PTA council to sponsor Legislative Brown Bag Lunch on Feb. 28

MADISON – The Madison City Council of PTAs invites the public to its Legislative Brown Bag Luncheon on Friday.

Local legislators will discuss education-related issues active in the current legislative session. The event starts at noon at the Central Office, 211 Celtic Drive.

“Anyone that has a interest in education in Alabama would benefit from this event,” council president Sonja S. Griffith said. “We do have mostly moms that attend the meetings, but there are the few dads that want to be informed about the upcoming topics in education.”

Small business owners, military personnel or the PTA mom “will all feel the affects — good or bad — that will come from decisions made in Montgomery regarding public education,” Griffith said.

State legislators participating in the brown bag lunch are Sen. Bill Holtzclaw, Rep. Mike Ball and Rep. Dan Williams.

One likely hot topic will be Senate Bill 380, introduced by Sen. Scott Beason to repeal Alabama College and Career Ready Standards. “Madison City Council of PTAs and the Alabama PTA are against SB380,” Griffith said. “As the state’s largest advocacy group for children, we support high academic standards for Alabama’s students.”

In addition, PTAs support the Alabama State Board of Education in decisions about curriculum and instruction for public schools, not the legislature, Griffith said. “The Alabama Board of Education has full control of the curriculum and is leading the way to take our kids to a higher standard so they’re competitive nationally and globally.”

The legislators will review upcoming bills regarding technology in public schools, specifically digital textbooks or iPads for all students. “We would like local school boards to have control over how technology initiatives will be used, instead of the legislature in Montgomery,” she said.

Interested individuals can bring their lunch and reserve a seat by emailing to madisoncitypta@gmail.com.

The brown bag luncheons represent a partnership between the PTA council and Madison Board of Education to keep citizens informed on issues affecting public education, Griffith said.