November 21, 2024

Guide to Visiting the Capitol

I am excited to share this new document created by MASA’s Lobbyist Valerie Dosland and her colleagues at Ewald Consulting prepared for your use. Regional Leaders, please share with your colleagues in order to make their visits to the capitol a bit easier!

Time to politely remind House Republicans they are no longer in the minority & have the opportunity to make a positive impact!

How many times have you heard in the past that those representatives in the minority party would love to help you, but cannot because the majority party is in control? Happens with members of both parties whenever they are in the minority. 

With the House elections resulting in a tie-67 Democrats, and 67 Republicans-there is no majority party in that body. 

I suggest you reach out to representatives in both parties and share all the good work your school district has done and is engaged in this school year. You may want to recall previous conversations with representatives when they said if their party was in control, they would do such and such. 

Also consider discussing the following:

• Challenges with recent legislation and the impact on your district

  • Staffing summer programming along with the uncertainty of the lack of a permanent funding stream for summer term UI

  • Comp Ed funding and the need for a fix

  • ESST & Paid Family Leave

  • Student Support Personnel Aid lack of flexibility and allocation not enough to hire needed staff

  • Staffing shortages, high cost of contracted services, sub-pilot daily wage being more than you may be paying long-standing substitutes

  • American Indian Mascots exemption process and cost of complying with legislation

  • Need for READ Act ongoing funding and the importance of training requirements for teacher prep programs

  • Basic formula not enough even with inflationary increase

  • Impact of inflation on many aspects of your budget-transportation, supplies, insurance and more

  • Ever increasing cross subsidies for both EL and Special Education

Finally, recommend your representatives request to be appointed to the House Education Committees.

Leadership Matters!
“Leadership is a matter of having people look at you and gain confidence, seeing how you react. If you’re in control, they’re in control.” - Tom Landry