Does PTA and Parental fundraising matter?
School funding is complicated and more often than not, unfair. There are other ways a school can gain funding than just through government revenues. As seen in the infographic above, fundraising is a big part of PTA. The amount of funds raised depends on the wealth and connections of the parents at the school.
In the Nice White Parents podcast, reporter Joffe-Walt takes the listener on a journey of the inner-workings of a public middle school in New York City. In episode 1, Joffe-Walt demonstrates how much money a PTA or parental support can change the finances of a school. The parents of the wealthy white students wanted a French-immersion program for their children. Through extensive fundraising and parental giving, thousands of dollars were raised to ensure their children would have the resources to learn French.
In that same episode, it is said that the year before the white parents came to the school, the PTA raised around $200. This school is a prime example of how much more money and resources a school has when wealthy children attend it. No matter how much money is given by the federal, state, and local governments, the PTA and parental support can drastically change a school’s resources. As the page, “What Schools are American Students Attending?” states, most students attend their assigned public school so therefore if a school is in an economically disadvantaged area, the PTA and parents of the children that attend that school will not be able to provide as much money as schools in the same district in a more economically advantaged area.
Not surprisingly, a longitudinal study of over 900 elementary public schools found that the higher percentage of parents participating in PTA/PTO, volunteering, and fundraising the more likely a school was to have higher percentages of students at or above national/state standards in math and reading achievement.
The information is not surprising. It makes sense that more parental involvement increases educational outcomes. The issue comes when working-class parents often have less time and resources to spend at their children’s school. Thus, the schools with higher populations of low-income students receive less parental time and monetary giving that schools with high-income students receive.