(News Feature) Why PTA numbers are on the decline

Monday September 26 2005

James Fuller Daily Herald Staff Writer

Jennifer Shroder thought she had a great idea for a parent group event in her St. Charles school district.
Everyone loves a free hayride, she reasoned, so she spent hours planning the logistics and putting the word out.
When the day came, Shroder showed up eager to see the smiling faces of fellow parents and children. After all, that's what parent groups like the Parent Teacher Association are all about.

Or so she thought.

"No one came," she said.

National and local trends suggest Shroder's hayride experience could be the new metaphor for parent volunteerism in local schools. Finding a mom or dad with the time and willingness to join a PTA is like a needle in a haystack - or the turnout at a hayride. You're lucky if you get just one, parent volunteers said.

"Volunteerism is probably last on parents' lists, if it's even on the radar," said Maureen Allen, co-president of Davis Elementary's parent group in St. Charles District 303. "It didn't always used to be that way. People used to fight each other and rush to be chairman of a committee. You can't even pay people to do it now."

That lament is echoed across the Chicago suburbs, but the numbers show it reverberates well beyond. There are about 6 million PTA members nationwide - that's roughly half what is was 40 years ago.

A Lombard school, for example, recruited new PTA members this year by promising they'd never be called on to help with any events.

For Amy Kerber's parent group at Elgin's Highland Elementary in District U-46, the problem is partially economic. Highland was part of a recent attendance boundary change that resulted in more low-income families than her group has ever tried to recruit.

Some have limited English-speaking ability, leaving parent group members wondering how to reach them.

"Their No. 1 priority is meeting the basic needs of their family," Kerber said. "Getting involved isn't necessarily something they can do."

Her strategy this year has been to abandon many of the activities her group used to do in favor of events requiring low manpower. Gone are the days of fairs and bake sales.

"We can continue to beat our heads against the wall, or we can get real about what our families can do," Kerber said. "We're going to be limited in what we can provide."

Recruiting grandmas

Palatine Township Elementary District 15 has seen a similar phenomenon, prompting the district to recruit grandparents to be PTA presidents in two schools. PTA newsletters in several schools are translated into Spanish and Japanese to reach an untapped parent pool.

A few parents do all the work, said District 15's PTA President Mary Podjasek. And, eventually, they move on.

"Once all these people that are really involved are gone, there's nobody left," she said.
PTAs in Wheaton Warrenville Unit District 200 know an affluent community in the heart of the family-friendly suburbs doesn't necessarily translate into more volunteers.

District 200 PTAs lost 1,500 members the past five years, said Betsy Bennett, president of the districtwide PTA. The problem is so acute that Lowell and Washington elementary schools in Wheaton no longer have enough parent volunteers to help teachers in the classroom when they ask for it. The Wheaton Women's Republican Club was recruited to read to students instead.

The lack of volunteers becomes self-fulfilling as it worsens, parents said. Potential recruits see only a few parents logging dozens of hours a week in the PTA and decide they don't want the stress.

Some of the decrease in PTA participation can likely be attributed to the fact that many schools are now affiliated with other parent groups like the Parent Teacher Organizations.

On the surface, the only difference is that PTAs have a national umbrella organization. PTOs do not.

National PTA President Anna Weselak of Lombard said the primary difference is focus. PTOs focus on children in their own schools and communities. PTAs have both a state and national perspective, she said.

That doesn't come for free. Every PTA member pays dues to national and state groups. Both use the money to lobby for education, leaving less money locally.

For example, at Keller PTA in Schaumburg Elementary District 54, dues are $4 per person this school year. Of that, $1.75 goes to the national PTA and $1.50 to the state PTA, leaving 75 cents left for the local group.

That's made PTA membership a hard sell for Jennifer Shroder. She'd like St. Charles' Channing Elementary School to be a PTA instead of an independent parent group. But she needs votes to do that. To get votes, she needs agreement on spending priorities.

In Elgin, Kerber would like Highland's PTO to be a PTA but said even $4 is a lot to ask some families to pay.

Weselak said the biggest myth of PTAs is that they impose strict fund-raising and spending rules. In reality, because PTAs are registered as not-for-profit groups, rules are imposed by the IRS, not the PTA, she said.

Contact is key

The groups have their differences, but both Weselak and Tim Sullivan of the PTO publication "PTO Today" agree the most important thing parents can do is get involved in their child's education.

"PTA versus PTO doesn't make a lick of a difference," Sullivan said. "Wherever kids happen to go to school, there's a parent group, and you should join it."

Sullivan and Weselak also agree that there's a new strategy all parent groups must adopt to get parents involved in a world that oftentimes makes other demands.

The first is one-to-one contact with potential members. Parents don't get involved unless they are asked to, they said. Events, including meetings, must be family-friendly so parents don't have to worry about child care. Every event should have a specific timeframe of commitment attached so parents can decide right away if they have time to participate.

Finally, parent group leaders must realize the practice of parents volunteering as a part of basic parental duties are over and start asking for two- to three-hour commitments with no strings.

"It's almost a sneaky strategy," Sullivan said. "If they give these parents a variety of one-hour events, some of them will like it and come back. If you get 50 percent of your parents to give one hour, you've fundamentally changed school involvement."

Maureen Allen said she believes the school programs will vanish as school districts turn back to the community to fund events formerly paid for by parent groups if change doesn't come.

"People just kind of think our events and the things we buy for the school happens magically," Allen said. "Something's got to give."