Education Funding

National PTA Wants to See Federal Funds for Family Engagement

By Michele Molnar — April 11, 2013 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

The National PTA today applauded several aspects of the President Barack Obama’s fiscal year 2014 budget proposal, which was released yesterday, but decried the lack of funding for family engagement.

“PTA is concerned by the lack of emphasis on family engagement in education as a central driver of individual student success and whole school improvement,” the PTA said in a statement. “Research clearly shows that meaningful family-school partnerships are vital to implementation of successful reform, yet the administration’s fiscal year 2014 budget proposal lacks any such investment.”

On the positive side, the PTA commended the president’s proposal to:


  • Make strategic investments across the continuum of learning, from expanded access to high-quality early education through success in college and career;
  • Provide an alternative to sequestration that, it says, “will provide a balanced approach without undermining key investments in education for 2014 and beyond;" and,
  • Increase overall federal education funding.

The only other concern expressed by the PTA in its release comes from its position that in “an austere budget climate, priority focus should be given to formula programs, which promote educational equity and opportunity for all children.”

A version of this news article first appeared in the K-12 Parents and the Public blog.