National PTA’s messaging has ominous implications for families and teachers

[Geee]

Washington Examiner

National PTA, a household name in education, has veered so far away from its original purpose that its reputation no longer stands on its own. Its sad, but dangerous, transformation has ominous implications for parents and good teachers, and especially for youngsters in our schools.

The organization can no longer rely on word-of-mouth support from parents and teachers, so it has gone to social messaging and sloganeering to push such phrases as “every child, one voice,” a soft placation to parents implying the PTA supports all children. The sad fact is, the new PTA doesn’t.

 

So why is a parent teacher association trying to project an image through slogans and tag lines? We can learn much by just following the money. PTA derives much of its income from sources that lean heavily on it to represent their left-wing views. And as it’s proven in recent years, it doesn’t need much encouragement.

The No. 1 beneficiaries of PTA’s influence are the national teachers unions, which are far-left political fundraising organizations that are not only not real unions but don’t represent teachers.

 

And who really supports PTA? These same so-called teachers unions! And shockingly, according to PTA’s 2021 annual report, highly controversial partners include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the CDC Foundation, Google, Facebook, and TikTok. Such partner support makes up a staggering 66% of National PTA’s revenue. Alas, one would be hard-pressed even to call PTA a membership organization anymore.

So, when did this membership-run PTA take a detour?

There was a mass exodus from PTA in the 1970s as the unions were moving PTA away from its principled family and teacher support and turning it into a lobbying arm of the unions, according to Charlene Haar, author of The Politics of the PTA.

Haar, who conducted internal research on PTA, reports that even the unions themselves state frankly that teachers unions don’t have credibility. Haar quotes a union leader who tellingly admitted, “The PTA has credibility. That is why we always use the PTA as a front.”

[SDwaters]

2 hours ago, Geee said:

There was a mass exodus from PTA in the 1970s as the unions were moving PTA away from its principled family and teacher support and turning it into a lobbying arm of the unions

True.

The PTA at my old elementary school became the "PTO"  (Parent Teacher Organization) in 1971.