001All right, and we'll go from there. Um, happy January 20th everyone. Um, and welcome to um, the first advocacy action network meeting of the year. Um, we are, um, really excited to have all of you with us, um, to, you know, really use this space, um, to help with skill building and relationship building within sort of all things legislative session. U, many of you are not newbies to this space. Um this group has been assembled for a number of years now. Um previously referred to as the Legislative Representative Network. Um we thought just by doing a little bit of rebranding um and calling this space the advocacy action network um it would help to achieve our goals of making sure that any and all legislatively interested school directors um know they have a space to
002come uh to learn about legislative session and um really to be able to help with um having the tools, resources um and information at your fingertips so that you can best engage during what's already proving to be a pretty busy legislative session. Um so we are going to get started. I keep looking away cuz I'm letting people in from the waiting room. Um we're going to go ahead and get started. Make good use of our hour together. Um we are essentially going to start with just a couple of legislative session updates. Just sort of letting you know um what we know about what's happening and sort of the status if you will on um some of WASDA's priority areas. And then we're going to dive into the legislative website. Um Cynthia is going to give
003you an in-depth tour um and essentially show you um everything that um we think you need to know um in terms of like doing things like finding bills, signing in during public hearings um and any other things that you might want to know. We'll take some Q&A time at the end of that and um maybe we'll learn some new things ourselves. Um and then we're going to dive through um some of our WASDA resources and then have some small group discussion at the end. For those of you that attended Ledrip Network in the past, this will be a very similar look and feel um in terms of what we're offering for you today. So hopefully this is a good use of your time and thanks to all of you for being with us. Going to
004jump right in um and just share a little bit about what we know so far as it relates to session. Um, in case you hadn't heard, the legislative session did start last week, um, on Monday, January 12th. This is a short session, uh, meaning that we're only going to be in Olympia with our lawmakers for 60 days. We're currently scheduled to end on March 12th. And, um, during this time, this is called a supplemental session. So, um, they're essentially building on everything that they did last year in passing a new big 2-year budget, passing a bunch of bills. Um so essentially this year they're continuing that work and they will have a supplemental budget um that legislators will have to pass before session wraps up. Um as we have been saying for many months now
005um budget issues are definitely dominating um every sector um across the capital campus. Um I've talked with folks in the housing world, in the early learning world, definitely in K12, human services, etc. Um and pretty much every sector um is in a defensive stance um this session of please no further cuts. Um at the beginning of every session um the governor holds what's called the state of the state. Um it's sort of like his annual report, if you will, to the legislature. And the priorities that the governor addressed um this year were specifically around um increasing the transportation budget in our state to maintain roads, expanding affordable housing, and strengthening early learning through um public philanthropic partnerships. Um I note that um for you to see that K12 is not mentioned um they're specifically and
006directly as priorities of the governor. That does not mean that our legislators are not going to choose to prioritize K through2. Um, but it is sort of just one more reason why I think it's important for us to continue to be showing up for education policy, especially this session and a reminder that all of you are included in the Wii um that needs to be showing up and communicating with legislators. So, thank you for being here um and committing to doing that important work. Um, I also will just note as we think about the legislative session this year, um, in general, um, we are anticipating multiple revenue proposals. Um, as you know, we have a multibillion dollar, um, revenue shortfall across the next four years. And when I say budget issues are dominating, legislators are
007trying to figure out what they're going to do in terms of how they're going to fill that gap. Um the governor's budget um as many of you saw hopefully in in session last week um does attempt to sort of address address budget holes through cutting programs again across the state all sectors um and we are anticipating revenue proposals. Um the last thing I want to say just in terms of general context is that our first cutoff um is coming pretty quickly. Um again, short session. Um on February 4th is when our first cuto off happens, which basically by that date, all policy bills will have to have had a public hearing and been passed out of their policy committee in order to um remain in movement um for this upcoming legislative session. So, we're in
