Good afternoon. I’d like to add my welcome to each of you and my gratitude for taking time out of your busy schedules to join us today. It has been so much fun over the last years to have this one day where we come together to learn and network.  Today we have registered attendees from Bemidji to Albert Lea, Frazee, Virginia, St. Cloud and Mankato—a great statewide view!

This is a particularly special day for Parents United and I’d like to take a minute to look back on how it all began. When the first group of parents came together—that group who would later become Parents United—they were challenged to be together one year from that date. That was five years ago, and this is our 5th Parent Leadership Summit. I think that’s noteworthy!! 

It’s equally important to remember why these parents came together. In 2002, if you were running for office, you might have carried a No New Taxes pledge card—signed, sealed and delivered. The No New Taxes pledge was the mantra that dominated political campaigns throughout Minnesota. A few parent groups were organized and working in their own districts either to pass levies and or to lobby for the needs in their schools.  

The president of the Minnesota School Public Relations Association, Barb Nicols, recognized the potential of an organized parent voice and arranged for a time and space where parents from 20 districts could meet. I’m told that in that first three hour meeting, they only got through introductions. The question, “Why are you here?” generated so much conversation!

They learned that they weren’t alone, that all districts were facing similar issues. They learned that the issue was bigger than any one of their districts. So they decided to educate themselves and a growing network of parents who would act on behalf of Minnesota’s public school children.  Parents United for Public Schools was born.

Meanwhile, across town another parent, Ellen Young gathered a group in her living room to talk about their concerns for public schools. Governor Ventura had called schools the black hole of funding. Schools were obviously losing out in the arena of public opinion. These parents dedicated themselves to mobilize and activate other parents. They were committed to mounting a campaign to Save our Schools.

Several of those who were at those first meetings are here today—would you please stand? I’d just like you to be recognized.  We all owe you our sincerest thanks.

Both groups knew that a united voice was needed. Both understood that that voice needed to be statewide. Parents United for Public Schools wanted to engage and educate parents and Save our Schools wanted to motivate and activate them.

It became apparent that these two organizations needed to be aligned.  Save our Schools changed its name to Parents United Network—and over the years, a merging of both groups created one face for Parents United while allowing the two organizations to thrive—one committed to educating the public, the other to advocacy.    

These parents who gathered in libraries and living rooms knew that in 2002, accountability was the buzz word, but they believed that not only should our schools be held accountable, but our legislators needed to be held accountable for providing appropriate funding and policy so that the schools could meet the needs of our children. 

They committed themselves to a long term statewide, grassroots effort. They decided they needed to work to promote an environment where public schools could flourish. An environment where the public was asked to SEE KIDS AGAIN—not just taxes.

They found that the funding for our schools was embroiled in the political process and it was commonplace for different regions of the state to compete against each other for school funding; and they believed that the parent voice could and should speak for all children. Their original documentation states that they would not be divided by geography, race, economic status, generation or the special needs of our children.  And they have stayed true to this belief.

But, in 2001, the state had taken on the liability of funding schools and the first year paid for it in with surplus dollars—but those dollars soon ran out and schools were held liable for half of the state deficit. So in 2003 while the state imposed 52 new mandates on schools, they also imposed deep and lasting cuts for the entire education system—early education through higher ed.

The per pupil formula was held constant for multiple years, after school programs, early intervention programs, early care programs were cut, English language learning services were capped at five years, special education funding was held flat and remains there today.

Instead of becoming discouraged, Parents United responded by building relationships with other advocacy groups—the MN PTA, ISAIAH, and the Alliance for Student Achievement. They worked to network parents with legislators and with each other. Fledging local parent advocacy groups were linked with those who had more experience. 

In 2004, they brought 100 legislators into schools across the state to see firsthand what their policies were reaping.  They organized the first Parent Summit. They began tracking legislation and sending weekly updates to a growing database. 

They developed a website which has become one of the best parent resources in the state. We often field calls from other states asking to use the information on our site. We have several people to thank for that, but in the last years, Jennifer Armstrong has really taken the lead on that front. 

We began making presentations around the state on How our Schools are Funded, presentations that explain how policy passed at the state and federal level effects your local school.  As of today, over 150 of these presentations have been made from Bemidji to Jackson County Central.

Parents United literally wrote the book on how to explain school funding with The Little Book of Big Important Stuff—a primer on school funding written in “parentese” by our parent board member, Stephani Atkins.

Also in 2004, they forced a review of the social studies standards that were making their way through the legislative process.  Social studies standards that referred to the American slave trade of the 1800’s as the “immigration of Africans to America.” They stood together and opposed the confirmation of these standards as well as the confirmation of a divisive Commissioner of Education. They saw a new revision of the standards passed and that commissioner denied Senate confirmation. 

It was time for a new voice at the table and that new voice came in loud and clear when 8,000 citizens rallied at the state Capitol on a freezing cold day in February demanding that the governor and state legislators keep the promise of public schools. But they didn’t go home that day, they maintained a parent presence every week in every education committee throughout the session. In 2005, all these efforts resulted in our schools receiving the largest unencumbered increase in funding in fourteen years!

By 2006 parents felt empowered and took it to the ballot box. Parents United educated candidates for elected office to help them understand school funding, they worked with local groups educating them on how to host candidate forums, and they wrote questions for those forums. They shared information between parent groups on what was working to pass local tax levies. Parents United Network produced report cards during election years.

A perverse consequence of school funding’s heavy reliance on local levies was the development of parent groups who really knew how to run campaigns! And a great many of them across the state ran campaigns—this time for elected office. And the number one issue during the 06 campaign season?—was public school funding!

Today, many of those who worked so hard advocating for our schools are now sitting in board rooms as well as House and Senate chambers.

This didn’t just happen. It happened because groups like Parents United were there. ISAIAH, MN PTA, Ready 4 K, League of Women Voters, AAUW, Children’s Defense Fund, Children’s Platform Coalition—groups rising up and forming partnerships to change the very lay of the land, gaining strength by forming these alliances.

But we’re nowhere near where we need to be. Minnesota still has the largest achievement gap in the nation, we know that not all of our students are being well-served by our schools.  

The federal government has never made good on its authorization to reimburse 40 cents out of every dollar a state pays for special education. NCLB is being reauthorized as we speak. And if we truly mean to leave no child behind, we need that act to be more responsive to our children’s needs.

Parents United has a plan for next year and the next three years and for five years out. We need to turn at least some of our attention to federal legislation and we have begun that process.

We have to build stronger relationships with each other. No matter where we live, we need to build relationships with the business community.  We need to remember that the job is far from finished. We need to make sure we don’t just hope that someone else finishes the job.

There’s been a shift in advocacy. No longer can we simply hold rallies or beat down the doors of our elected officials, we need to help form the answers. That’s the real future of advocacy.

Parents are being seen as an authentic voice for public schools and little by little they’re being invited to the table.  That’s why we’re involved with PS Minnesota—it presents an updated funding formula that needs to be made workable for all children.

But we have to realize that to keep a seat at the table, we need to remember what that first group of parents knew. We have to continue to engage and educate, motivate and activate ourselves as well as a growing number of Minnesotans.

What the forefathers and foremothers of Minnesota inscribed in the state constitution when they said: “The stability of a republican form of government depending mainly upon the intelligence of the people, it is the duty of the legislature to establish a general and uniform system of public schools.” They were talking about caring for us. Now we need to follow their lead and care for our children’s children.