The Texas PTA Story

More than a hundred years ago, two brave women dreamed of a better future for their children. Ella Caruthers Porter, a single mom living near Waco, and Willa S Benton, a Fort Worth teacher and mom, set out on a mission to ensure every child had the opportunity to realize their potential.

Both recognized that the bond of motherhood could improve student success and therefore build better communities, and a better future for all of Texas. Despite overwhelming societal challenges of the early 1900’s, Willa and Ella set their sights on engaging families to reform our disorganized and lackluster public education system.

• October 19, 1909 Texas Congress of Mothers formed at the State Fair. 

• November 24, 1920 Texas Congress of Colored Parents and Teachers organized.

• June 22, 1970 the two organizations merged into one Texas PTA.

We have been working to make every child’s potential a reality by engaging and empowering families and communities to advocate for all children for the last 116 years.