008week two now. Um, we did see a small handful of bills, education bills move out of their policy committees last week. Uh, we're anticipating more this week and definitely more um as we get into next week. So, we will definitely be keeping you all apprised um as to how bills are moving in and out. Um, but that that February 4th deadline will be sort of the first cut off that our legislators will have to face. Additionally, um want to zoom in a little bit into um public education work um and let you know that we are tracking almost 100 new bills so far across the House and Senate um that either directly or indirectly will impact um K- through2 school districts um or the work that you all are managing. um that is in that
009does not include all of the bills from last session um that did not pass as all of them technically sort of remain alive um if you will meaning that they can be pulled into public hearings in advance at any particular time. Um so that's just um a lot to say there's a lot of bills that we're tracking. Um, of that 100 new bills that we've been tracking, at least 20 of them include unfunded mandates for school districts. So, when we think about all of that, um, you know, the we have a section on WASDA's priority platform that talks about relief and flexibility for school districts. really really really trying to say to our legislators, please stop adding unfunded mandates to the plates of our school districts, especially while basic education remains underfunded in a number
010of areas. Um we are showing up u on many of these unfunded mandate bills and um been talking with legislators regularly um about this issue. So just sort of wanted to flag that as a general um statement for you to know. Um, additionally, as we think about some of Wazda's priority areas, there are some areas where we are beginning to see traction. Um, most specifically, and I think most important for you all to know, you probably saw this in in session last Friday, um, the bill that increases funding for materials, supplies, and operating costs. There is a public hearing on that bill tomorrow. Um, both of the bills are um, on your screen, and those are links that you'll be able to click on when I send this out. Um but most specifically the Senate
011bill is the one that has a public hearing. That's Senate Bill 5918. Um we see that bill um in its current form as um being impactful for every single school district across the state as it increases as it would aim to increase your MSOC allocations by $100 per student or $100,000 per district, whichever is more. um would definitely encourage you to sign in support on that bill. Um WASDA, as you can imagine, will definitely be there um testifying. Um Dr. Melissa Beard, Tom Water School Board member and WASDA president, um will be WASDA's representative during tomorrow's hearing. Um when we have our legislative website tour here in a little bit, Cynthia will show you all a step-by-step process on how to sign in on a bill in a particular hearing. Um and we're going to
012use the MSOC bill as an example. So, we'll give you a little tutorial on that here in a bit. Um, additionally, as it relates to transportation, um, we know we have some work on our platform >> um, talking about school district transportation funding and, um, Senate Bill 5858 um, is um, a transportation safety net bill that essentially works to reestablish uh, the safety net for special passengers. Um so particularly those um students in special education programs, students in foster care and students experiencing homelessness. Um that bill has made its way already through the Senate Education Early Learning and K- through2 Education Committee. Um that happened I think yesterday, maybe it was at the end of last week. Um but the good news is that bill is continuing to move. Um, [snorts] additionally, as it relates
013to unfunded mandates, um, I did mention earlier that we've seen at least 20 bills so far that include unfunded mandates. Um, we are, um, beginning to talk strategy with lawmakers, um, on both sides of the aisle, um, in both the House and the Senate, um, as sort of trying to identify some strategy here for how to stop um, some of these. Um, as you can anticipate, it's a hard conversation to have because some of these ideas are good and could potentially be good in theory for students or for school districts. And without ample and adequate funding, um, we there is a problem, right? Um, so we are continuing to talk to legislators about this and members of the education committees in both the House and Senate are um, really hearing us, which is helpful. Um
014that doesn't mean every unfunded mandate bill will be stopped in its tracks. Um but you can fully anticipate work from our association um along with WASA, your superintendent association and a number of other school districts that have um lobbyists present on um on the legislative campus um that we are continuing to disrupt um these conversations and continuing to flag the importance of full ample funding andor optional uh the the required pieces of those bills to become optional in the absence of funding. The last thing I'll say and then I'll stop and just see what questions you all might have is um around our um safe, healthy, and contemporary school facilities priority. Um the governor's capital budget proposal did um include $74 million for the small school modernization grant program. Um fully funding the existing list
015of planning grants and funding the first 12 construction grants. Um we definitely see that as progress um and are happy to report that there's um some funding indicated there in the governor's capital budget. So um I'm going to pause um and just sort of get a sense from you all. Any questions on um any of what we've shared so far? Okay. Don't hesitate to interrupt if you have them. Um you can throw questions in the chat or um feel free to use the raise hand feature in Zoom. Okay. Um the last bit of session context that I'll provide for this moment in time is just a little bit about what you can expect. Um as you have heard us say, our team is absolutely here to support you. Um and we Cynthia and I in
