Advocate — Parents in the Room Where Decisions Get Made

Twelve parents and community organizers standing on the steps of a district administration building, some holding hand-painted signs, one woman mid-laugh with a toddler on her hip, a teenager in the back row wearing a school hoodie — shot from slightly below eye level in natural light

They make the decisions. We raise the kids. Time to be in the same room.

A coalition, not a committee

Advocate connects families who've been shut out of school decisions with the tools, the training, and the other parents to change that. No background in policy required. Just a kid whose future is being decided without you in the room.

4,200+

families organizing

school districts

127

board votes influenced

Real families. Real fights.

The people already in the room

Black mother in a bright yellow jacket sitting at a school board meeting table with papers spread in front of her, looking directly at the camera with quiet determination

Denise Okafor

Compton USD, CA

Showed up to her son's IEP meeting alone for three years. This February, she showed up with eleven other parents. The district added a reading specialist to his school within sixty days.

Group of diverse parents laughing together outside a school building, some holding hand-painted signs with messages about school funding

Rally Morning

Detroit, MI

Sixty-three parents from four different zip codes gathered before the 7 a.m. budget vote. The district reversed a proposed cut to after-school programs.

Elderly Black grandmother sitting at a kitchen table reviewing school documents, glasses on, pen in hand, child's artwork visible on the wall behind her

Gloria Mae Tatum

Birmingham City Schools, AL

Raising her two grandchildren since 2021. "Nobody told me I could speak at a board meeting." She's spoken at six since joining Advocate.

Latino father holding a toddler on his hip while talking to another parent outside a school, both smiling, morning light

Marcos Delgado-Rios

Houston ISD, TX

First-generation. First school board meeting. First time he heard his daughter's school mentioned by name in a budget line. He brought a translator. He brought three neighbors.

I walked into that room thinking I was a guest. I left knowing I was a constituent.

— Denise Okafor, Compton USD

Packed school board meeting auditorium, parents filling every seat, several standing along the walls, one person at the microphone

Packed Auditorium

Oakland USD, CA

Three hundred parents filled a room designed for seventy-five. The board voted to delay the school closure — the first reversal in eleven years.

Young Black woman with natural hair speaking into a microphone at a school board podium, a stack of papers in her hand, confident expression

Tanya Breckenridge

Memphis-Shelby County Schools, TN

Twenty-two years old. Two kids in the district. She read the entire 400-page budget proposal so she could ask one precise question. The board couldn't answer it.

Filipino American mother and teenage son sitting side by side at a community organizing meeting, both looking at printed materials on the table

Marisol & Diego Villanueva

Fresno USD, CA

Her son translated the toolkit into Tagalog for their neighborhood group. Seventeen families came to the next board meeting who had never attended one before.

Diverse group of parents and children walking up the steps of a government building together, some carrying colorful handmade signs

March to the District Office

Newark, NJ

Eighty-one parents. Forty-four children. One ask: show us the formula that decides how much money each school gets. They got a public meeting instead of a form letter.

Native American grandmother and grandfather sitting across from a school administrator at a conference table, a young child's photo visible on the table

Raymond & Shirley Runningwater

Gallup-McKinley County Schools, NM

Raising their granddaughter after losing their daughter. "We didn't know what an IEP was. Advocate sent us a grandparent guide in plain language. That changed everything."

Nobody handed us a seat at the table. We counted how many of us there were and we pulled up our own chairs.

— Tanya Breckenridge, Memphis-Shelby County Schools

Black teenage boy in a school hoodie standing at the back of a crowded school board meeting, arms crossed, listening intently

Jordan Ellis

Chicago Public Schools, IL

Sixteen. Attended every board meeting for a semester because his school lost its only counselor. The position was reinstated in the spring budget.

Latina mother laughing with another parent outside a church basement meeting space, coffee cups in hand, evening light through a window

Rosa Esperanza Medina

San Antonio ISD, TX

Started coming to Advocate meetings because a neighbor asked her. "I thought I needed a degree to understand the budget. Turns out I just needed the spreadsheet and someone who would explain it."

Mixed group of parents of different races and ages sitting in folding chairs in a community room, all looking toward a handwritten agenda on butcher paper on the wall

Tuesday Night Meeting

Philadelphia, PA

Thirty-one parents. Folding chairs. A handwritten agenda. Someone brought cookies. Three of them spoke at the board meeting four days later for the first time.

South Asian mother with two school-age children in a school hallway, holding a folder of documents, smiling at the camera

Priya Chandrasekaran

Montgomery County Public Schools, MD

Moved here from Chennai four years ago. "The system felt designed to confuse me. The toolkit had every form, every deadline, every right I didn't know I had."

Two Black women talking intently at a community organizing table covered in papers and markers, one pointing at a document

Keisha & Tamara

Baltimore City Schools, MD

Met at their first Advocate meeting eighteen months ago. Co-led the campaign that added two parent seats to the district's facilities planning committee.

Wide shot of a rally outside a school district building, a hundred people visible, hand-painted banners in Spanish and English, morning sun

Coalition Rally

Los Angeles USD, CA

Five Advocate chapters showed up together for the first time. "We realized we weren't just one neighborhood fighting. We were a city."

What we believe

Every budget decision is a decision about whose children matter. Every curriculum vote is a vote about whose history gets told. The parents in this coalition are done watching from the parking lot. The chair at the table has always been theirs. They're just taking it.

Free. No strings.

The Parent Action Toolkit

Everything a parent needs to show up prepared: how to read a school budget, what to say at a board meeting, your child's IEP rights in plain language, a template for public comment, and a directory of every advocacy group in your state.

How to read a school budget (without a finance degree)
Your rights at an IEP meeting — a plain-language guide
Public comment templates in English, Spanish & Tagalog
How to request a school board agenda item
A state-by-state advocacy directory
A 30-day organizing calendar for new chapters

Get the free toolkit

We'll send it straight to your inbox. No spam, ever.

The next vote is coming.

Find your district's next board meeting

School board meetings are public. Your attendance is your vote. Most decisions that affect your child's classroom happen in rooms that have empty chairs — not because parents don't care, but because no one told them the meeting was happening.

Parents filling a school board meeting room, some raising hands to speak during public comment, an administrator at the front of the room

73%

of seats go unfilled

Upcoming meetings — February 2026

Mar

Houston ISD

Budget Hearing

6:00 PM · Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center

Mar

Chicago Public Schools

Regular Board Meeting

7:00 PM · 1 N. Dearborn, Board Room

Mar

Los Angeles USD

Curriculum Committee

1:00 PM · Board of Education HQ, 333 S. Beaudry

Mar

Philadelphia School District

Special Education Review

6:30 PM · 440 N. Broad Street, Auditorium

Mar

Detroit Public Schools

Annual Budget Vote

5:30 PM · Central Office, 3011 W. Grand Blvd.

Search all board meetings Get meeting prep guide