At AMSD, our team advocates on behalf of our member school districts for the transformation of public education — and we encourage you to advocate on behalf of our schools as well.
We want you to tell your own story. To that end, we discourage form letters; we want you to share your story in your own words.
There are three basic elements to communicating with your legislators as you advocate for your school district or goal.
(1) Identify Your Talking Points
What exactly are you advocating for?
“Exactly” matters — be as specific as possible. If it’s for a policy, then write it down, following the Strunk & White guidelines of keeping it as brief as possible. A legislator’s time is limited and if you overcommunicate, your message will be lost.
(2) Identify Your Legislators — and the best way to communicate with them.
Some legislators respond well to emails, while others respond better to a phone call, a personal meeting, or to social media. It’s up to you to determine what works best for you — and of course we’re always happy to help advise you on a particular audience. In general, legislators respond best to personal interactions and emails, while social media tends to translate more into public awareness, dialogue and pressure. AMSD has tools to help you find AMSD legislators by school districts and regions — as well as a bill-tracker to identify key legislation each year.
- LINK: View Contact Information for the Governor, Legislative Leadership
- LINK: View Contact Information of House Membership by School District
- LINK: View Contact Information of Senate Membership by School District
(3) Prepare Your Message
If you’re planning an email or letter, we recommend formality, identifying yourself and your affiliations as quickly as possible, and being succinct. For example:
Dear Senator/Representative ______,
My name is ____ and I am a board member/ educator/resident of ____ [town/school district etc.].
I am writing to ask you to [insert your talking point here] this legislative session. This is an important issue for [our family and our community … our school district … our children, etc.].
Specifically in [your town/school district/etc.]
[Provide data or details specific to your district along with a personal story about your or your family’s experience. This could be the impact of enrollment figures, class sizes, loss of a specific program and its impact, etc.] For example:
Funding special education benefits all students – it provides schools more money to meet the needs of all students.Closing special education funding gaps would result in the average district getting almost $800 more per pupil. Funding special education will free up general education revenue and could reduce the reliance on operating referendums.
Please support closing special education funding gaps this session.
Thank you,
Xxxx