016particular have active regular presence at the capital. Um you're catching us at an interesting time. We are in the office building right now, but you know, it's hard to find a quiet space to host a Zoom in the legislative building. So, uh, we zoom back up here for this. Um, but please uh rest assured that we are on campus pretty much every single day of the legislative session in hearings talking to legislators in the hallways having meetings with them as well sharing our priorities and really helping to amplify the perspective and information that we are getting from you all throughout the session. Um, as a part of that we are also available to um do some bill analysis and bill review for you. So, as you and your districts are navigating some of these bills
017that are coming across your plate and you have questions about like what does this really mean or how might this impact schools, don't hesitate to reach out to us. Um Cynthia and I are absolutely here um to work with you in a one-on-one capacity, just in the same way we're putting out information through this group, through in session, through in session live. Um we are happy to provide guidance as to what some of these bills do. Um so please don't hesitate to ask us. Additionally, just as a reminder, um we have multiple ways that we're planning on updating and communicating with you and the broader membership during this busy time. Um we have two in session publications. First is in session live. That's our webinar. Um we will be hosting that on Friday afternoons at
01812:00 p.m. Um we'll drop that registration link um in the chat in case you don't have it. Um, please feel free to share that with others in your area as well. Um, the more the merrier um on that call. Additionally, in session, our written legislative update will come to your inbox on Friday afternoons. We'll drop that subscription uh link in the chat just in case you need that. Those are our two sort of primary and regular ways that we're communicating updates with you. Additionally, we have action alerts um that will go out both on social media and through email as needed. Um so that'll be on things like, "Hey, one of our priority bills has a hearing. It'd be great if you could sign in." Or, "Hey, this bill seems like it's going to be
019really detrimental for school districts. We need to hear from you all. We need your communication to your legislators. Here's what we might recommend you do." Um so those sort of happen as needed. Um but please be watching for those as well. And just in terms of what we need from you, um we just need you to engage. Um share your perspective with your legislators. Let them know who you are. Let them know how some of these bills are going to impact you, particularly those that would be extremely helpful or extremely harmful um for your school districts. And we've been seeing school directors and school districts engaged um actually pretty well pretty well in terms of turnout over the first two weeks. Um I've seen a number of school districts signed in in public hearings. I've
020seen a number of school district staff giving testimony. Um so please keep it up. Um and if that hasn't been you and you're looking for like, you know, what's the one thing I might do this week to be able to engage, again, please don't hesitate to ask. Um, that is exactly what this space is for is to help prepare you for that work. One more thing that I'm going to flag is that next Thursday, January 29th, is public education advocacy day at the capital. Um, many of you attended the legislative conference that we held in partnership with WASA, the superintendent association, and WASBO, the school business officers association. Um as sort of an extension of that uh weekend um our three organizations are working together to host publica public education advocacy day next Thursday. Um
021we would encourage you if at all possible um to come down and be in person um at the capital. We will be releasing a formal schedule for that day um pretty soon. But what I can tell you generally is that we will be hosting two sort of group uh Q&A sessions with our legislators. One for House members and one for Senate members in the afternoon on the 29th. Um I think that'll be a 2:00 p.m. and a 3:00 p.m. uh meeting meeting gathering. So be watching for that. Everything else that day will be um on individual school districts who attend to be setting meetings with our legislators and bringing forward um talking points, data, information, and stories um for um around our collective um association hot topics. So um we encourage you to come join
022us on January 29th. Okay, I'm going to stop talking and u I'm going to pass it over to Cynthia um who's going to take us through the legislative um Washington state legislaturator's website, show you a couple cool things and um as you all have questions about the website or maybe if you already have a thought about, hey, I want to know how to do this. Um just drop those comments in the chat and um we'll see what we can do to show youall how to do that. Awesome. Thanks, Logan. Um, so I'm going to share my screen and if you also have time, um, please feel free to follow along, um, if you have a laptop or phone. Um, so let me share my screen here. All righty. And I'm just going to start fresh.
