Missouri National Education Association Agenda 10–10:30 a.m. Meet for briefing in House Hearing Room 4 (in basement of Capitol) 10:30 a.m.–1 p.m. Visit with your legislator and observe floor debate. 1–4:30 p.m. Debrief with Mark Jones or Otto Fajen on 3rd floor of Capitol rotunda February 17 Governance Districts 2 & 10 24 Governance District 1 March 2 Governance District 3 9 Governance Districts 7 & 8 16 Governance District 4 30 Governance Districts 5 & 6 April 6 Governance Districts 9 & 11 13 MNEA-Retired 20 Governance Districts 7 & 10 May 4 MNEA-Retired 13 Legislative session ends For more information on Capitol Action Days, contact MNEA Legislative Director Otto Fajen at [email protected], or visit www.mnea.org/Missouri/ CapitolActionDays.aspx. Download the Missouri NEA Mobile App Today Download the mobile app at www.mnea.org/ mobileapp, or by searching for “Missouri NEA” on the Apple App Store or Android’s Google Play store. Contents 2 MNEA 2016 Capitol Action Days 3 Lobbying Tips 4 MNEA’s Legislative Platform 6 MNEA’s Legislative Meeting Primer 8 Senate and House Members by District 0 1 U.S. Congress Contact Information 1 1 Congressional District Map 2 1 Missouri State Official Contact Information 3 1 Senate Roster 5 1 Senate Seating Chart 6 1 Senate Districts Map 7 1 Senate Committees 8 1 House Roster 0 3 House Districts Map 1 3 House Committees 5 3 Legislative Joint Committees 6 3 Capitol Information and Maps 9 3 Capitol Action Day Meeting Place Map 0 4 MNEA’s Lobbying Team Feb. 8, 2016 MNEA 2016 Capitol Action Days Welcome to Missouri NEA’s 2016 Capitol Action Days! MNEA thanks you for stepping up to lead the way toward great public schools for every child. Capitol Action Days are Send a news release to part of MNEA’s comprehensive plan to promote positive policy for public education. your hometown media This booklet is your comprehensive guide to Capitol Action Days. Please keep this Find a news release template at resource. It contains a complete legislative directory, along with information about www.mnea.org/CapitolActionDays. MNEA legislative priorities, lobbying and the Missouri Capitol. Fill in the blanks with your personalized Lobbying is an important part of MNEA’s comprehensive government relations program. information, and email the release to MNEA Capitol Action Days are scheduled on Wednesdays February through May. your local media. A complete schedule of Capitol Action Days is listed on the inside front cover of this booklet. A governance district may reschedule its Capitol Action Day if necessary to increase attendance for a governance district. If you have questions or need to make a change regarding a scheduled Capitol Action Day, be sure to notify Otto Fajen, MNEA legislative director. Important contact information: Otto Fajen, MNEA legislative director [email protected] Office: 573-634-3202 Cell: 573-424-5935 Mark Jones, MNEA political director [email protected] Office: 573-634-3202 Cell: 660-537-1375 Becky Stewart, MNEA administrative assistant [email protected] Office: 573-634-3202 2 Lobbying Tips Keep in mind why you are lobbying. Know your ask. • Recognize that you are the expert on education and your • Be specific. Be sure your message can’t be misinterpreted. community on behalf of your students and your association. • Be tangible. Be clear about the action you expect. • Know your limits. Don’t pretend or make up an answer. If you • Know how to verify whether the legislator took action. don’t know, offer to find out. • Play to your strengths, your expertise and experience. Support your ask. • Define your ask. Support it with three talking points and Know your audience. conclude. • Narrow the scope to the decision maker responsible for a • All politics is local. Relate the ask to the legislator’s life. specific issue. • Be open for questions. Ask if the legislator will take the action, • Understand the difference between executive decision makers has a position already or has questions. Listen carefully. (where one person has decision authority) and the decision chain (where a series of decisions must occur in order, as with Don’t be too political. the legislature). • Bipartisan works. Support on any issue is helpful, even if we disagree on other issues. Be prepared. • Demands don’t work. Rely on your ask and your talking points • Learn the decision maker’s background. Start with where they to persuade. are and what is going on in his or her life. • Put issues before politics. Focus on the issue and the ask, not • Learn the decision maker’s priorities: political history, unrelated issues. alignment, status and future goals. • Find common ground. Begin with areas of agreement, and Use your tools. respect differences of opinion as legitimate. • First and lasting impressions are important. Dress professionally, be polite and be timely. Build relationships. • Be proactive. Invite legislators to back-home meetings and • Give it time. Strong, healthy relationships take