Good luck. We had a 6 million dollar budget shortfall last year. The hottest topic was bussing. The government has to provide bussing for kids who live over 2.5 miles from school, our district was covering the cost of the difference between that and 1.3 miles. The district decided not to fund that anymore, saving them almost $600,000. Then a few months later we found out that someone had scammed the district of over $500,000. A lot of parents would go to the board meetings, but to no avail. They got rid of bussing. Over 3,000 kids were left to find their own way to school, including mine. Most walk busy intersections. Mine are taken in car pools. The district is blaming the legislature because they never got a school budget passed. I blame them both for not putting the needs of the kids first. I wish we could vote in our superintendents instead of them being hired by the board. Needless to say, I didn't vote for any of the legislators who wouldn't help pass the budget. I think a few of them lost. So, it's not a lost cause, but it will be a tough one!

My 2 cents, as luvmykids said, I would strongly encourage parents to start attending school board meetings. I attend ours once a month because it is the only way to find out what's going on. Some are boring, some are interesting but until you know all the facts, it's hard to even know what to complain about.

Thanks for all the advice. I think we will start with writing letters and e-mails to our school board and then write the state school board and legislators.

Even if you don't want the PTO to take a formal position on this, you can use the PTO to disseminate the information about the budget cuts. Give people the contact names of people at the local and state level so they can make their opinions known; summarize the actions the local district plans to take and get it to everyone you can--everything everyone else has already told you. You don't need to be afraid to put this out under the PTO, I don't think--seems like a perfectly legitimate use of PTO resources.

The best thing you can do is arm yourself with the facts of the situation. Then parents need to attend board of ed meetings so that they can stay in the loop and have a voice in what is going on.

Don't overlook the power of the people vs. the state legislature. This will take some energy and organization, but get parents to contact your state legistators and governor. Get LOTS of parents. Email is very effective and easy. The state hands out the funding. If there is a shortfall, make sure the lawmakers know how you feel.