023So, good link to always have in mind is ledge.wah.gov. And apologies if um it's a little slow. Um we've been having some Wi-Fi issues in the office here. Um but like Logan mentioned, um a bill that I'm going to go through is 5918. So, as you get here, you'll see the page. Um you'll see, you know, you'll be able to find a bill number. Um, and so I'll just type in 5918. And you'll clearly see some information about the bill already. You'll see the title, so providing funding for school materials, supplies, and operating costs. You'll see the sponsors. You'll see if there was a request. So, this was a request by OSPI. Um, and you'll also see the companion bill. So, House Bill 2147. Um and you can also click on it and it'll take
024you to that specific bill. Um this kind of gives you I like to say like a road map of where this bill is. Um as a as a journey it goes through the legislature. Um so as you can see it's been introduced. Um you can also see some bill history here. So 2026 regular session when it was pre-filed, the first reading and when it's scheduled for a public hearing. And as Logan mentioned, this does have a public hearing tomorrow at 10:30 in the Senate Committee on Early Learning and K- through2 Education. Um, so how to sign in? Um, let me scroll down here. Okay, so how to sign up to testify. So over here on the right hand side, you're going to see lots of um other buttons here. Um, send a comment to your
025legislators, sign up to testify, get email notifications. You can even also get um notifications at hand. And so I'm going to click on sign up to testify. And as you'll see here, um it'll pull up the um agenda items and it's already clicked on for us 5918. Um you'll select type of testimony. So um here we're just going to um put our position um for the record. Um, but if you keep scrolling down, it also walks you through on how to register to testify in a committee, how to test um how to state your position, how to submit written testimony. Um, so if you want to go back and reference um if you don't have time right now, totally fine. Um, you can always do this later today. Um, but for now, we're going to
026go I would like my position noted for the legislative record. And here again, it'll give you the committee, the date and time, the bill, the location, um, and then you'll scroll down and you'll want to, um, select your position. So, for 5918 pro, um first and last name, email, um if you're testing for an organization, um your address, city, state, zip code, phone number, and then you'll go ahead and click submit registration. Um so, it's it's a pretty easy process. Um but again, if you have any questions, please let Logan and I know. Um, also you can refer if you go back down here has some clear steps as well. Um, but please let us know if you have any questions as you're going through it. Um, the next thing that I'm going to go
027through is our WASDA web page. Um, so I'll just go to wazda.org or and we have a tab here called advocacy. And I recommend there's there's a lot of um other drop- down tabs is if you have time to go through each one, I'm only going to go through a few since we only have um some time right now. But I'm going to go through um how to advocate. Um, so this is a great tool um that you can see how we do year- round advocacy um local actions, state level actions, federal level actions. You'll also be able to see um WASDA's positions. So, as you know, we have our position catalog. We have permanent and legislative positions. Um see here. And then the one that I'm going to go to is our legislative priorities.
028Um so here you'll be able you can also download download as a PDF. Um our priorities. So it'll look like that. I know many of you have already seen it. We also have our bill watch. So this is the one that's super important. Um, this is where we track all of our bills for this session. And this is also really great for um, if you don't have a computer right at hand. It's great for cell phone as well. Um, you'll just have to scroll through. Um, but this labels out the bill number, when it's last been updated, the status, what position, our sponsor, and there's even this cool thing on here where there is specific categories. So, let's say you're like, I just need to find bills that are in special education and student support.
029If you click on that category, it'll pull those up. Um, and of course if you want to see all the bills, you just go to all categories. Um, we also have um a short description. So it gives you like one to two sentences about what the bill is about. Um, so this is really great to reference. This is updated constantly um as things are changing during session. Um, the great thing about this page in particular, it is ran through lobby gov. Um, so again, like it's updated every minute if there is a change in the bill. Um, and Logan and I go in every single day and also update it if there is any new bills that are dropping. Um, any questions on the bill watch [snorts] then I can chat. >> I I do
030have a question. Sorry, this Christina Martinez from Marcelin is more than a question. It's a feedback. Uh, this is great, but however, when it's time to that is going to be um um in a commission. I see that I would love to have like a another column that will uh flash us when a bill will be on commission that week saying like this will be in a hearing next or or tomorrow or uh because otherwise I have to start correlating what uh what is next week then with the priorities and and this tool that you created. So, I think it it's very helpful, but at the same time, it will be helpful if there's a way that I could um kind of highlight the ones that we'll be hearing this week, something like that. An
