2020 Summer Advocacy Guide

2020 SUMMER ADVOCACY GUIDE

WHAT’S INSIDE Introduction 1

Key Legislative Issues 2–3 School Equity Supplemental State Aid Dropout Prevention SAVE Requirements

Grassroots Engagement 4–6 Legislator Meetings Community Engagement Media Engagement

Resources at Your Fingertips 7–9 IASB Issue Toolkits IASB Legislator Look-Up Tool Committee Assignments INTRODUCTION

We are better together—a stronger voice in advocating for the needs of Iowa students and public education. The legislative session is over, but your advocacy work is far from over. Advocacy is a year-long process, with many ways to participate during the legislative interim. This process consists of building relationships, telling the story of public education and brushing up on key legislative issues to prepare for 2021. This legislative interim will be different than in prior years. Board members will need to be creative to continue advocating for students, in the midst of an ongoing pandemic. While you may not be able to meet one-on-one with your legislators, you can invite them for a virtual coffee, and ask them to participate in a virtual tour of your school. Legislators participate in many public events during the summer and fall—perhaps fewer in-person events than normal, but they will still meet with constituents (from a distance or virtually) and listen to ideas and concerns. The legislative interim is a time when many important decisions are made on public policy. As a locally elected school board member, you can influence public policy and make a difference for your schools and students. This advocacy guide includes background information on key issues, an in-depth look at upcoming issues for the 2021 legislative session, talking points and tips for you to use with legislators, and IASB resources that will help you advocate on behalf of your district.

Transportation and Per Pupil Funding Equity The Iowa Legislature continued to address transportation and district cost per pupil equity by providing additional state resources through the school aid formula. The transportation equity fund is now fully funded (bringing everyone to the statewide average) and will increase each year based on the supplemental state aid rate. In addition, legislators increased the district cost per pupil equity payment by $10 per pupil.

ASK: Thank your legislators for their support of a long-term solution for transportation and district cost per pupil equity. Explain how this has impacted your district and ask them to continue to work to resolve these inequities.

Supplemental State Aid Supplemental State Aid (SSA) is the rate used to increase the per pupil funding amounts that generate school aid funding for all districts. Districts plan around the SSA rate, set by the legislature, to determine programming, staff capacity and compensation, and planning for future district needs. While school boards appreciate the investment the legislature has made in school funding, most still receive less school aid than is needed to deliver educational programming. The lack of timeliness of school aid decisions makes it difficult for boards to plan their budget for the upcoming school year.

ASK: Thank your legislators for their support of public education. Ask them to set the supplemental state aid rate within the first 30 days of the legislative session and set it at the highest amount possible.

Dropout Prevention This year, IASB worked with legislators to address an inequity in the dropout prevention program that means some districts with growing needs cannot access the funds that other districts may be able to access. Legislation was introduced to allow districts below the 5% cap on dropout prevention funds to ask the School Budget Review Committee (SBRC) to receive additional funds up to the 5% maximum. Additional funding for those districts would provide more resources for at-risk/dropout students, mental health initiatives, and other programming designed to help students in need.

ASK: Talk to your legislators about how important these resources would be for your students and district and how you would use those resources if this legislation was enacted. Ask them to support efforts to allow districts more resources for dropout prevention and at-risk students.

SAVE Requirements and Athletic Facilities Some legislators want to change the rules of the game with respect to using SAVE funds for athletic facilities. They proposed changing the requirements for approval of athletic facilities, applied those changes retroactively and put limits on local decision making by school boards. While the bill did not pass, we anticipate efforts to place additional restrictions on the use of SAVE funds in 2021.

ASK: Talk to your legislators about how you ensure community input and transparency on athletic projects. Ask them to oppose any efforts to limit the use of SAVE dollars or to impose additional requirements before using funds for athletic facilities.

