As a board member, one way you can help your district and your legislators is by building collaborative relationships with them. Get to know each other. There are many ways you can do this.

• Reach out. Invite them to your school and to a board meeting. Show them the good things that are happening in your schools. Explain challenges your district is facing and show them areas where your district needs additional support. In short, let them experience and feel your district. It is not necessary to wait until the legislature is in session to invite them to your district.
• Explain how proposed legislation would affect your district. Give actual data and reasons specific to your district. In short, give them a reason they can grab hold of why they should support or oppose the bill. Tell them about the unintended consequences you perceive to be in a bill.
• Be upfront, out front, and truthful. Become a source of reliable information and offer to be a sounding board for the legislator where he/she can use you to get a feeling for your position on a possible bill.
• Acknowledge and compliment legislators when they vote on a bill in the way you have requested.
• Communicate the positive aspects of a bill as well as the negative.
• Counter half truths and inaccurate information.
• Treat your legislators with respect and remember to disagree agreeably.
• Be a problem solver.

During a legislative session it is important to check our website frequently so that you can keep up with bills and speak to your legislators about bills that are not in the best interest of your district, or that you support as helpful to education in your district, or in Arkansas.

Personalized communication is the most effective, but any communication is better than none at all.

Legislators have areas of expertise and they have other areas where they lack the knowledge or firsthand experience to fully understand all that is contained within a bill and how it will affect those responsible for implementing and abiding by the bill once it becomes law. If a legislator is to be able to have confidence in supporting or opposing a bill, it is important that he/she has real world reasons, examples, and/or statistics about how the bill will affect the people within his/her district. Strive to give specific reasons, examples, and statistics that tell the story that takes a bill from theory, to reality, and makes it come alive in the mind of a lawmaker. Give them information they can use when they discuss the bill with other legislators. Try to keep in mind that the legislative process is based on compromise and treat your legislators with respect.

It’s helpful to understand the data overload legislators face during a session. While those of us in the education community can concentrate our attention on education bills, legislators will ultimately be responsible for voting on every bill. The shear volume and variety of material they are responsible for knowing well enough to cast an intelligent and informed vote is daunting. To help give you an idea of how much a legislator is supposed to keep up with during a session, here are a few statistics. In the 2005, legislative session there were 3,176 bills filed. One day, over 300 bills were filed. Many bills get changed (amended) during their process of debate (often more than once) and each amendment can change important aspects of a bill or even the whole bill. Regardless of how conscientious and dedicated legislators are, they simply cannot keep up with knowing the effects of each bill. They often rely on others to tell them what they need to know about a bill. Your informed comments about pending legislation can have a real impact.

Related Links:
About Advocacy
Introduction to the Arkansas Legislative Process
ASBA Legislative Positions
Get Involved
Want to be a school board member?

Related Downloads (pdf):
ASBA Handbook for Arkansas School Board Members
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