Tips for Effective Advocacy From Director Sara Betnel
WSSDA regularly asks school directors to share insights on various topics as a way for board members to learn from one another’s experience. Below are some tips for successful advocacy work plus the following example of engaging with lawmakers during a legislative session. Sara Betnel…
Legislative Session Week Seven: Bill Highlights and Preparing for Week on the Hill
Student well-being is one of WSSDA’s consistent legislative priorities. Furthermore, WASA, WSSDA, and WASBO identified this issue as one of three “hot topics” for the upcoming legislator meetings during “Week on the Hill.” In our interview with Representative Callan (below), we talked about several bills that expand on…
Legislative Session Week Six: Connect and Collaborate
Monday, February 22, marks the fiscal committee cutoff for the 2021 legislative session. This means that any bill that has not been passed through an executive session (a.k.a. “exec’d”) out of its fiscal committee of origin (e.g., House Appropriations, Senate Ways & Means) by the end…
Advocating for Digital Equity
School directors adopted two legislative positions supporting digital equity at WSSDA’s General Assembly, ranking them both in our top 10 priorities for this legislative session. There are many bills this session addressing digital equity that focus on three areas: devices, broadband access, and digital literacy/training. WSSDA created…
Legislative Session Week Five
Monday, February 15, marks the policy committee cutoff for the 2021 legislative session. This means that any bill that has not been passed through an executive session (a.k.a. “exec’d”) out of its policy committee (e.g., House Education, Senate Early Learning & K-12 Education) by the end…
Legislative Session Week Four: Activating the Advocacy Network
Periodically during a legislative session, WSSDA’s strategic advocacy team will call on school board members to contact legislators to request urgent action. The advocacy team does this when the voices of WSSDA members are essential to promote legislative action supporting the positions and priorities…
Legislative Session Week Three: Third Week is the Charm
The third week of the 2021 legislative session gave us two big takeaways. Week three reminded us that: School director testimony is crucial Public education impacts so many facets of government Legislators have told us that their lawmaking work has benefited from hearing stories…
It’s the Last Week of School Board Recognition Month
This is the last week of School Board Recognition Month! Use WSSDA’s customizable toolkit to celebrate and acknowledge your school board members. The toolkit 2021 proclamation from the Governor to present to board members at your January board meeting Personalized recognition certificate to print for your…
VIDEO: WSSDA on Simple Majority For School Bonds
Achieving a simple majority for bonds is a longstanding priority for WSSDA and school board members across the state. Join your strategic advocacy team as they sit down with Representatives Monica Stonier and April Berg to discuss HB 1226. Resources Here are some resources…
Legislative Session Week Two: WSSDA and Student Testimonies
Reflecting on week two of the 2021 legislative session, we know more now than we did in week one, but not as much as we’ll know in week three. Each day, WSSDA’s strategic advocacy team is learning new ways for engaging with our legislators…