031extra column there if it's possible. >> Yeah. No, that definitely is. Um I'll make sure to add a column. Um and I appreciate the feedback. Thank you, Christina. Um the other thing that I wanted to touch base on is in session live and just in in session in general. So we have um in session email updates and we also have live updates. Um and so I will drop this in the chat unless Logan has already done it. Um but you can subscribe to the email and also sub uh register for the in session live webinar. Um the webinar takes place every Fridays at noon for an hour. Um and this is also a great spot where we give updates about what is going on for the week, what is expected for next week. Um and
032so I recommend if you haven't already to sign up um for both of these so you know you can have watch it and then also receive an email later that afternoon on Friday. Um, also if you've missed any of them, um, there's also going to be a email archive that if you'd like to go through, um, definitely do that as well as with the webinar archive. So, there'll also be, um, a place here just in case it it it was missed in your inbox. Um, and that is all I have. I know we have another section which is the breakout. So, I will pass it to Logan. >> Thanks, Cynthia. Really appreciate you bringing those resources back um back to our members. Um we we hope those are some of the things that feel most
033top of mind for you um in terms of, you know, what you need to be successful in navigating the legislative session. Um and also as you could see by our bill tracker and our comments earlier um there's just a lot of a lot of bills um for us to navigate and um we are um continuing to work with this group um as well as with our legislative committee um to gather feedback um and figure out sort of district impacts as to how some of these bills um both good and bad stand to um impact school districts across the state. So, thank you again for being a part of this process. Um, a quick question. Cynthia Charlotte is asking if there's a way to print the bill watch um or download to Excel. I actually don't
034know the answer to that. Do you? >> Um, let me check right now. I know that we can to at least a PDF, but um give me a minute and I'll I'll respond to your question, Charlotte. >> Great. Okay. So stay tuned for an answer there. Um while Cynthia is looking for that, um we are um going to get ready to host some breakout rooms. If you can believe it or not, we are right on time uh with where we expected we'd be at about 12:30. I'm actually kind of shocked. Um thanks all for that. Um I am going to drop a couple of questions um in the chat box for you right now. Um these will follow you um to your breakout rooms and essentially what we're hoping you can chew on together um
035is a couple of things. Um first, what part of the legislative process feels clearer now and what still feels confusing or hard to navigate? Um additionally, what barriers um do you see and feel as a school board member um that stand in the way of you engaging in legislative advocacy? um would love for you all to just share with each other um one advocacy approach or just other strategy um that you've used um that's worked really well for you. Um we love when you all get to learn from each other. Um and then additionally um how can this group, specifically the advocacy action network, best support you all during the legislative session? What what other kinds of topics would be helpful for us to discuss? um is there a particular part of today's gathering that
036you're like, "Yeah, okay, we want more of that." Um or, etc. So, those are all things for you to think about. Um those questions were all just dropped in the chat box. Um in the meantime, we are going to pop open some breakout rooms um for you and um what that will look like. It's about 12:30 right now. Um, we will go into breakout rooms until about 12:45, so about 15 minutes. Um, and we hope you all have good discussions. Um, before I open those, um, Cynthia, have you learned anything yet about Bill Watch or should we answer that when we come back? >> Um, so unfortunately it won't let you download. Um, but if you do need a an Excel sheet, um, feel free to email me and I can send that to you.
037>> Nice. Okay, breakout rooms are now open. Um, I think you will have to um click into them. >> Hey, Logan. I just put in the I'm gonna I got to go. >> Oh, that doesn't mess up your >> No problem. >> rooms. >> That is all good. >> All right. Sweet. Thank you. >> Thanks for Thanks for letting us know. >> Yep. See you later. >> See you. Okay, Shauna, Aaron, and Neil, let me know if there's anything we can do to get you into your breakout rooms. Hi Renee, welcome. We just went into breakout rooms. >> Hi. >> Hello. So, I am going to move you into one um right now. Um we we just went there maybe about 30 seconds or 45 seconds ago. I'm so sorry for the delay. >> You're
038so fine. You are totally fine. I'm >> What are we talking about >> in room one? >> Um so what you're talking about um essentially is um just what still feels confusing about the legislative process. >> Um what barriers make it difficult for schoolboard members to engage in legislative advocacy? um sharing some strategies um of like advocacy approaches or relationship building strategies that have worked well for you and then um just a general question at the end about how this space um can be helpful for you all as you navigate the session. >> Okay, thank you. Also, by the way, I hate that I didn't conferences are so much fun and I love seeing your face, but I never get to catch up you. I hope it went well. >> Thank you. I know there's
039so many people and so little time. Um I feel like the conference was really really good. >> It's just hard to be loved, isn't it? >> I know. [laughter] >> Well, it's good to see your face. >> It's good to see your name, too, Renee. I just saw you in room. >> My face is uh no makeup, no nothing. We'll work on it. >> That's fair. Hi. >> Hello. [laughter] >> See you in a bit. >> All right. See you in a bit. Bye. going to uh ask uh I'll just sort of go room by room and just ask for um any general reflections um that you had um in your conversation and um you can sort of pick and choose where you want to go, but specific specifically. I think we would love to