English Language Funding The Iowa legislature, considered, but did not pass, legislation to increase the weighting for English Language Learners (ELL) and provide more flexiblity to work with students who need more assistance. IASB supports sufficient and on-time funding for ELL until the student reaches proficiency.

ASK: Share your district’s story in working with ELL students and why additional flexibilty and resources are needed. Ask them to make this a priority in the 2021 legislative session.

Relationship building is one of the most important aspects of advocacy. The legislative interim is a great opportunity to build relationships with legislators and candidates running for political office. As a school board member, you can be a political influencer and share your knowledge and expertise. Check out the tips below to help you engage legislators by sharing your district’s success stories as well as challenges and needs.

Effective Legislator Meetings Meeting face-to-face is more challenging this year. But the need to influence legislators and show them how their decisions impact Iowa students across the state is more important than ever. Invite your legislators on a virtual school tour and show them crumbling infrastructure, outdated technology, the need for upgraded facilities, and other needed improvements. Talk to them virtually about the limitations of stringent rules and the effect on innovation and flexibility. Legislators want to hear from their constituents, so get creative!

Tips When Meeting (Virtually) With Your Legislator: 1. Know where your legislator stands on the issue. 2. Learn about the impact of a specific program and what it means to your district. 3. Invite a student or community partner to help lead the virtual tour to explain a program and what it has meant for the student or community. 4. Say thank you. If your legislator voted for legislation that helped your district, let them know. Legislators appreciating seeing the positive impact of their work.

The Congressional Management Foundation conducted a survey of high ranking congressional staff and asked what constituents can do that is most helpful in influencing an elected officials position and how frequently constituents actually do them. As you can see, most constituents do not include these items when making their pitch to an elected official. When you meet with your legislators, remember to include the items from this list.

Survey of Congressional Staff Leadership – Impact of Messaging

Impact Reason for Position Specific Ask Personal Story

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 How Frequent What's Helpful Source: Congressional Management Foundation

Community Engagement As a school board member, you are a community leader. You are in a unique position to lead the dialogue about your school district’s successes as well as challenges. It is important to make sure that your community members are engaged, and your community organizations are aware and engaged in advocating on your district’s behalf. Other community leaders such as city council members, board of supervisors and chamber of commerce members can play crucial roles in helping to expand your advocacy base. Here are a few steps you can take to help engage your community:

1. Know Your Why: a. Before making any outreach, you should be able to explain to the community leaders why public education is important and why they should contact their legislators. If you are unable to articulate why people should care, you will not convince them to be on your side. b. Be prepared for criticisms about public education. Reach out and listen to what people are hearing about your school and public education in general. Be ready to tell people four or five success stories from your district.

2. Build Coalitions: a. Utilize your contacts and groups already supporting public education such as your parent teacher organization (PTO) or school improvement advisory committee (SIAC), to help spread the word. Build small successes to show other groups and organizations that your message resonates. b. Engage with civic organizations within your community, such as the Chamber of Commerce, Rotary and Farm Bureau. Ask to be a speaker at their virtual meeting and discuss the issues facing your district and how they can help. Tailor your message to that organization’s priorities and goals. c. Start a Public Education Network or activate a group of parents. IASB has partnered with parental advocacy groups to help boards engage parents in advocacy. Hold business roundtables with legislators or partner with other organizations to host a town forum during election season. They have a vested interest in a strong public education system in your community.

Media Engagement Legislators use social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to communicate with constituents and distribute information quickly. While social media may have taken the place of certain forms of communication, working through your local, state or national media can help get your message to your legislator and deliver it to people who may not be engaged on social media. Consider these tips when working with social media and traditional media:

Social Media • Create a social media account. If you already have one, think about what strategies you are implementing to engage more users. Who are you following? What content are you pushing out? When are you posting? • Follow your legislators on social media. Most Iowa legislators have a Twitter or Facebook account. Follow them on their social media pages and tag them in your post so they receive a notification and can view and share your social media post. • Promote your school with photos and videos. It is more difficult right now to showcase your school visits with photos, but consider thinking outside the box. When your legislator engages in a virtual tour with you, invite students to join in and talk about specific programs, like STEM. Be sure to take a photo of them interacting, because even though it’s virtual, it will still make an impact. Or, consider recording the virtual tour and adding video of the student and legislator chatting to your social media channels. Video can have great engagement! If you have experience with Facebook Live, you could lead the virtual tour and go “Live”, while the legislator and students participate remotely. This will increase your viewership and show you’re social media savvy.

