legislators

Back **Working with Legislators: Five Things You Must Do - Julie Young**

//Lack of funding, and insufficient or counterproductive legislation—common reasons why online learning programs fail to thrive or even get off the ground. Online educators could make matters worse if they don’t proactively build bridges with policymakers. In this session, learn from legislators and online learning leaders the five most important things you can do to gain the trust and support of your state’s leadership.//

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Here is the Southern Regional Education Board website mentioned during the session:

[|www.sreb.org] 

And more specifically: http://www.sreb.org/programs/EdTech/OnlineLearning/index.asp

Here is some brief notes about suggestions/answers to the questions that were asked:

Legislative work is all about relationships, relationships, relationships - in the summer especially when they are off-session. The quality of those relationships will determine if they call on you for info when a vote is up in the legislature. Term limited legislators rely more heavily on lobbyists and staff - so you should target those people in term limit states. Don't go in just with you handout - you need a compelling elevator speech to explain simply, quickly, and powerfully. If you don't know something, don't BS - tell them I don't know, but I will find out and get back to them quickly. Quantify, Quantify, Quantify - if you don't have something similar - use data from like populations that do have data as a basis. No one wants to be a backwater - you can trot out comparisons with other states if you need some firepower Keep your value proposition simple and succinct.
 * What should you never do in working with legislators?**
 * How do you go about creating your value proposition for your initiative?**

ENJOY!