Texas PTA Historical Timeline:

1890s

• 1896 - Mrs. Ella Caruthers Porter established the first Mother's Club in Hillsboro, TX to promote "child study and betterment of the home."

• 1898 - Mrs. Porter attended the second National Congress of Mothers and was appointed to organize a state congress in Texas.

1900s

• 1909- The Texas Congress of Mothers and Parent-Teachers Association was formed on October 19, 1909 at the State Fair in Dallas.

• 1917 - 1920- PTA worked for the creation of the woman's division of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the election of county superintendents, free textbooks in schools, woman suffrage and a minimum wage law for women.

• 1918 - 1919- The "Year of the Child" is kicked off with a campaign to weigh and measure school age children and register births. Because of conditions discovered during the campaign, cities worked to set up clinics around Texas. The "Year of the Child" also included a back-to-school campaign.

1920s

• 1920- In the early 1920s, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Annie Webb Blanton offered office space to the Texas PTA in the State Capitol. Texas PTA sponsored a survey of the health of rural children in Texas by the Child Labor Committee.

• 1922- Texas PTA State Bylaws were translated into Spanish.

• 1924- County and city councils of PTAs maintained free dental clinics and put forth much effort to install hot lunch counters in schools.

• 1926- Texas PTA was asked to become part of the Texas Education Commission. PTA sent one representative to its regular session.

• 1928- Ina Caddell Marrs, president of the Texas Congress from 1920-1924, becomes the first Texan to be elected president of the National Congress.

1930s

• 1930 - 1939- Radio Listening Groups were established, soon formalizing as "The Texas School of the Air." Radio listenership topped 25,000.

• 1930- During Summer Round-Up, 9,112 children were examined as part of a health project inaugurated in 1925.

• 1931- Texas Congress of Mothers changed its name to Texas Congress of Parents and Teachers (Texas PTA).

• 1937- Texas PTA's Radio Chairman was responsible for the Payne Fund, which provided services of the National Chairman of Radio to teach summer education courses by radio at Southern Methodist University and University of Texas.

• 1938- Two colleges offered Parent-Teacher courses in their summer curricula. January 11, the Texas PTA Home at 408 West 11th Street was dedicated.

1940s

• 1945- National Convention and State Convention were canceled because the United States government ruled that no meetings of more than 50 people would be held during wartime so as not to tax railroad and bus lines. Instead, PTA leaders were asked to take PTA work out to rural districts.

• 1947- Congress cut appropriations for school lunch programs by $10 million. PTA stepped in to help communities provide nutrition for their children. J. Edgar Hoover wrote an article, "Delinquency Begins at home," especially for Texas PTA's Magazine.

1950s

• 1954- Mrs. Will Rogers taught a PTA-sponsored course in sign language at the Texas School of the Deaf. Texas PTA promoted trial Polio vaccines to selected Texas Children.

• 1956- PTA Radio and TV Chairman Mrs. B.L. Jarratt promoted using TV instruction to enrich high school curriculum.

• 1957- Texas PTA offices expanded again with the addition of a second story. Legislative program for 1957 called for more adequate special education programs, the prohibition of the sale of narcotics to children, making juveniles amenable for traffic and other law violations.

• 1958- Texas PTA's President sat on the Hale-Aiken Interim Committee on the legislature to survey the needs of public schools in regard to finance, program, teacher supply and school construction.

• 1959- The legislative program addressed Average Daily Attendance, funding of school finance, calling for a 12-year program of public education and an additional day to the minimum 175 classroom days, and called for the establishment of a division of guidance services in the Texas Education Agency.

1960s

• 1961- Texas PTA was commended for its program "Education Alert," which prompted PTA members to contact their legislators in support of education improvements. PTA called for the establishment and maintenance of an adequate State Juvenile Parole System.

• 1962- The legislative program included support for the protection of the permanent School Fund, support for a minimum sick leave program for teachers and the support for adequate state facilities for all dependent, neglected and orphaned children.

• 1963- The legislative program included support for programs that discourage students from dropping out of school and support for more and better laws to curtail physical abuse of children by their parents and caretakers.

• 1966- Leon Jaworski, attorney and chairman of the Governor's Committee on Public School Education, wrote the article "Texas Committee of 15" for the Texas Parent Teacher Newsletter. The Governor's Committee on Public School Education was commissioned to "develop formulate and recommend to the governor and the Legislature a long-range plan that would enable Texas to emerge as a national leader in educational aspiration, commitment and achievement."