Print and Broadcast Media • Line up supporters to write letters to the editor or opinion editorials highlighting the successes of the school district and work still yet to be completed. • Prepare your supporters to speak with the media (television/newspaper/radio) on current events happening in education. Did the legislature recently pass an important piece of legislation? Prepare some community supporters so they are ready to give an interview about how it will impact the district.

IASB Issue Toolkits www.ia-sb.org/issuetoolkits IASB has toolkits to help you advocate on several issues, including Supplemental State Aid, Transportation Funding, Educational Savings Accounts and more. These toolkits include background information, financial impact data, sample letters to the editor and sample emails to legislators, infographics to help supporters understand specific education issues, and more. You can also check out the Financial Tools page to access district-specific data to help strengthen your case while speaking with legislators.

IASB Legislator Look-Up Tool www.ia-sb.org/advocacy IASB offers the easy-to-use Legislator Look-Up Tool to assist you in communicating with your legislators. This directory makes it easy to find your legislator, learn about their background and download contact information. You can also search for your legislator by school district. The tool also includes lists of current members of every committee in both chambers. Even if your legislator is not a member of the Education committee, they can still be effective advocates for public education. It never hurts to have an additional supporting voice in the legislature. As always, please feel free to contact your IASB Government Relations team if you have any questions or need additional guidance on any of your advocacy efforts. We are here to help!

Phil Jeneary Emily Piper Michelle Johnson Government Relations Director Lobbyist Government Relations & (515) 247-7027 (515) 247-7045 School Finance Specialist [email protected] [email protected] (515) 247-7055 [email protected]

HOUSE EDUCATION COMMITTEE

Holly Brink (R, District 80) Molly Erin Donahue (D, District 68) Tracy Ehlert (D, District 70) Joel Fry (R, District 27) Ruth Ann Gaines (D, District 32)

Cecil Dolecheck Tedd Gassman* Mary Ann Hanusa* (R, District 24), Chair (R, District 7), Vice Chair (R, District 16) Lindsay James (D, District 99) David Kerr (R, District 88) Monica Kurth (D, District 89) Mary Mascher (D, District 86) Heather Matson (D, District 38) Ann Meyer (R, District 9) Norlin G. Mommsen (R, District 97) RasTafari I. Smith Tom Moore (R, District 21) (D, District 62) Ranking Member Sandy Salmon (R, District 63) Jeff Shipley (R, District 82) Art Staed (D, District 66) Sharon S. Steckman (D, District 53) Skyler Wheeler (R, District 4) Cindy Winckler (D, District 90) *Denotes retirement. Note: Committee assignments will change following the November 2020 elections. © Iowa Association of School Boards 8 RESOURCES AT YOUR FINGERTIPS

SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION

Jerry Behn* (R, District 24) Claire Celsi (D, District 21) Jeff Edler (R, District 36) Eric Giddens (D, District 30) Craig Johnson (R, District 32) Tim Kraayenbrink (R, District 5) Mark S. Lofgren (R, District 46) Amy Sinclair Chris Cournoyer (R, District 14) (R, District 49) Ken Rozenboom (R, District 40) Chair Vice Chair Jackie Smith (D, District 7) Annette Sweeney (R, District 25) Zach Wahls (D, District 37) Brad Zaun (R, District 20) *Denotes retirement. Note: Committee assignments will change following the November 2020 elections. Herman C. Quirmbach (D, District 23) Ranking Member