One very important reason to join PTA is that PTA is the only group whose exclusive interest is the health, welfare, safety and education of your children. Children cannot vote, and are not organized and do not participate in the legislative process. Thus, they have no say in creating the policies that affect their lives and well-being. PTA allows you to speak for the interest of your children when you cannot be there yourself. Whether on Capitol Hill or at the state legislature -- wherever decisions are made that affect your children, PTA is there speaking on behalf of your children. This has always been and will always be a central focus of PTA. In 1937, PTA was advocating for child labor laws. Today the issues are equally important for our children -- internet safety, youth violence, levy/bond election, education reform, school class size and many more.
Another compelling reason to join your local PTA unit is that every study ever conducted on the relationship between student performance and parent involvement in education shows that when parents are involved in education, student academic performance improves. Involvement in PTA allows you not only to be involved in your child's education, but also allows you to get to know their teachers better and become more familiar with the school and what goes on there. It also allows you to get to know the parents of your children's classmates better. Even if you don't have a great deal of time to devote to PTA activities, by becoming a member and attending meetings you are showing your children that you believe their school and their education is important.
Lastly and perhaps most importantly, your membership in PTA has a direct impact on your children and the quality of their school. PTA has the ability, more than any other organization, to make a school a better place for your children to learn. PTAs do this by addressing the needs of their individual schools. By becoming a PTA member, you can help identify those needs and develop solutions that may include: making the school safer, becoming more technologically advanced, being more tolerant to others' differences, and bringing enriched educational opportunities to the school.
The easiest way to become a member is by joining a local PTA unit in your community. If your child goes to a school served by a PTA, we encourage you to join immediately and get involved. If your child's school does not have a PTA, encourage the parent group to seriously consider affiliation with the Hawaii State PTSA. If you do not have children in school, are a community leaders, legislator, retired educator, or someone who wishes to support PTA at the state level, we invite you to become a member of the Aloha PTSA, a non-traditional unit chartered by the Hawaii State PTSA. For more information about the Aloha PTSA, click here.
There is no better value than a membership in the PTA! It costs each member only a few dollars a year. Each local unit determines how much they wish to charge each member. Of this amount, $9.25 is remitted to the Hawaii State PTSA for each member -- $7.50 goes to the State and $1.75 goes to National PTA. The balance remaining stays with your local PTA unit.
For example:
Local Unit Charges $15.00 per member $15.00
Remittance to Hawaii State PTSA
State Portion of Dues $7.50
National Portion of Dues 1.75 (9.25)
Balance Remaining with Local Unit $ 5.75
An initial supply of membership cards were either mailed or delivered to all local units in August 2006. Units requiring additional cards may contact our state office at info@hawaiiptsa.org or our membership chair, Sharon Weathers at weatherss001@hawaii.rr.com.
The resources and programs of National PTA and the Hawaii State PTSA are delivered to each local unit, not to each individual member. In order to continue to make available publications, resource materials, training opportunities, and program support in an equitable manner, each member unit must submit member dues to the National PTA and the state PTA.
Have we answered your questions?
If not, please go to Contact Us to submit a request for information online or call us at:
Hawaii State PTSA
P. O. Box 22878
Honolulu, Hawaii 96823-2878
Phone (808) 593-2042
email: info@hawaiiptsa.org
