Writing Resolutions
JANUARY 15th is the submissions deadline for resolutions to be considered at the May Virginia PTA Annual Meeting.
Virginia PTA, as one of 54 congresses of the National PTA, is part of the largest and oldest non-partisan child advocacy association in the United States.
Resolutions are one way that we share our research with each other and formally communicate a researched action, opinion or needed solution to address a concern which affects children and youth statewide. Resolutions are adopted every year at our Annual Meeting by General Membership.
There are two main parts of a resolution:
Whereas Statements: Shares researched FACTS that EXPLAIN WHY the action in the resolved clauses is important and needs collaborative work.
Resolved Statements: States the ACTION that you want to happen in order to address a concern or express the opinion or will of the association.
Your school PTA may adopt a resolution to formally share concerns and a needed action with your School Board or Superintendent. If the solution required is a statewide concern or requires changes to the state code, regulations or funding formulas, you can send your resolution to the Virginia PTA to elevate your concern so that parents and teachers across the state can join you in asking for change.
A resolution submitted to the Virginia PTA should:
- Relate to the education, health, safety or welfare of children and youth, or parental education and involvement of parents across Virginia;
- Be in harmony with the basic policies and purposes of the National PTA and Virginia PTA, as stated in the bylaws;
- State a position not previously adopted by Virginia PTA or National PTA;
- Cite three (3) different background references which were published no more than six (6) years ago for each “Whereas” statement of fact to show that the issue is statewide in scope. Note, position statements or materials of National PTA may not be used as reference materials.
- Describe the action you want taken by Virginia PTA members, administrators, legislators or influential parties to solve the problem.
Do you know of a situation or concern which affects children and youth statewide and requires a statewide solution?
The Virginia PTA Resolution Committee encourages PTA members, units, councils and districts to propose resolutions of interest on which they want the Virginia PTA and it’s members to take action.
To be considered, all resolutions must be submitted using the Virginia PTA resolutions template and be signed by the President or Director of a local unit, council or district that is in good standing.
Submitted resolutions will be reviewed by the Virginia PTA Resolutions Committee to determine if the submission criteria are met and whether or not the National PTA or Virginia PTA have already addressed the issue through a different resolution or position statement. The Virginia PTA Resolutions Committee may work with the maker of any submitted resolution to combine or edit the resolutions to prepare the resolution for discussion at the Virginia PTA Annual Meeting.
Resolutions that are approved by voting delegates at the Virginia PTA Annual meeting automatically become advocacy priorities for the following year.
Resources
document SUBMISSION TEMPLATE (92 KB)
Please email the Resolutions Chair (Advocacy@VAPTA.org) if you need help or have questions.