040hear about um the last question, how this group um can best support you all um during the session. >> So, I'm going to go first to group one. And um group one, you don't know who that is um but that's Neil, Megan, Sean, and Renee. Someone from that group wants to share, that'd be great. Megan, do you want to? >> No, I was waiting for you to do it. [laughter] >> I wondered. Um, well, you know, I um not sure we got completely to that. Um, >> that's okay. That's okay. Yeah, but I I do from the conversations that we had, I will glean that um some guidance around how to prepare for different things like um writing a letter, where to submit that and send it to um and things like how to prepare
041for a testimony so that it's effective. That kind of practical um guidance that gives people confidence to jump into those spots. Great. That's amazing. Exactly the kind of feedback that's helpful for us. Um, as specific as you all can be, um, the better we'll be able to sort of turn around um, resources and supports for you all. So, that's great. Thank you. >> Of course. >> Um, room two is Aaron, Christina, Lori, and Lindsay. >> I can go ahead really quickly and just really feeding off of that. um talked about sort of just even if you are reading a testimony, even if you're virtual or in person, it's still a very intimidating process. So, yeah, we didn't get to that last question, but I can see how that would be beneficial is how can we,
042you know, run comments by somebody? How can we practice? What are some tips so we can maybe get over that imposttor syndrome and have a little bit more courage and confidence to to speak up? Um, and then Lori was in there and mentioned about um, speakup schools through League of Women Voters, which I wanted to look into, which I don't know Lori if you wanted to mention about that, but more of a training to be able to Is that what it is to to provide >> a training on how to speak up, get organized, um, and it also includes some practice, but they have, I think, five main points. It should be listed on the Washington League of Women Voters website. That's where you should be able to go to find out. And um I
043don't know if they're doing any trainings right now. They've all been ver virtual, I think, but they should have some information there. Great. And I just just going to add that that um what Lindsay said that um it is very intimidated to go and testify, but if you have one of your legislators in that commission, they will remember you're from their their district and they will reach out if they have more questions. So showing up matters even if we don't want to. So it's true. Uh I don't even know how many testimonies I've given over the years and sometimes I still get a little bit of nerves, too. It's a thing. Um, that's really helpful. Um, it definitely feels like uh in our next uh gathering we can include um some testimony prep and um
044training. So that's lovely. Thank you. Okay. Um room three. Sorry. Um this Wesley, you're the only name I've got here. I see Wesley and iPad. [laughter] Sorry, I had to take myself off mute. Yeah, there was a good question that came up as far as like how as a board member um do we get the collective information from our board so that when we're speaking and testifying that we know that we're we're all speaking with the same voice because we are the we are the representative from our board, but we want to make sure that we're speaking with the same voice as the remainder of the board. So, it's um I think it was Karen was one of the group members in there that has a lot of experience. She says she gathers feedback individually
045from each board member about what bills that you know are focused for their board. Uh and she'll gather feed feedback individually. Um collect that as far as what they want to do and then send out a board report to their team about here's what the feedback was, here's the position we think we do. and Karen if you um will be able to just speak on that uh to give more feedback to that. But it was a good question that was brought up is how do we make sure that when we are testifying on behalf of our board that we're getting all the input that we can so that we're speaking as one voice. >> That's great. Um definitely think something that feels like it would be really helpful um for folks in this room. Um
046my turnaround ask for you to just not you specifically Wesley but anyone on the call um to think about over the next couple of weeks or so is if you have a really great practice um for doing this work as a lead rep or you know of a board member who like does this and it works really well for them um I think it would be really good to hear actually examples from some of you um in a future meeting about um how to go about that. I think, you know, there's no one way that necessarily works for everyone. Um, but highlighting a couple of examples would be good. So, think about um if you might be uh a process example that you'd want to highlight um during the next meeting and if any of
047you um would like to be that person or persons, um please just send Cynthia and I an email. Um, we'll put this ask out to the full group um in our follow-up uh from this meeting and um we'll see what we can do to highlight some good strategies there next month. Great idea. Okay, room five had Tom and Sarah and I think that the 758 number. I think that's Vivian. >> Yes, it was. Uh so uh we just our conversation was mostly around two things. Uh we would uh want to second Christina's uh request to have the um hearing day and time and committee uh for the bit on the bill tracker because that's the clunkiest part of the legislative website that you don't get straight from the bill to where you can if you
