 | | Update on Parent Involvement Bill
3/23/2007 7:50 AMThanks to Rep Kim Norton (Rochester) and Sen. Sharon Erickson-Ropes (Winona), and our advocacy team, the Parent Involvement Policy bill is moving forward in the Minnesota State Legislature. In the past two weeks, this bill, HF 990 and S.F. 1492 has made it through both E-12 education policy committees in the Minnesota House and Senate and will be included in both houses education funding omnibus bills. It had strong bipartisan support in all committees.The Omnibus bill will soon move to a conference committee, composed of equal representation from the house and senate. We are hopeful that the Parent Involvement Policy bill will remain a part of the final Omnibus Education bill. Assuming it remains in the Omnibus bill, this would mark the first time in Minnesota history that all school districts are required to have a parent involvement policy. The essence of the bill is that parent involvement is critical for student achievement and a parent involvement policy must include not only volunteering in the classroom, but all six parts of National PTA’s Parent Involvement Standards including partnering with schools in decision making that affects their children, and meaningful, regular two-way communication between home and school.
A special thanks to Fred Storti of MESPA, Parents United, and Joe Nathan for their hard work and letters of support in getting the bill to this stage.
We still need members to call and urge their representatives to continue to support this initiative in the upcoming weeks. If either Rep. Norton or Sen. Erickson-Ropes is your representative, please call, write or e-mail them to thank them for their leadership in this initiative.
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