1. Changing the School Board Through Political Involvement KEYS TO BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION RICK WATHEN REGION 1 POLITICAL ORGANIZER

2. Identifying New Leaders Evolving Programs & Objectives Developing Alliances Building Communication Systems Achieving & Maintaining Parity Constant Organizing Goals for Effective Locals

3. What Matters To Our Members? Students and outcomes Teacher salaries & benefits Classroom supplies Texts and materials Educational support personnel Facilities Working conditions Class size What else matters to you and your members? Have you asked?

4. Building the Association’s Capacity Formula: ¾ Internal ¼ External

5. Examine the Landscape: Internal Capacity What’s happening inside ? ◦Internal Issues – Do we even know what your members REALLY care about? ◦Listening Tour of Sites – Begin with Executive Board and/or Rep Council ◦Take the pulse of your membership by asking a key question or two ◦Deal with site level issues ◦Listen, Educate, Agitate, Organize, Mobilize ◦Simple act of listening and engaging will increase capacity through buy-in and ownership ◦Information gathered will help you create worksite flyer

6. Examine the Landscape: External Leverage What’s happening outside? ◦Attitudes of parents, community, allies, elected officials ◦Current beliefs about state of schools, teachers, administration ◦Volatile issues – testing, charters, layoffs, budgets, etc ◦Identify the key parents and community members ◦Who lives in our community? ◦Constituent groups? ◦PTA ◦CTA members employed in other districts ◦Labor ◦Classified ◦Political Party ◦Elected officials (local, state or federal)

7. CHAPTER READINESS What level of involvement will your Local have in changing the school board? You have several options to consider. Each option requires a different level of commitment, resources, and knowledge.

8. Option 1 -- Majority of CTA INTERESTED OBSERVER No active role in election Take what comes Deal with whoever is elected...or not

9. Option 2 -- More CTA locals are getting involved at this level ENDORSE ONLY Local Association interviews and recommends Affords candidate(s) “the endorsement” in name only No active role in election

10. Option 3 – ENDORSE and SUPPORT Association interviews and recommends Association commits organized people (very few) and money (token donation) to candidates – perhaps it’s ABC $$$ (CTA’s state pac makes the small donation)

11. Option 4 – Real political power begins to build RECRUIT CANDIDATES, ENDORSE, SUPPORT + MANAGE (WINNING) CAMPAIGN Recruitment of candidates Interviews and recommendation Fundraising – PAC, Voluntary drive, Events, House Parties Volunteers / Activists Association engages in running its own campaign to support candidates and win election

12. If you haven’t already… Standing Rule Adoption re: candidate interviews Adopt WRITTEN candidate recommendation procedures – Fair and above board Consider Forming a PAC

13. Steps in Recommendation Process – Plan and Calendar! Form interview committee Write Questionnaire – We provide samples but should be local-specific issues of concern Send Questionnaire to All Candidates Invite all Candidates to interview Interview candidates - Written and/or Oral Questionnaire Interview committee makes recommendation to Chapter (Ex Bd. Rep. Council, etc.) Chapter makes Recommendation to Members Inform candidates of Chapter decision

14. Your Calendar – Planning the work and working the plan. Fixed vs Variable Dates FIXED Dates: ◦Filing Deadlines for Candidates ◦Deadline for Candidate Voter Guide Statements ◦Campaign Finance Filing Deadlines ◦Voter Registration Deadline ◦Vote By Mail Application Deadline ◦Mail Ballots Sent Out to Voters Date ◦Election Day ◦DISTRICT SPECIFIC DATES – Returning to school, Back to School Night, Testing, Vacations, Holidays, etc.

15. Calendar – Planning the work! ◦Election Day - 11/03/15 ◦Applying for Absentee Ballots (7 days prior to Election Day) 10/27/15 ◦Last Day to Register to Vote (15 days prior to Election Day) 10/19/15 ◦Vote By Mail Ballots Mailed – (28 days prior) 10/06/14 ◦Campaign Finance Deadlines – See Dates to Remember (2015 and 2016) ◦Candidate Ballot Statement Deadline – (July 13 – August 7) ◦If incumbent fails to file – Filing is extended to August 12 – 5pm

16. Where to find FIXED Dates and Deadlines Campaign Finance http://www.fppc.ca.gov/http://www.fppc.ca.gov/ Candidate Filing, Voter Registration – County Elections http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/elections_d.htm

17. Calendar – Planning the work!  Variable Dates – Those your Local may change if you so choose! ◦Chapter PAC Meetings ◦Candidate Interview dates ◦Chapter Executive Board Meetings ◦Chapter Rep Councils – Ratification of endorsements! ◦Site Visits – Member to Member (M2M) campaign ◦Get Out the Vote – walking and talking to targeted voters / community events / parents  Ensure that these dates and deadlines FIT into your campaign calendar and plan!

