Fatima Cristerna-Adame High Impact Local Advocacy: Moving the Needle Forward in Your Community Amy Blumberg, MPA Fatima Cristerna-Adame Dr. Jason Jimenez Courtney Miller March 15, 2016

AGENDA Why Does Local Advocacy Matter? Capitol Advocacy Leaders Program Case Study Local Advocacy Leaders Program Tools You Can Use to Move the Needle Forward for Charters in Your Community

Local Advocacy All Politics are local RELATIONSHIPS are key Life/death of charter schools start at local level Elected officials care about their constituents & getting re-elected School visits Relationships -– build now, see how you can help them, ensure the relationship is in place when you need something School visits -allow elected officials to visualize work of charter schools and helps charter leaders dispel myths – elected officials love stories that allow them to connect to issues

Advocacy in the field Multi-faceted approach: Capitol, district, lobbyists, regional team, school leaders, CCSA Advocates Capitol Advocacy Leaders (CAL) created to intentionally connect charter school leaders and their institutions to their legislators, building long-term, dynamic relationships that can be strategically deployed to mobilize by issue. CAL Liaisons keep legislators informed and engaged and hold them accountable for their actions.

Outcomes Launched in 2013-14 Currently there are 104 school leaders established as “CAL Liaisons” who are paired with 94 legislators CAL Liaisons are meeting with their legislative representatives, hosting school tours and attending community events on a regular basis CALs are active at the State Capitol, too! A majority of CALs have attended Advocacy Day over the past two years, and that number continues to increase every year. Liaisons testified in front of legislative and regulatory bodies as expert witnesses, held roundtable briefings with legislators, staff and other charter leaders Liaisons participated in community demonstrations, holding legislators accountable for their actions I think this is a good transition to the local piece. I can transition and introduce Miles: “Miles is going to talk about Advocacy at the local level. It is important to remember that although we are pairing each legislator with a school leaders in their district, that results in only 10% of our schools being represented. Our strength is in numbers, and legislators are loyal to their constituents, the voters in their district that put them in office and either keep them in office or vote them out.”

Case Study: AB 787 2015: AB 787 (Hernandez) would have required authorizers to appoint majority of charter school board members and ban for-profits from running charter schools Massive opposition efforts by CAL, charter school movement included testimony, letters and phone calls, meetings Most harmful provisions of AB 787 were gutted in the Assembly Appropriations Committee Ban of for-profits running charter schools was left in bill and we tried to craft amendments acceptable to CCSA, author Vetoed by Governor Brown

Local Advocacy Leaders Started in 2015 Multi-faceted approach: regional team, school leaders, CCSA Advocates Local Advocacy Leaders (LAL) created to intentionally connect charter school leaders and their institutions to their school and county board members, building long-term, dynamic relationships that can be strategically deployed to mobilize by issue. LAL Liaisons keep school and county board members informed and engaged and hold them accountable for their actions at the local level.

Outcomes Launched in 2015 and modeled after our CAL program Currently there are 10 school leaders established as “LAL Liaisons” and paired with 19 school and county board members (14 county and 7 district) 100% of first year LAL Liaisons attended program trainings 11 school visits by county or district board members to 8 different schools 2 County Board Members and 1 District Board Member attended training session with charter leaders to discuss the importance of local outreach Visits by local board members has developed better working relationships with authorizers and staff I think this is a good transition to the local piece. I can transition and introduce Miles: “Miles is going to talk about Advocacy at the local level. It is important to remember that although we are pairing each legislator with a school leaders in their district, that results in only 10% of our schools being represented. Our strength is in numbers, and legislators are loyal to their constituents, the voters in their district that put them in office and either keep them in office or vote them out.”

LAL Case Study: Desert Trails Preparatory Desert Trails Preparatory up for renewal this year before a local school district. Program rolled out in September School leader participated in training and secured school visits by two County Board Members DTP was denied renewal by local school district in December School appealed the decision to the county board and was approved 3-2 Of the 3 board members who voted in favor of the school 2 of those 3 had visited the school During the vote both members spoke about their support based on what they saw in the classrooms and not was on paper The process allowed for board members to see the discrepancies between the “staff findings” and what actually takes place at schools

LAL Successes

Dr. Jason Jimenez Capitol Advocacy Leader and Local Advocacy Leader Background What is the key to your success?

Jason content

Jason content

Case Study: Richmond Promise Parent Organizing in Action Chevron in response to polluting community of Richmond for years with their refineries is paying for college for Richmond students Richmond City Council asked West Contra Costa School Board for recommendations of how to distribute funds Local school board recommendation did not include local charter public schools

Richmond Promise Charter parents flooded City council meetings for weeks with signs and testimony Lots of pressure on city council to treat ALL PUBLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS EQUALLY WIN for Charter Schools – Richmond City Council changed their plan so that ALL public school students get college funding

Win for Kids!

Tools for Local Advocacy Attend school board meetings Request meetings with school board members Invite elected officials for school visits Letters in support of petitions/renewal Organize large group of charter supporters at board meetings

CALL to ACTION SB 1434 (Glazer) Authorizing Accountability and Reform Statewide and countywide benefit Complaint process at State Board of Education for violations of charter school law, penalties up to revocation of authorizing authority Expanded authorizers Allow small school districts to opt out Limit administrative fees to market value, complaint to County Board, excess fees and interest back to charter

SB 1434 (Glazer) continued Requires school districts to issue findings when denying petition Clarifies that petitions originating at county level can be appealed just like petitions that start at local school board Write support letters, make phone calls, meetings with legislators, spread the word about bill via social media and with contacts

Advocacy Day 2016 Tuesday, May 3, 2016 FREE registration for CCSA members Register today at the CCSA booth or online at https://charterconference.org/2016AdvocacyDay/registration/01_type.php Deadline to register is April 15

Questions? Thank you for joining us! Amy Blumberg ablumberg@ccsa.org Fatima Cristerna-Adame fcadame@ccsa.org Courtney Miller csmiller@ccsa.org Dr. Jason Jimenez jasonjimenezilcs@gmail.com