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The Legislature and the people we elect to represent us control almost every major aspect of public education. That's why being an effective advocate is a vital part of being an educator. In order to be an effective advocate, it's important to first understand how the legislative process works.

The Texas Legislature is actually quite similar to the U.S. Congress. The big difference is that Congress is the federal government and the Legislature is the Texas state government. Both are bicameral, which means they are made up of two separate bodies. The Texas Legislature is made up of the Texas House of Representatives and the Texas State Senate. The House consists of 150 members each elected to represent one of Texas' 150 House Districts. The Senate has 31 members to represent Texas' 31 state Senate districts. The House is overseen by the Speaker of the House, who is elected each session by House members. The speaker is responsible for coordinating House business and appointing committees, smaller groups of House members dedicated to various issues (i.e., the House Committee on Public Education). In the Senate, this role is filled by the lieutenant governor.

The Texas Legislature only meets once every two years for 140 days. Each legislative session, legislators file thousands of bills, which are proposals to change existing laws or create new ones. The speaker and lieutenant governor assign each bill to the appropriate committee. The committees consider various bills, make necessary changes and vote on them. Committee hearings often include testimony from stakeholders who express support or opposition to bills or make suggestions on how to change them. Bills that are never brought up in committee are dead for the session.

Bills that are approved by the committees are sent on to the House or Senate floor for consideration. Bills that are approved on the House or Senate floor are then sent to the other chamber to repeat the process. Sometimes one chamber will make changes to a bill approved by the other. In this case, the bill is sent to a conference committee made up of both House and Senate members to work out the differences between the two versions of the bill. However, the vast majority of bills filed each session are never brought up for consideration at all or are voted down at some point during the process. In other words, most bills filed in any given session die at some point during the process. Bills that are approved by both the House and Senate are then sent to the governor to either become law or be vetoed.

Keep in mind, each time a bill is voted on during the legislative process presents another opportunity for advocates to have an impact on whether the bill continues the journey to becoming law or is killed. The best time to have an impact is during the committee process as there are fewer votes needed to determine the bills fate. For example, if a House committee is made up of 10 lawmakers, only six votes are needed to kill said bill verses 76 votes on the House floor. You can keep track of major legislation and opportunities to impact the legislative process by following our blog. Followers will receive timely updates and information on when and how to contact your elected officials to influence important decisions.

Now that you know what the Legislature is and how it works, the next step is to actively participate in the process.

Check out the subsections below for more tips and tools for being an effective advocate.

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Communicating with officeholders

Ever play the game Telephone? It's that game where a chain of people whisper a simple sentence into one another's ears. By the time the last person recites the sentence, it often sounds like nonsensical gibberish. The point of the game is to illustrate how tricky communication can be. Whether you're meeting face to face with an officeholder or communicating via email, letter or phone call, following these simple tips will help ensure you get your message across.

Identify yourself. Introduce yourself as a constituent and/or ATPE member. Informing officeholders that you are an educator tells them you are an education expert with unique insight.
Know your facts. If you don't feel confident discussing a particular issue, do some research. TeachtheVote.org and ATPE Governmental Relations are great resources.
Get to the point, and state your position. Don't assume your legislator knows what you are talking about or how you feel about an issue. Be clear and concise.
Localize your information. Put a local spin on any issues discussed to let your legislator know how they are going to affect the constituents in his district.
Get to know legislators' staff. Legislative aides and other staff members are great resources for information and can also help influence legislators. Legislative staffers are often the only link to the legislator, especially at the end of session. A good relationship with staff can ensure your opinion gets passed on to the legislator in a timely manner.
Be respectful! This is perhaps the most important tip of all. No one responds well to name calling or belligerence, least of all elected officials. No matter how emotional an issue may be for you, always be sure to be polite and professional.

Meeting with your legislators face to face

Meeting with legislators in person is a great way for you to begin a relationship with them and inform them about issues that are important to you. ATPE recommends meeting with your legislator at least twice per year, once in the fall and once in the spring. Legislators spend most of their time in their districts while not in session, so you can often meet with your legislator in his district office during that time. If you can travel to Austin, meeting with your legislators during the session is also a great way to make an impact.

When setting up a meeting, follow these steps:

Before the meeting

•Call ahead. Scheduling the meeting at least two weeks in advance is a good idea.

•If the officeholder is unavailable, schedule a meeting with the staff person who handles education issues. Staff members are usually very knowledgeable and are great contacts.

