Advocacy
PTA has a history of 120 years towards advocating for children.
Raise the Base
The fundamental purpose of the PTA is to advocate for children.
Help us send 1 million letters to legislators! There are 7 pre-written letter templates that we are kindly asking you to print, sign, and mail out in 7 separate envelopes. There are 7 letters to 7 different key members of the California legislator with the addresses at the top of each one.
Here is how you can help in 5 easy steps:
1. Print out the letters.
2. Print and sign your full name and what city you reside in on all letters.
3. Address 7 separate envelopes and you’ll need postage.
4. Put them in your nearest mailbox.
5. Ask your friends and family to please mail out these letters as well.
6. Wait to hear that the Governor has agreed to use some of his budget surplus on Raising the LCFF Base Grant for all CA public schools!
You can download the letters and learn more about the Raise the Base initiative here:
http://www.cucptsa.com/index.asp?scid=162
Remember Raising the Base benefits all students in California. Our children deserve to have their education given priority by our elected leaders.
Visit raisethebase.com to send your letters with just one click!
Below is a letter template you can use to get your friends/family/neighbors/loved ones involved in helping us raise the base!
Hello supporter of CA public education!
The Capistrano Unified Council of Parent, Teacher, Student Association (CUCPTSA) Legislation/Advocacy Team in partnership with our CUSD Superintendent, her staff, our CUSD Trustees, Capistrano Unified Education Association (CUEA) and the California School Employees Association (CSEA) launched “Raise the Base” in the summer of 2021.
With the release of the Governor’s proposed budget on Friday, we NEED your help!! Out of the $97.5 BILLION surplus, Governor Newsom is proposing $8 Billion Flexible Block Grant, $ 2.1 Billion Declining Enrollment, $2.1 Billion LCFF base increase, $1.1 Billion LCFF COLA (6.56%), $1.5 Billion for Community Schools. Although there is a significant amount of funds directed towards K-12 Public Education, they are mostly “one-time expenditures”. One-time money and block grants are short term fixes and allow districts to create a program for a year or two but when the funding runs out, the program goes away. Additionally, the Governor has not addressed the paying down of STRS/PERS, which is a huge financial commitment for most districts. Instead, he pointed to the $2.1 billion dollars he proposed going into the base grant funding as the way to help districts with this rising cost.
So what now? WE NEED TO CONTINUE ADVOCATING FOR MORE FUNDS GOING INTO THE BASE GRANT.
With the release of the Governor’s proposed budget, it will set the stage for legislators and the Governor to start their negotiations going into the final budget on June 15th! We have created a direct email campaign that we would like for you to share with anyone and everyone!! These emails will go directly to the governor and 4 key legislators automatically with one click! By sharing this email with as many of your friends and neighbors (must reside in California), we will be sending a message to our legislators that we want to see MORE of the $97.5 Billion state surplus to be DIRECTED TO THE BASE FUNDING GRANT! NOT ONE-TIME FUNDS. NOT BLOCK GRANTS. NO MORE NEW TOYS! A BASE FUNDING INCREASE TO INVEST IN THE FUTURE OF OUR PUBLIC EDUCATION SYSTEM IN CALIFORNIA FOR ALL STUDENTS!
What is “Raise the Base”? California public schools are funded based on a formula called the Local Control Funding Formula or LCFF. The base funding that CA schools receive is used to keep the lights on, staff compensated and the school doors open but it has not received adequate attention since its creation in 2013. by raising the base funding grant by $9 billion dollars, CUSD will go from $8,900 (depending on grade level) per student, to approximately $12,500 per student. National average is approximately $14,000 per student.
Why support and advocate for “Raise the Base”? CUSD received covid relief funds which raised our per student funding to approximately $9,500 per student. With those funds, our district directed them into our students classrooms by reducing class sizes in elementary grade levels, hired full time PE teachers and provided more full time counselors at school sites. We want to keep these additions in place and do more! We will not be able to do that after next year without Raising the Base funding grant. Imagine what our district can do with $3,000 per student more in base funding without raising taxes??
Who can support “Raise the Base”? Anyone who resides in the state of California.
How can I advocate for “Raise the Base”? Go to raisethebase.com Fill in your information and hit send! You will be sending a message to our legislators that you support public education and you support Raising the Base grant to benefit all students in California!
