Virginia PTA History

Our roots were formed in the Cooperative Education Association which began in 1904 by a group of people interested in public education. The Virginia branch of the National Congress of Mothers was formed in 1921 in the Star City, Roanoke. In 1933 the Cooperative Education Association merged with the Virginia Branch of the National Congress of Mothers. From 1937 until 1952 the General Assembly subsidized the budget of the Virginia PTA. In 1968 another merge took place with the Virginia Federation joining the Virginia Congress of Parents and Teachers. The membership in 1933 was 5,000 and today our membership exceeds 350,000.

Historical Presentation Marking 100 Years of Child Advocacy in Virginia - Presented at 2004 Annual Convention - Portsmouth

The history of National PTA is well documented. We all have heard the wonderful story of our beginnings on February 17, 1897 and the birth of the largest volunteer organization working solely on behalf of children.

Virginia PTA history was first published in the January 1954 Bulletin in an article by then PTA Historian, Mrs. Hunter Brown. From this article titled “Fifty Years in Retrospect”, we find our roots. The recorded history of parental and community involvement in the education of our children began in 1904. Paraphrasing this article it states, “The great cyclone of reform in state affairs which had been brewing for a long time burst in 1900, when the citizens of Virginia voted to call a State Constitutional Convention. It met in Richmond June 12, 1901. Almost a year later, on June 6, 1902, the new constitution was adopted and it included a provision for a modern Department of Public Instruction, under the direction of a State Superintendent; with aid from state funds for schools, under certain conditions.”

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