18. QUESTION??? How and when are you planning on conducting your local interview / endorsement process? Is it taking place before the August 25 th ABC PAC Application deadline? If not, when?

19. The Campaign Budget “SHOW ME THE MONEY!”

20. The Campaign Budget No plan is complete without a written budget - ABC requires one! All income and spending on advocacy campaigns must be done through a PAC unless it’s Member to Member (M2M) One Exception - M2M political advocacy can use general fund dollars – PAC money is not necessary

21. Campaigning Without a PAC THIS IS THE RULE! YOU CANNOT USE DUES MONEY TO COMMUNICATE WITH NON-MEMBERS RE: YOUR POSITION ON LOCAL RACES.

22. Take a position as a Union! Recommend/Endorse – candidate(s) will use your Association name Ask Candidate(s) to come speak to leaders and/or membership during a Union meeting Volunteer – Volunteering is free

23. Other Funding Sources Contribute individually to Candidates PAC. Request a small donation from ABC – CTA’s PAC Host a fundraiser or series of fundraisers for the candidate or issue. Solicit funds from other PACs, community, etc

24. Member Communication Newsletters Flyers General Meetings Site Level meetings Social Activities BE CAREFUL WITH DISTRICT/SCHOOL SITE MAILBOXES (DO NOT USE TO SUPPORT OR OPPOSE CANDIDATES)

25. ………and you can Build Coalitions Talk. Talk. Talk...Doesn’t cost a thing and is effective. Assist the Candidate in writing their ballot statement. Most voters read the 200 word ballot statement.

26. And……….finally YOU CAN ALWAYS FORM A PAC!

27. Forming a PAC Get permission from Governance Body ◦Rep. Council ◦Executive Board ◦General Membership Present a resolution or a simple motion – Stay above board, transparent, fair and open.

28. Forming a PAC Decide how you will collect money Earmarking – Dues check off Voluntary - Dues check off - payroll Fundraising – no dues involved, just personal checks – Supplement the dues check off with a fundraising drive

29. Forming a PAC Earmarking or Reverse Dues Check off Easiest way to collect Must have paper trail Most Unions and CTA raise political money this way Annual opt out to new members Compliance with county dept of elections is needed

30. Forming a PAC Volunteer Check off or Positive Check off Cleanest way to collect “NEA” way Harder to raise consistent dollars Annual drive(s) necessary Can’t anticipate year to year revenues One bad election could kill the effort

31. Forming a PAC Fundraising Method Totally voluntary Some people might give more/less than through payroll or voluntary Takes a lot of effort to keep it going Can’t plan or predict

32. Paperwork Get IRS I.D. number separate from Local’s General Fund Open separate bank account File FPPC Forms – calendar and support are provided by CTA File reports on time

33. Benefits Insulates the local from accusations of misuse of dues dollars Allows the local to slate candidates even if the candidates don’t want to Allows the local to play in other races (City Council, other boards) to develop coalitions

34. FYI Local still has to keep politics out of the classroom and away from the “district resources”. CTA-ABC will be able to fund the PAC instead of funding the candidates Forms are easy to fill out and are online

35. SUMMARY 4 More than most campaigns, voters are undecided on school board races, so a little goes a long way. 4 You can make a huge difference by communicating persuasively with voters. 4 Incumbents do not have an advantage, since most voters don’t know who they are. 4 School board races are different from other campaigns, and offer unique advantages that are often simply not available in other types of political campaigns.

36. Helpful Hints 4 Run candidates as a slate- voters can’t remember 3 names unless YOU put them together. 4 Spend money wisely-no one reads the paper in order to shop for candidates. 4 Talk to likely voters and only likely voters. 4 Most voters vote by mail, so campaign needs to be up and running in September! 4 Stay on message- YOUR MESSAGE. 4 Don’t talk school jargon to voters. No acronyms! 4 Don’t be afraid of being a teacher, a union member or a CTA member. 4 Voters appreciate hearing from classroom teachers and will join you if asked.