048look up the bill you can't immediately sign in your position. you have to go to then the hearing and then signing the position. So having that is really a critical >> uh addition. And then the other thing we were just talking about exactly this question of you know when's it appropriate to um indicate that you're an official uh that you're representing your the organization that you're the organization you're representing which is an optional field in that signin. when can you put your school district in there? And um so Lukisha is not here now, but she had [laughter] a nice suggestion of so you can you can make her do it next time when we talk about this. um about just like not every board member is that like interested in knowing all the ins and
049outs of all the legislation, but if the if you if there's something that you know you you check with your board president and the superintendent, make sure you're all on the same page, then um that was the sort of method that she used for that. >> Great. Thanks, Tom. that's helpful. Um, we definitely can look into whether or not we can add the hearing date, time, and sign up link onto the bill tracker. Um, we'll have to Yeah, we'll have to see what's possible. What we can do for sure um is in our in session um legislative updates that come out on Fridays. It is um generally pretty easy for us to add links um in that list when we give it out. It's probably not as helpful as having it on the bill tracker,
050but our team can do some digging um to see what we can add there. Um and also I think Lesha's um strategy for determining when to add your school district to the organization line on the signin is is great. Um if any others um have strategies or ideas um for how you do that locally and it works well for your um board superintendent leadership team, um please let us know. We'll be happy to add some of that to um the next meeting. Okay, we have 3 minutes left. Um but I want to make sure we get time for our last breakout route breakout group to share. That's um Anna, Michael, Russ, and Casey. If anyone wants to share from that table, >> anybody want to go? >> I think you go Russ. >> Okay. Well,
051the um I I think we we all found W's bill tracker to be use very useful and um really appreciated your how to sign uh into a committee hearing, Cynthia. That that was that's a great reminder. Um and then what we what we've talked about what we found effective are developing personal relationship with your legislators. Um inviting legislators both to school visits and then participating in town halls or helping organize legislative town halls on a countywide basis. what uh I had talked about and then involving students uh student reps on your school board um meeting with with students uh in in appropriate classes in high school and and let them kind of give their own in voice uh in in in the legislative process. So I think WA was particularly with Logan's efforts has come
052a long ways in organizing student reps and we need to build on that our individual school districts. >> Great. Thanks Ross. Um appreciate that. Um I think uh once again really great points um were made in terms of um different strategies that can be used and um we're glad that the resources that we've got out there are helpful for you all. Okay. Um we are um just about out of time. Um so want to just again really say thank you for taking the time to be here today. Um we know you are all busy. We know the legislative session in itself is this whole other layer of work that you all are navigating on top of uh just existing as a school board member. So, um we really appreciate your time and energy um that
053you bring into the space and hope you'll continue to find it helpful. Um it feels like when we're together next month, the best use of our time is going to be um really diving in to talk about the process of testimony. um both preparing for testimony, giving testimony, um following up um and sort of what types of information and data and stories you might want to prepare to include there. So um we'll be ready to dive into that in February. Um on our way out, I'll just remind you of a couple of things. Um again, next Thursday, the 29th of January, um is the WASA WASDA Wasbo Public Education Advocacy Day. Um we hope to see you there. And then in February, um there's two things you should know about. Um first is our Wasa
054Wazda Wasbo midsession um legislative update webinar. Say Wasa Wazda Wasbo 10 times fast. Um we'll be working in partnership um with Marissa who represents WASA and WBO um to share updates around our joint hot topics um during that time. That is the 17th of February, so three Tuesdays from now. And then the following Tuesday, um, which is the 24th of February, um, is currently when we've got our advocacy action network scheduled. Um, one thing that I think could be beneficial for us, we'll just have to look at the calendar. Um, is to potentially move that meeting up to be on February 10th. Um, just thinking about testimony training and how valuable it could be to get that 2 weeks sooner. um that's that many more bills that you might be able to weigh in on.
055Um so anyway, um we'll check our calendars and um think about whether or not we can move that meeting up a couple of weeks. Um whether you can make it or not, we will record. Um but uh I will end because we're over time. Thank you again um for everything. Please don't hesitate to contact us. I just dropped Cynthia and I's email addresses and work cell phone numbers in the chat. Um, feel free to screenshot or save those. Um, you can call, text, or email us at any time. Thank you for doing what you do.