PTA A IS FOR ADVOCACY

presented by Wendy Birket Legislative Chair Orange County Council of PTA/PTSAs PTA: A IS FOR ADVOCACY WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF PTA?

➤ PTA Advocates are… AWARE — know the issues ALERT — monitoring changes ACTIVE — fully responsive ADVOCACY POSITIONS (2016-17)

➤ Local Units: Legislative Chair and committee on each board.

➤ OCCPTA Legislative Committee chaired by Wendy Birket. ➤ occpta.org ➤ PTA Legislative Committee chaired by Angie Gallo. ➤ floridapta.org/advocacy ➤ National PTA Vice President of Advocacy, Shannon Sevier ➤ pta.org/advocacy PTA NUMBERS = STRENGTH

➤ Nationwide approximately 4 million PTA/PTSA members last year. ➤ Florida has about 200,000. ➤ ESSA Public Input received approximately 400 comments nationwide — 300 were PTA members. ➤ Our voice is valuable. ➤ Sign up for Voter Voice at PTA.org and floridapta.org. ➤ Watch for Calls to Action. ➤ Call your representative. PTA NON-PROFIT STATUS & RESOLUTIONS

➤ PTA is a non-profit organization. ➤ PTA does not endorse or oppose candidates. ➤ PTA RESOLUTIONS direct the advocacy of our organization. GOVERNMENT POWERS OVER EDUCATION Legislation Implementation Elected officials Appointed officials USA US Constitution grants federal powers to tax & spend for general welfare.

US Congress passes spending laws US Dept. of Education creates & appropriates funding. rules to implement federal law.

FLORIDA US Constitution Amendment 10: Education to State powers.

Florida Dept. of Education passes laws & creates rules to implement state appropriates funding. law and seek federal funding.

ORANGE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT

Superintendent hired by School Board. School Board members & OCPS Learning Communities have Area Chairperson. Superintendent & Executive Area Director. NATIONAL PTA.ORG/ADVOCACY (SCROLL DOWN) — NATIONAL PTA ORANGE COUNTY U.S. CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION, 2016

➤ U.S. Senate: 6-year term, no term limits

➤ Bill Nelson-D

➤ Marco Rubio-R, up for reelection Nov. 8

➤ opponent Patrick Murphy-D

➤ opponent Paul Stanton-L

➤ other opponents

➤ U.S. House of Representatives: 2-year term, no term limits, all up for reelection Nov. 8

Dist. Incumbent Candidate Candidate 5 Corrine Brown-D (lost primary) Al Lawson-D Glo Smith-R 7 John Mica-R Stephanie Murphy-D Mike Plascon-(write-in) 8 Bill Posey-R Corry Westbrook-D Bill Stinson-Ind. 9 Alan Grayson-D (not in race) Darren Soto-D Wayne Liebnitzky-R

10 Daniel Webster (not in race) Val Demings-D Thuy Lowe-R STATE FLORIDAPTA.ORG/ADVOCACY SCROLL DOWN…………NO SCHOOL? JOIN SUNSHINE STATE ORANGE COUNTY LEGISLATIVE DELEGATION, 2016

Term Limit Term Limit Term Limit Term Limit Term Limit

Term Limit Term Limit

2-yr term, 4-term limit 4-yr term, 2-term limit

Delegation Elections, Nov. 8, 2016

HD CANDIDATE CANDIDATE SD CANDIDATE CANDIDATE 30 Robert “Bob” Cortes-R-I Ryan Yadav-D 11 Randolph Bracy-D 31 Jennifer Sullivan-R-I Robert Rightmyer-NP 12 Dennis Baxley-R 44 Eric Eisnaugle-R-I 13 Linda Stewart-D Dean Asher-R 45 Kamia Brown-D 14 Dorothy Hukill-R Richard P. Dembinsky-NP 46 Bruce Antone-D-I 15 Victor M. Torres, Jr.-D Peter Vivaldi-R 47 Mike Miller-R-I Beth Tuura-D 48 Amy Mercado-D Gus Martinez-NP 49 -D Shea Silverman-NP 50 -R Sean Ashby-D FLORIDA PTA TRIP TO TALLAHASSEE

➤ The Florida PTA Legislative Conference & Rally will be held from March 26-28, 2017, in Tallahassee. ➤ The OCCPTA Legislative Committee will arrange a bus trip to Tallahassee for PTA/PTSA advocacy on March 28, 2017. LOCAL ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

Bryan Nelson

RUNOFF: Victoria Edwards/Bonilla Siplin Pete Clarke RUNOFF: Olszewski, VanderLey Jennifer Thompson ORANGE COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD

District 7 Runoff, Nov. 8th, between Christine Moore and Matthew Fitzpatrick INFORMATION RESOURCES

➤ pta.org ➤ floridapta.org ➤ occpta.org ➤ myfloridahouse.gov ➤ floridasenate.gov ➤ ocfelections.com ➤ orangecountyfl.net ➤ ocps.net ➤ ballotpedia.org ➤ nonprofitvote.org

Questions or comments? Contact Wendy Birket, Legislative Chair, Orange County Council of PTA/PTSAs [email protected]