•Prepare for the meeting. Think through or write down the points you want to make and develop an agenda. Although friendly conversation should be part of your meeting, the focus should be on issues. After all, officeholders agree to meet with you to learn about your concerns.

During the meeting

• Try not to take more than two people with you. It can be overwhelming for the officeholder. Occasionally, however, legislators will ask to meet with groups from their districts. Accommodate this request because they may be very busy, and it can be difficult to meet individually with everyone.

•Focus on a maximum of three issues per meeting.

• Be concise and well organized. Do not monopolize the conversation; rather, lay out your issues early to allow time to get the officeholder's thoughts on your issues.

•Don't guess. If you are asked a question to which you do not know the answer, simply inform the officeholder that you will find the answer and get back to him.

•Leave a one-page summary of your key points and your contact information.

After the meeting

•Always send a thank-you letter. In it, briefly restate the points discussed during the meeting and include any additional information you promised to send.

•Call or send a note or e-mail to ATPE's Governmental Relations staff. Let us know how your meeting went so we can follow up in Austin.

Writing letter and making phone calls

Writing letters

Besides a face-to-face meeting, a letter written on stationery and sent via U.S. mail is the most effective means of communicating with legislators. Many people falsely believe that in this age of email, faxes and websites, traditional letters are outdated. However, research shows that letters influence officeholders more than other forms of communication because legislators know how easy it is to send an email or fax. They feel that someone who takes the time to write a letter is showing true commitment to the issue.

Officeholders frequently ignore or even delete e-mail messages without reading them because they have no way of knowing if the email actually came from a constituent. Faxes are often counterproductive because it annoys officeholders when their fax machines, which they need to conduct business, are jammed with incoming faxes from the public, especially faxes from non-constituents.

So get your pen and paper and follow this advice:

• Send a personal letter rather than a form letter. Handwritten (if it is legible) is best, but typed letters are fine.

•Try to limit your letter to one page. Never write more than two pages.

•Be polite and persuasive. Name-calling, threats and sarcasm hurt your case.

•Ask someone to proofread your letter. Nothing looks worse than a letter from an educator that has grammatical mistakes, and computers' spellchecker functions are not reliable.

Making phone calls

There are some points in the legislative session when there simply isn't enough time to schedule a meeting or send a letter. During these times, phone calls are the most effective means of communication as ringing phones cannot be ignored the way emails or faxes can.

When making phone calls to legislators, follow these guidelines:

•Familiarize yourself with the issues beforehand.

•Identify yourself as a constituent and/or ATPE member.

•Be prepared to give your address, if requested.

•Note the bill number and committee, if possible, and state your position on the issue.

•Tell your legislator what you would like them to do (vote for or against or amend a bill).

•Ask for the legislator's position on the bill or issue.

Addressing officeholders

Whether you're meeting face to face, writing a letter or calling an officeholder, use the appropriate salutations to show your respect. Refer to the guide below when communicating with officeholders.

Governor
Address on letter: The Honorable (FN LN)
Letter salutation: Dear Governor (LN)
Telephone greeting: Governor (LN)

Lieutenant Governor
Address on letter: The Honorable (FN LN)
Letter salutation: Dear Governor (LN)
Telephone greeting: Governor (LN)

Speaker of the House
Address on letter: The Honorable (FN LN)
Letter salutation: Dear Speaker (LN)
Telephone greeting: Mr./Madam Speaker

State Senator
Address on letter: The Honorable (FN LN)
Letter salutation: Dear Senator (LN)
Telephone greeting: Senator (LN)

State Representative
Address on letter: The Honorable (FN LN)
Letter salutation: Dear Representative (LN)
Telephone greeting: Representative (LN)

Communicating with the media

Writing letters to the editor is an effective way to convey your message to hundreds, if not thousands, of people. Follow these tips to give your letter a strong chance of being printed:

Check the newspaper's opinion page or website for submission guidelines. Most newspapers prefer electronic submissions.
Type or write your letter legibly if you are using snail mail.
Include your name, address and phone numbers. Newspapers generally verify authorship and do not print anonymous letters.
Address your letter to the "Letters Editor" or "Dear Editor."
Write about current issues, not old news. Respond promptly to stories that you feel are damaging to public education or to pending legislation.
Be brief. Try to limit your letter to no more than 125 words.
Be specific. State your purpose in the opening paragraph, and stick to it. If your letter responds to a specific article, identify it.
Include the facts. Don't make statements you can't back up with facts or figures, and avoid personal attacks and insults. But don't overdo it. Don't let your message get lost in a sea of figures.

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