D.C. Council Chairman Kwame Brown is planning to introduce legislation that would force low-income parents receiving financial assistance from the city to attend their children’s parent-teacher conferences and PTA meetings. Brown’s bill aims to increase parents’ involvement in their children’s education, a step he and other city leaders say is necessary to reap the promised benefits of school reforms, by cutting all federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program benefits to families who miss parent-teacher conferences or more than two PTA meetings without a doctor’s note or other documented excuse.
Parents of charter school students would not only lose their TANF benefits, but also the right to send their children to charter schools.
“We’re holding our teachers accountable, our principals accountable, our chancellor accountable — parents have to be accountable too,” Brown told The Washington Examiner.
Brown originally introduced the bill in November 2008, but couldn’t get enough support to hold a hearing.
“Since I am the chairman of the council and the education committee is under [my direction] now, I have control to at least have a hearing,” Brown said.
D.C. Public Schools schedules three parent-teacher conferences each year, including one set for Monday. The number of PTA meetings varies by school. DCPS and the D.C. Public Charter School Board both declined to comment on the bill.
Nearly 18,000 District residents receive TANF benefits, cash assistance reserved for pregnant women and low-income families with dependent children. The city spent $138.6 million on TANF in fiscal 2010. The council voted in December to phase out benefits for families who had been in the program for more than five years.
Brown’s bill will be met by opposition from colleagues, experts and education activists, who say it’s wrong to target only low-income parents; question whether any research has proven these penalties increase parental involvement; and express concern that children will be the ones penalized when their parents’ wallets are thinner.
“If you cut them off TANF, what, are you also going to take in the kids as wards when their parents can’t buy them food? This is crazy,” said Absalom Jordan, chairman of the Ward 8 Education Council.
Ward 7 Councilwoman Yvette Alexander said she agreed with Brown that disengaged parents are a barrier to their children’s success in school. But, “I must stress the fact that you shouldn’t categorize people based on their income, on whether or not they’re responsible parents.”
Ed Lazere, executive director of the DC Fiscal Policy Institute, said he was concerned that “a significant administrative burden” for schools could tie up much-needed benefits with poor record-keeping.
“We don’t want someone losing basic assistance for their families because the records for PTA meetings weren’t kept organized.”
But some parents say they witness firsthand how few parents show up to support their kids. Jamie Mayo, the PTA president at Ward 8’s Garfield Elementary, says only five parents come to her meetings and a bill this dramatic could turn things around.
“On the first of the month, everything is crowded, Safeway is crowded, and you can tell everybody has money in their pocket,” Mayo said. “Well, I would like to see more parents at my meetings.”
