Advocacy & Outreach: Many voices, one message

Below are some outreach tips to help you better engage your legislators and their staff in Sacramento and Washington, D.C., on behalf of California’s schoolchildren. School governance leaders are encouraged to work with their local CSBA Governmental Relations chairs and Federal Governmental Relations chairs to advance the education agenda and to maintain support for our public schools.

Visiting your legislators

• Schedule a meeting with your legislators to discuss how the governor’s proposed budget will impact your school district or county office of education.
• Which office to visit? Determine if legislators will be in their district or Sacramento office when you want to see them. Typically, they are in their local district offices later on Thursday afternoons and all day Friday when the Legislature is in session.
• If your legislator is not available, meet with staff members—they are a valuable resource.
• Bring support materials, such as fact sheets, to communicate your message.
• Remember, if a majority of your board attends a meeting with a legislator or staff member, then that visit would be considered a “meeting” under the Ralph M. Brown Act, and the legal requirements of the act would apply.

To learn more about how you can help achieve the legislative and regulatory goals CSBA pursues on behalf of students, districts and county offices, and to read more outreach tips, visit www.csba.org/outreach.aspx.