• 1968- Texas PTA held a Communication Conference to improve school and community communications in conjunction with the Sears Roebuck Foundation. The program was an extension of the National PTA and National Juvenile Court Judges Foundation's project "Judicial Concern for Children in Trouble."

1970s

• 1970- Texas Colored Congress is united with the Texas PTA when National Congress of Colored Parent and Teachers merged with National PTA. Texas PTA printed excerpts from a speech by Supreme Court Justice Tom Clark regarding school prayer. Delegates voted to ensure public funds for the support of publicly controlled, tax-supported schools, to support non-compulsory early childhood education programs and to call for adequate protective standards in football head gear and equipment.

• 1973- Texas PTA President, Mrs. Marvin Armstrong, delivered over 500 letters to Governor Dolph Briscoe's office calling for a special session of the legislature to correct inequities in school finance. Governor Briscoe assured Mrs. Armstrong that PTA's concerns would be addressed in the 64th session.

• 1974- The legislative program supported correction of tax inequities, smaller teacher-to-student ratios, early childhood education and expanded counseling services to help children identify and cope with problems.

• 1976- First PTA Day at the Capitol. The legislative program supported giving funding of public education the highest priority, lowering pupil-to-teacher ratios and parenthood education program for grades K-12.

1980s

• 1980- Texas PTA Advisory Committee for the Identification of Parent Education Resources met. Seventeen agencies, associations and professional organizations involved in parent education discussed strategies for identifying resources on parent education in Texas.

• 1981- Texas PTA is awarded a grant for Levi-Strauss Foundation to develop program materials and conduct parent training sessions at its Texas-based plants in relation to availability and use of mental health resources. The state board of directors approved the formation of the Star Spangled PTA Unit made up of PTA Alumni and other friends of PTA who want to join the association but do not have direct contact with a local school unit.

• 1982- PTA called for stronger drug information in textbooks and conducted 140 drug awareness programs for Texas War on Drugs. Texas PTAs 20-year Child Abuse Prevention project received grant approval from the Texas Department of Human Resources to raise the awareness of child abuse and to assist families-at-risk by creating a statewide coalition dedicated to prevention.

• 1983- Texas PTA began a two-year statewide campaign promoting seat belt usage with a grant of $30,000 from TDHPS. Texas PTA hired a full-time staff member to serve as coordinator of the drug education and seat belt safety program.

1990s

• 1990- Texas PTA worked with the Texas Education Agency to set up Site Based Decision Making Committees in Texas Schools. Texas PTA developed a training program on Site Based Decision Making Committees for PTA membership.

• 1993- Texas PTA was influential in the Texas Education Agency's development of Parent Involvement: The Right Choice.

• 1995- Texas PTA impacted the Texas Education Code by advocating for increased parent rights. The revisions in the code gave parents access to 10 different student records, parent representation on the school decision making committee and all schools were required to have a parent-teacher organization.

• 1997- Texas PTA and the Texas Education Agencies Division of Parental Involvement formed the Texas Parental Involvement network (TxPIN) to bring together education agencies and associations.

• 1999- PTA volunteers and staff worked to pass many pieces of legislation in the Session of the Child. Legislation PTA worked to pass included: Senate Bill 4 School Finance bill that appropriated an unprecedented $3.8 billion for public education, school-based health clinics, limitations for minors employed to sell door-to-door and more funding for child abuse case workers. Texas PTA was instrumental in the defeat of voucher legislation.

2000s

• 2001- Texas PTA adopted a new logo and a new tag line, "every child, one voice." Texas PTA also planned a Tobacco Summit in Dallas for students, teachers and parents to share experiences in tobacco prevention efforts, and, through an organization called TRUST, took a lead role in tobacco prevention by receiving a $1 million grant for three years from the Robert Wood Foundation to promote clean indoor air ordinances throught Texas. Legislative actions included the passing of the Kids Aren't Cargo bill, Graduated Driver's License bill, Daily Physical Education bill, and Teacher Health Insurance bill.

• 2002- Texas PTA publication, The Communicator, took on a new name, The Voice. Along with National PTA, Texas PTA unveiled the National PTA Hispanic Initiative in the Valley area of Texas. Debuted a new Student Leadership Course to a "students only" group at 2002 Convention.

- See more at: http://www.txpta.org/about-texas-pta/history/#sthash.pRIBRSdh.dpuf