time. other in-district events. • Build trust. Be proactive and stay in touch regularly. • Keep in touch. Continue the dialog year-round by any means • Be a resource. Once you establish trust, you may have influence appropriate, including social media. just by providing information. Again, be proactive and provide value. Be yourself! • You know people. Legislators are people, too. Learn the ropes. • You have people skills. You know how to work with students, • Be willing to work with legislative staff. They are trusted parents or colleagues. experts and key to persuading a legislator. • You have a superpower: your story. Practice it. Tell your stories, • Keep meetings short. Be timely, be brief and be focused on your and legislators will remember them and use them. ask. • Understand procedures and customs. Learn how offices and committees work, be persistent and flexible, and explain why your meeting is helpful. 3 MNEA’s Legislative Platform INVESTING in all of our students, Missouri NEA believes that every child has a regardless of zip code, with the tools and basic right to attend a great public school. time to learn Students are at the center of MNEA’s legislative Missouri NEA believes that access to an adequately platform and advocacy. MNEA strives to ensure and equitably funded public education must be clearly established as a fundamental right for every student. that all students have the time and resources to learn, caring and qualified teachers and an 1. The state is over $500 million short of meeting the funding education that inspires natural curiosity and desire requirements of its own funding law. to learn. 2. MNEA urges the legislature to commit to a plan to return to full funding of the foundation formula. MNEA and NEA members helped secure a major 3. MNEA supports adequate and equitable funding for public victory for students and public schools with the higher education institutions and increased funding for student passage of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act. financial aid. This new federal law rolls back much of the “test, MNEA urges the legislature to support students and teachers with blame and punish” approach from NCLB. A key the resources they need by investing in early childhood education priority for MNEA in 2016 will be to help lead the and extended learning time, particularly for at-risk students. work in using the opportunities created by ESSA to MNEA opposes efforts to reduce state revenues and funding for design a new and better structure for oversight and schools across the state. MNEA supports efforts to make tax support of students, educators and schools. credits more accountable and reduce their harmful effect on Missouri’s state revenues. Raising your hand is a public school tradition. Join Missouri NEA in raising your hand in support for public schools. Take your first step by posting the Raise Your Hand graphic to your Facebook or Pinterest site. Find the graphic and more information about the campaign at www.mnea.org/ RaiseYourHand. 4 ENSURING every child has a qualified, CREATING an effective partnership to caring and committed teacher provide an education that inspires students’ MNEA supports local control of evaluation systems for all natural curiosity, imagination and desire teachers and administrators, and it opposes any effort to take to learn away local control or mandate a particular weight for student MNEA supports collective bargaining rights for all education test scores on a teacher’s evaluation. employees to promote school environments where educators and MNEA supports local control of pupil assessment and opposes students can excel. MNEA will oppose the Paycheck Deception the use of flawed tests and assessment systems to make high stakes proposal that would limit school employees’ right to participate decisions about students’ and teachers’ futures. To be effective, in MNEA while also interfering with district administration of tests must be meaningful, timely and help educators evaluate payroll deduction. individual student needs and tailor lessons to meet their learning MNEA believes that state oversight and intervention in districts needs. MNEA believes that parents, students and communities should focus on supporting and bringing the community together must be partners in the development process and have a voice in to better support schools. MNEA will support efforts to restore the conversations around high-quality assessments. local control regarding enrollment of non-resident students to MNEA believes the current due process (tenure) law should ensure that district capacity is evaluated and respected. MNEA be improved by covering all employees, establishing shorter also supports revision to the tuition rate calculation to reduce the probationary periods that meet state and national norms and disproportionate impact on sending districts and extra resources to establishing an impartial review process for firing decisions.