. She said yes they did because studies show that if more money was invested in poorly-performing schools, they would do better. That wasn't the question. No one doubts that many of these schools are underfunded. But that doesn't necessarily mean that PTA funding of wealthier elementary schools hurts poor schools. The question is also what are these PTAs funding in the first place.
The former PTA president tried to talk more specifically about DCPS routine underfunding of schools, but the CAP representative just talked in generalities and wanted to attack "rich PTAs" as a boogeyman.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kojo did a show on this topic - and a former Janney PTA co-president was on the panel -

Really interesting discussion - love how Kojo nails it by saying that DCPS turns a blind eye because it doesn't want more-connected, knowledgeable about influence-wielding parents to start demanding an increase in DCPS funding (which would then benefit all students - from affluent and non-affluent families)

http://thekojonnamdishow.org/shows/2017-04-27/how-pta-fundraising-may-exacerbate-school-inequities

I'll listen to it later, but please tell me Kojo was smart enough to pull the aftercare figures from the PTA budgets....

Kojo did not need to point this out, as one of the first things the guy from Janney mentioned was that money generated to pay for aftercare at Janney is not really PTA money. The lady on the other side didn't really apologize for over-dramatizing the situation, but everyone listening knew she was full of it. Janney also pointed out that DCPS pays for the aftercare programs for many low-income schools in DC, while Janney has to self-fund theirs. D.C. is not really a good example for what's going on in the country as a whole. We're already socialist.

Good. I'll listen tonight.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Give me a freakin break. They don't get it b/c they don't need it. The kids are already coming in at a significant advantage.

We pay for foreign language instruction through our PTA.

We believe this is a need, not a want. I'm sure you also pay for the things your childs needs.

Every school should have a specials teacher who teaches a world language. Your PTA must be paying for additional or supplemental language instruction, which is a want, not a need.

At our nwdc es, our kids had 2 spanish classes per week for 1/2 a year. It was a complete waste of time.

Additional instruction is a must, not a want, if they actually want to learn a language.

while language instruction would be nice it's not the common paradigm outside of immersion for ES. Common focus is more world culture including language rather than straight language instruction.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kojo did a show on this topic - and a former Janney PTA co-president was on the panel -

Really interesting discussion - love how Kojo nails it by saying that DCPS turns a blind eye because it doesn't want more-connected, knowledgeable about influence-wielding parents to start demanding an increase in DCPS funding (which would then benefit all students - from affluent and non-affluent families)

http://thekojonnamdishow.org/shows/2017-04-27/how-pta-fundraising-may-exacerbate-school-inequities

I'll listen to it later, but please tell me Kojo was smart enough to pull the aftercare figures from the PTA budgets....

Kojo did not need to point this out, as one of the first things the guy from Janney mentioned was that money generated to pay for aftercare at Janney is not really PTA money. The lady on the other side didn't really apologize for over-dramatizing the situation, but everyone listening knew she was full of it. Janney also pointed out that DCPS pays for the aftercare programs for many low-income schools in DC, while Janney has to self-fund theirs. D.C. is not really a good example for what's going on in the country as a whole. We're already socialist.

Anonymous wrote:Kojo did a show on this topic - and a former Janney PTA co-president was on the panel -

Really interesting discussion - love how Kojo nails it by saying that DCPS turns a blind eye because it doesn't want more-connected, knowledgeable about influence-wielding parents to start demanding an increase in DCPS funding (which would then benefit all students - from affluent and non-affluent families)

http://thekojonnamdishow.org/shows/2017-04-27/how-pta-fundraising-may-exacerbate-school-inequities

I'll listen to it later, but please tell me Kojo was smart enough to pull the aftercare figures from the PTA budgets....

Kojo did a show on this topic - and a former Janney PTA co-president was on the panel -

Really interesting discussion - love how Kojo nails it by saying that DCPS turns a blind eye because it doesn't want more-connected, knowledgeable about influence-wielding parents to start demanding an increase in DCPS funding (which would then benefit all students - from affluent and non-affluent families)

http://thekojonnamdishow.org/shows/2017-04-27/how-pta-fundraising-may-exacerbate-school-inequities

Anonymous wrote:Well said! Nobody learns a foreign language by having brief classes so infrequently. Such better uses of that money. Typical DCPS stupidity.

At our school it replaced computer and keyboarding classes which were infinitely more useful.