Parent Advisory Council
The ESSA Consolidated Federal Grant Program Guidelines state that to ensure parental participation and engagement, the Title I, Part C-funded school system or fiscal agent will establish a local Parent Advisory Council (PAC).
School systems with a Title I, Part C program must establish a PAC and consult with it in the planning, operation, and evaluation of the MEP. A PAC is comprised of a majority of parents and/or guardians of eligible migratory children who are empowered to be advocates and supporters of the MEP because they have a personal stake in the program’s success. Other members of the PAC may include MEP staff, representatives from community agencies (stakeholders), and school district staff.
The Role of the Parent Advisory Council (PAC)
Role of the PAC
The goals of a PAC are for the members to take part in the decision-making process and have the opportunity to function as advocates.
The PAC supports the MEP in three main areas:
Planning
- Help identify goals and steps involved in meeting goals.
- Discuss use of MEP funds and other resources.
- Discuss timelines, logistics, and strategies.
Operation
- Help establish, implement, or support programs.
- Support ongoing efforts.
- Help conduct parent events and activities.
Evaluation
- Help evaluate the program.
- Provide suggestions to improve the program.
- Identify barriers and best practices.
PAC Meeting Best Practices
PAC Meetings should:
- Have an agenda written in a language understood by parents.
- Be convenient at a time and location for parents to attend.
- Contain a quorum of members when held.
- Follow PAC bylaws established.
- Be conducted in a language understood by parents.
- Have elected officers run the meetings.
- Follow Basic Parliamentary Procedures and Robert’s Rules of Order.
- Keep meeting minutes to document meaningful consultation.
- Build capacity of parents as advocates and stakeholders. Provide suggested programmatic and academic performance topics.
- Educate and update parents on any changes to the MEP implementation for the current year.
- Discuss the parent’s role in supporting the MEP.
- Provide an opportunity for parents to give feedback on future topics/trainings to address.
*Some best practice examples for PAC meetings are shared below.
Suggested Timeline for
District PAC Meetings
Submitted by Brownsville ISD
Suggested Format for
Monthly PAC Meetings
Submitted by La Joya ISD
PAC Meeting Documentation
Documentation should consist of:
- Invitations in a language understood by parents.
- Agenda in a language understood by parents; meaningful consultation should be evident.
- Sign-in sheets (include the TX-NGS number of one of the children next to the parent’s name to document MEP eligibility.)
- Minutes in a language understood by parents; meaningful consultation should be evident.
- Checklist of PAC meeting requirements.
- If PAC meetings are held with another district meeting, be sure to conduct the Title I, Part C MEP PAC meeting at a separate time (i.e., before or after the other district meeting), create a separate agenda, have a separate sign-in sheet, and keep separate minutes to document that only MEP PAC members were involved in the meeting.
Program Monitoring Validation
The Federal Program Compliance Division administers an annual program monitoring validations (PMV) process for ensuring that School Systems comply with the requirements of the Title I, Part C – Education of Migratory Children program. Documenting overall compliance with a program requirement may require several forms of documentation to be maintained locally and available upon request by TEA and/or an auditor.
School systems are selected based on a 6-year rotation schedule (each School System is selected to participate once within a 6-year period that began in the 2024-2025 year). School Systems that applied for federal funding via the previous year ESSA Consolidated Application will be part of the School System selection pool for the current year.
Currently the statutory requirement regarding consultation with parents of migratory children, including the establishment of a parent advisory council for the Title I, Part C program is one of the three requirements included in the annual program monitoring validations process.
Details and Documentation Samples
Additional PAC Resources
Training Video
Meeting Resources
SSA Member Districts
Training Video
PAC Requirements
- This video focuses on the specific requirements for ESSA, Title I, Part C regarding Parent Advisory Council or PAC.
- To receive your downloadable certificate after viewing the video, be sure to take the quiz.
In the case of Title I, Part C-funded SSAs, the fiscal agent may establish a region-wide Title I, Part C parent advisory council elected by parents of eligible migratory children from the respective LEA in the SSA.
The SSA Member District is required to have a PAC involved in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of the SSA MEP. The members and attendees should include stakeholders representing a compilation of all SSA Member Districts. The majority of members should be migratory parents
Meetings:
- Should be conducted in a language(s) understood by all attendees.
- Must be held throughout the year, virtually or face-to-face, at a time and location that is convenient for migratory parents. Either of the following methods is acceptable:
- SSAs may hold PAC meetings at a central location, such as the regional ESC, that is accessible to all SSA Member Districts on a single date.
- SSAs may conduct cluster PAC meetings in multiple locations in various SSA Member Districts on several dates.
What is important is that the PAC should represent all SSA Member Districts, and SSA migratory parents are afforded opportunities for meaningful consultation. SSAs should work collaboratively to notify migratory parents and assist in engaging their participation.
Texas State PAC
The Texas Title I, Part C program must also facilitate parent engagement opportunities through coordination of a statewide Parent Advisory Council (PAC). Parents of eligible migratory children from around the state are encouraged to be a part of the State PAC.
Recruiting Parents to Participate in the State PAC
