Developing the messages you want your legislator to hear

A school visit is a learning experience for your legislator. You should plan the lesson carefully to make sure he or she takes away certain important ideas and facts.

Start by developing a few key messages you want to emphasize during the visit. A key message is simply a main idea that you and other members involved in the visit will talk about in a variety of ways. Identifying these messages also helps point to the programs and situations you want the legislator to see on the tour.

Effective key messages are:

Simple, short and easily understandable. (No jargon or lists of statistics.)
Used consistently.
Used repeatedly.

What to say?

Determine the main issues you want to focus on during the legislator’s visit. Inadequate funding and budget cuts are concerns statewide, as is the recent push for education “reform” that targets teachers. You might decide to focus on the impact of budget cuts and your teachers’ successes with students.

Write out three to four main points connected to these issues. Edit the messages until they’re short, simple and understandable. The goal is not for members to recite them word for word, but to remember them so they can talk about them in their own words.

Here are some examples of key messages having to do with funding:

“Budget cuts are hurting kids.”
“Inadequate funding has forced our district to cut programs for students.”
“Our teachers and staff are working hard to meet students’ needs.”

Note that all these examples focus on students. The most effective messages show the impact of state policy on students. Unfortunately, the impact on educators is less compelling – unless financial conditions are so bad that the district can’t attract and keep good teachers.

Go over your key messages with the members who will escort the legislator on his/her visit, as well as the union spokesperson who will deal with media interviews. Make sure they understand the messages and are comfortable using them.

Now you need to support your messages with more information. This example shows how.

December 20, 2010