PTA Spending Disparities and Police Accountability

Hi Friends!

For those who celebrate, Happy Halloween. I usually remind everyone sooner than this, but please be aware of avoiding cultural appropriation when it comes to costumes. Megyn Kelly’s recent disastrous comments are a tiny piece of how important this is.

The County PTA’s meeting this month included a discussion of appropriate PTA spending and a reminder of PTA spending inequities. For your reference, In 17/18 FY, elementary schools in the County raise between $20,000 and $190,000 each year. Analyzed on a per student basis, Elementary School PTA spending ranges between $42 and $304 per student. I have mentioned this before, but of the nine Title I schools in the county, eight of those are located south of Route 50. The County PTA is working on creating a flyer to improve awareness of these inequities and we’re also working to educate PTAs about appropriate spending and encouraging contributions to the grant fund, which is one way we’re trying to address these inequities.

Please notice that recent terrible events are highlighting the way the police treat people suspected of committing a crime, even a horrifically violent one — in general, white suspects are brought in alive and without violence, while POC (threatening or not, having committed a crime or not) experience police reacting with “fear for their lives,” often with deadly force. Look at the Charleston church shooting, the pipe bomb maker, and the Pittsburgh shooting for recent examples. Police have to be held accountable, or this double standard will just continue. Shaun King advocates changing the prosecutors in our country to address this — 95% of whom are white and the majority of whom are elected. Those races matter as much as the higher profile ones.

If you haven’t had a chance to comment on the potential changes to the Public Charge Rule, there’s a really helpful form you can fill out (and some useful suggestions) here.

The County recently made progress on improving affordable housing options. The County Board also approved a swimming pool in Nauck. If you aren’t aware of the racism behind swimming pools in America, check out this article.

IntegratedSchools shared an article highlighting how school choices for families of color are more fraught and stated specifically: “…we must be cognizant of the different realities facing parents of color. We talk a lot about why Integrated Schools is largely a white &/or privileged parents group; in part this is specifically because he work of disrupting school segregation can not be on the backs of families of color. Period.”

Upcoming Events:
(1) SURJ-DC is having an orientation/welcome session on Saturday, November 3 from 1–3 pm.
(2) VOICE is doing a nonpartisan Get Out The Vote in part of the 10th District (Manassas and Sterling) on November 3–6 with a half hour training beforehand.
(3) VOTE VOTE VOTE November 6. If you need any help deciding who deserves your vote, the ACLU has a great tool that will tell you how candidates measure up on a bunch of different issues.

Emily
Listen. Amplify. Follow.