Going local pays off: BMAD brings school advocacy home
Published: June 13, 2012
School board members and administrators fanned out across the state to advocate for schools and schoolchildren in the home offices of state lawmakers June 8, Board Member Action Day. BMAD 2012 was CSBA’s first advocacy day to focus on meeting state Assembly members and senators where they live. Visiting lawmakers in their district offices—rather than at the Capitol—gave advocates a chance to provide concrete, local examples of how schools and students at home are suffering because of state budget cuts.
In an effort maximize advocacy time and cut expenses, CSBA’s staff and Executive Committee modified what was once a two-day Legislative Action conference so that governance teams could lobby for local schools on their home turf in a single day, and the action took place at a critical juncture—just a week before the Legislative’s June 15 deadline to pass a state budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
“Effective advocacy is especially critical this year. The state has deferred crucial payments of state funds owed school districts and county offices of education, forcing schools to take out short-term—and expensive—loans to pay their bills, lay off teachers, counselors and other staff, cut from classrooms, and even shorten the school year,” said CSBA Executive Director Vernon M. Billy. “I’m gratified that so many CSBA members joined the association’s officers in this broad-based day of action.”
Three-fourths of legislators contacted
Advocacy team members like retired superintendent Don Remley, just finishing his first term on the Oroville City Elementary School District school board, said CSBA’s new “go local” strategy was effective for his team, which was able to meet with elected representatives in Oroville and Chico.
Briefed on strategy by a CSBA video, talking points and other resources, Remley and other area governance team members began their lobbying day with an hourlong conversation with state Sen. Doug La Malfa in the Republican’s Oroville district office before heading off to Chico for an afternoon advocacy session with Republican Assembly member Don Logue.
“It was much less of a hassle to meet here at home than having to go all the way to Sacramento,” Remley said afterward. “I think the members we met with were more comfortable too. Senator La Malfa [a rice farmer] drove his truck up to the office and met us with us in his plaid shirt and jeans. He looked as if he’d just come in from the fields.”
Also on hand for the Chico meeting with Logue were governance team members from Nevada City, Marysville and the Butte County Office of Education. “Because we brought such a diverse group of advocates to our meetings—representing the COE and different kinds of school districts—we could demonstrate the complexity of challenges we all face,” Remley said.
“We hit all the issues on the list,” said Remley, who provided specific examples of how his district suffers when the state fails to pay schools what they are owed. “It cost us $25,000 to borrow $1.3 million for 60 days,” he said. “We had to pay our staff with registered warrants because the state didn’t meet its obligations.”
“We had more school board members participate than in previous years and we covered more legislative offices, visiting three-fourths of legislators’ offices,” said CSBA Assistant Executive Director for Governmental Relations Dennis Meyers, assessing the success of the event.
Meyers’ department has posted a resources for Advocacy & Outreach on CSBA’s website, with insights on effective tactics and strategy for both in-person and written communications with legislators and local media.