The 135th General Assembly is underway and your involvement and advocacy are more important than ever.
The final days of lame-duck session delivered some “wins” for public education along with a few unwanted changes. Many of the positive changes that occurred last week were a result of your advocacy on behalf of your students and your districts.
If you have not connected (or re-connected) with your legislators, please reach out today and schedule a time to meet with them in early January. One of the most effective things you can do is to welcome them into your school buildings and share the wonderful things students, teachers, and staff are doing in Ohio. We have much to be proud of in public education. Make sure you share the amazing things your students and staff are doing.
This is a pivotal time for public education in Ohio. We must work with the 135th General Assembly on the future of school funding, including the continued implementation of the Fair School Funding Plan. It is extremely important to contact your local legislators now to establish (or re-establish) a relationship to further these initiatives, as well as to inform discussions as we head into the biennium budget.
Please call, email, write a letter, schedule a meeting, or any combination thereof, and offer to be a resource to your representatives in the House and Senate on school funding-related issues and questions.
Collaborating with your superintendent on this outreach is strongly encouraged as it is very powerful to have a strong treasurer/CFO and superintendent team when discussing issues with your local representatives and others in your community. To assist in this effort, a sample letter for use as a template can be found here.
This initial outreach is to establish or re-establish a relationship. Materials and talking points for the upcoming budget bill, including the Fair School Funding Plan, will be coming.
Thank you for all you do on behalf of public education – it makes a difference!
Resources:
- Not sure who your legislator is? Use the look-up tool here.
- Sample letter template here.
- Ohio House of Representatives - 135th General Assembly - Contact information here.
- Ohio Senate - 135th General Assembly - Contact information here.