PARENTS NEEDED FOR POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC SUPPORT
To further persuade you that parents are essential to the well-being of your school, just remind
yourself that only one-fourth of American households have a school-age child in them. This
means that the families who consider themselves to have a strong stake in the quality of your
school are vastly outnumbered by those who may not care one way or another. What’s more,
some of these households without children may consider tax-supported expenditures for
schools for other people’s children to be a waste of money.
When it comes time to seek out community support for a bond or budget election, to
whom do you turn for political support (that is, for votes)? Parents who identify with their child’s
school are more likely to turn out to vote for school issues—and to vote affirmatively. They are
also a potential advocacy group for encouraging others to vote for educational needs. Schools
need political support to thrive and survive, which means parents are more important than ever
before. In that same context, the fewer parents there are, the more important they are to the
schools.
