Key points to remember about this advocacy topic are:

• Its purpose is NOT to tell PTA local units and councils how to conduct their business.
• This particular advocacy topic is NOT saying, "Don't do those gift wrap and chocolate sales." Instead we hope to encourage local PTA units and councils to be deliberate about setting goals that are important to their community as well as carefully making the decisions about how to raise the funds necessary to provide those programs, perform those projects, and meet those goals. You might want to start your discussions by evaluating your present fundraising activities against the Milwaukee Principles (September 1997 WSPTA Commercial Influences Advocacy Brief.
• We hope to encourage local PTA units and councils to make themselves aware of what types of advertisements are in their local classrooms and what their children are being influenced by on a daily basis.
• This is a new area for many of us and our goal is to build an awareness of some of the subtleties of the commercial influences that surround children.
• As child advocates, we believe that there should be a collaborative discussion of this topic within each community so that a common decision can be reached as to what the community believes is appropriate for them and their children.
• Because of diminished funding for school programs and equipment, schools now look to their communities for supplemental funding or "in-kind" donations. An important component of this advocacy topic is to help generate local discussions on the framework for healthy school/business partnerships that support and benefit all partners without exploitation.
• An additional element to this advocacy topic is the subject of media literacy that was well addressed in a recent issue of the Child Advocate. Through the media literacy element, our goal is to help initiate discussions within the family about advertising on television and radio as well as in print and on billboards. We hope that this discussion will also be brought into the community as a dialogue about media literacy within the classroom and throughout the community.

So you see, advocacy topics are about beginning discussions, dialogue, and cooperative decision-making both within the local PTA unit and council and throughout the larger community about issues affecting children.

On Sept. 19, 1997, over 650 stakeholders in education met at the statewide Second Annual Parent Involvement Summit, sponsored by Washington State PTA.

In one session, approximately 50 leaders representing business, parents, educators, media, and non-profit organizations discussed the role of business in supporting education. This session was facilitated by Suzy Herivel Maloney, a corporate trainer from SAFECO Corporation.

This group developed the following criteria for healthy business/school partnerships:

• The school/business relationship must be two-way: beneficial to and meaningful for both parties.
• The school/business relationship must be long-term, built on trust, and nurtured.
• The school/business relationship must be based on clearly defined needs, goals, and expectations on both sides. These goals must be related to student needs.
• The school/business relationship should be honored and recognized in ways that do not exploit children or constitute even a perceived endorsement of products or companies.
• The school/business relationship can be based on gifts of time and talent, not just money and goods.
• Schools and parents should be pro-active in initiating relationships with both the for-profit and non-profit sector.

These criteria may provide a starting point for discussions within your community. They do not reflect an official position of the Washington State PTA.

A recent study of 30 public schools in our state showed that for-profit companies are using public schools for marketing purposes. You may want to use this list as a framework for determining how prevalent these

practices are in your school.

• Using students to:

-sell products to family and others in exchange for inexpensive 'prizes'
-to provide information for marketing purposes via 'contests'
-to advertise products to peers by covering their schoolbooks with ads.

• Using staff to distribute ads:
  -to students (promotional items and coupons, book cover ads, logo-bearing posters) -to sell products to students and families in exchange for goods
  -to send fund raising business their way in exchange for 'gifts'.

• Using school facilities:

-wall space for ads, displays, and logo-bearing posters.
-halls, lunchrooms and student lounges for logo-bearing vending machines and  floor displays.
-counseling and nursing offices for distribution of sample products.
-school grounds for logo-bearing readerboards.

• Using instructional time for fund raising assemblies and collection/distribution of goods for showing television commercials via "'Channel One."

Report on Commercial Activities and Advertising in the Seattle Public Schools. Seattle, WA: Seattle Council of PTSA (1997).

The Milwaukee Principles for Corporate Involvement in the Schools (1990) are a set of eight guidelines to ensure ethical, positive school-business relationships, the protection of children's welfare, and the integrity of the learning environment (for the full text, see WSPTA Advocacy Brief, Sept. 1997).

These principles have been endorsed by:

• National Association of Secondary School Principals
• National Association of State Boards of Education
• National Council for the Social Studies
• National Education Association
• National PTA
• Seattle Council of PTSAs

"School should be all about teaching kids to make their own choices, not coercing them to buy things they don't need. Schools should not be selling my child as a consumer to corporations.  ...a parent

"Our schools are underfunded. How else are we going to be able to get the equipment we need to help kids if we don't take the business community up on their offers and abide by their terms?"... a school district employee

"Commercial advertising does not belong in schools, because schools should educate citizens, not consumers. Citizens need to learn values other than commercial profit, which they learn plenty outside of school..."  ...a parent

"How will our PTA survive if we don't do these fundraisers? We have bills that we have to pay and things we want to do for kids."  ... a PTA leader