Tom Seigel, SuperintendentBethel School District

Connecting with Your Legislator

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Legislative Advocacy

If not us, who?KnowledgeExperience - understanding of intricacies of

policy decisions (e.g. FTE, full day K and classroom ratios impact on housing, $97 million re-purposing and 1080 hours issue)

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Seigel’s Hierarchy of Communications Effectiveness

In personSmall groupLarge groupPhoneEmailText, social mediaTVPrinted material

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Communications Effectiveness

Simple (the inverse of university training)No jargonAssume 10th grade comprehensionRemember the reader is not an expertPoint paper - one page max - executive

summary formatUse statistics - factsShow benefits

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Communications Effectiveness

Assume business model as a basis of understanding (cost/benefit ratio)

Repetition – persistenceMind-visualization examples

MapPictures/graphics

Rapid response to questionsInclude all elected legislators of your district –

Perhaps county council, county executive,

WASA, ESD, and other superintendents in your county; copy to Board and senior staff

(depending on topic)

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How Not to Do It

The “parade” at the capitalBe demanding/unpleasant

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In the Background Activities (reinforcing credibility)

Rep to State Board of Education meetingsActive participation in other school

professional organizations and governmental bodies:

Operations, construction, food service, finance, transportation – be known as a

playerLobbyist

7

Persistency

Don’t get frustrated, it takes time – there are many multi-year issues.

Remember, government was designed to tackle difficult, perhaps intractable problems.

If there weren’t tough problems, you wouldn’t have an interesting job!

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How?

PlanPick topicsPrioritizeBoard review/approvePrivate informal meetings with legislators - by

youDinner with Board and LegislatorsPatron school visits – background

information/trust buildingEmails (topic specific), phone calls, office visitsRapid response needed, especially during session

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