Toolkit Trainings Highlight Best Practices for Growing Advocacy Networks

To support school boards seeking to build an authoritative advocacy network, TASB held the first of several training sessions, highlighting its A Toolkit for Community Advocacy: A Guide to Amplify Public Education Support, which offers best practices and activities for boards seeking to build advocacy capacity.  

In December, TASB shared the toolkit with school boards across the state to help them prepare for the 89^th Legislative Session with tools and strategies to strengthen public education advocacy in their communities. 

“We know that every board has different goals and expectations for advocacy in their districts and communities,” said Dax Gonzalez, Division Director of Governmental Relations. “Our goal is to support our members, so they feel confident sharing their successes and challenges with families, business leaders, and lawmakers.” 

While the toolkit offers seven steps that can be used to build community advocacy, each board may be at a different point in their advocacy journey, he said. The toolkit offers a roadmap for board members who can then select the actions that will best allow them to meet their advocacy goals.  

A key step for boards is identifying stakeholders in their communities who will play a critical role in building a supportive coalition. Those key groups may include parents, business leaders, education advocates, clergy members, and others who value public education in their community.  

Once a board has identified those potential advocates, it’s important to offer opportunities to learn more about the school district, develop legislative priorities, and provide training on how the legislature works and how to get involved.  

“Ensuring you have your coalition selected, and that they are prepared to advocate on your district’s behalf is critical to your mobilization efforts,” said Robert Long, Division Director for Board Development services. “Mobilizing your team of supporters can be done in a variety of ways, from planning field trips to connect with legislators to holding in-district events that share the district’s legislative priorities. Whatever a board does, it should make sure the coalition is well-versed in those priorities.” 

Sharing good news, challenges, and maintaining transparency with the coalition and community is also important when building an advocacy network, Long said. Social media is a great tool for getting that information out to not only advocates, but to the greater school community.  

In the coming months, TASB will host more training sessions to share tips and best practices from the Toolkit and its accompanying resources. A preconference session is scheduled for March 5 at Governance Camp in Galveston. Board Development Services is also offering in-district training customized to the needs of specific school boards. The toolkit can also be found online.  

Among those who participated in a recent online training, 100% of those who responded to a survey about the experience agreed or strongly agreed that the webinar was worth the time and investment and offered useful information.  

“The community toolkit is just a game changer for us,” said one respondent. “This really helps all of our board get on the same page on what we can do.”