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“It isn’t fair!”
“Don’t they understand?”
“What are we going to do?”
“Somebody needs to say something!”
Sound familiar? These are common thoughts being expressed across California Community Colleges - especially now. We are outraged about the inappropriate depth of cuts to community colleges. We are fearful of the threatened disproportionate cuts to critical categorical programs like EOP&S and DSP&S. We are appalled by the continued misunderstanding of cuts to mandated efforts like matriculation. We are upset about the elimination of maintenance of effort for Health Services.
As we communicate about our budget woes with our colleagues on campus and at other colleges, we often find ourselves at a low in knowing what to do. Many student services folks are apolitical by nature. We care about students. We focus our energies on making sure services are provided to students: That they get registered, receive financial aid and counseling, get involved in activities and receive help for whatever they need.
The focus of this article is on “getting political.” It is important to understand that this is not as hard as it sounds – but that it is more important than it sounds. Think of it this way: you need to view the “world” through “political glasses” – not “rose-colored glasses.”
Political Primer
In California, we have a Governor who is elected every four years, and a Legislature composed of the Assembly and the Senate (this is the state Senate). For every community college, there is at least one and often more than one, assembly member and state senator elected to serve the constituents of the community college district. Members of the assembly (n= 80) are each elected for two year terms and have a limit of serving only three two-year terms, or six years. Members of the state senate (n= 40) are elected every four years and have a limit of serving only two four-year terms, or eight years. This means that your elected representatives, especially in the Assembly, will be constantly running for office and will not be in their positions for very long.
Think of the budget as coming from two different sources and analyzed by four different sources. The state Community College Chancellor’s Office puts forward BCP’s or Budget Change Proposals in the form of requests for funding. The Governor’s Office reviews these but also uses their internal processes to develop what is released publicly as “The Governor’s Budget.” In terms of analyses, in addition to the Community Colleges, Chancellor’s Office and the Governor’s Office, the Legislature conducts budget hearings to review and vote on their version of the budget. The “non-partisan” Legislature Analyst’s Office is responsible for analyzing the Governor’s proposed budget and commenting on its accuracy, making recommendations, and providing detailed information- especially in the Legislature’s budget review process. Eventually, the Assembly approves their version of the Governor’s (proposed) budget and the Senate approves their version. The Assembly and Senate then meet to come up with the Legislature’s budget through the Joint Budget committee. By law, the Legislature is supposed to pass and submit their version of the budget to the Governor by June 15. The governor is to sign the budget by June 30. Recent history has demonstrated that this is rarely the case, with the final budget not being settled until weeks into the new fiscal year.
The Problem
This year, we have all become painfully aware of the budget process and the seemingly unfair recommendations by the Governor to cut funding to Community Colleges. Some of us have been caught off guard by the state’s dire financial picture and the impact on Community Colleges. We are “the people’s” college and have more students and more college campuses than either the California State University or the University of California. However, they have much stronger political lobbies and greater political influence than do Community Colleges. We tend to go about doing our business without paying much attention to whom we know and worse yet, not addressing who we are and what we do. We often “fail to tell our story,” electing rather to “just do it.” This apolitical orientation, though, has left California Community Colleges overlooked and misunderstood, and most certainly undervalued and under appreciated.
Getting Political
Many of us have felt lost as to what to do. But others have risen to the occasion and are fighting back through writing letters, holding press conferences, and “taking to the streets.” The recent rallies held at the state Capitol on March 17, 2003, and in downtown Los Angeles on March 28, 2003, have brought long overdue attention to Community Colleges. Numerous news editorials have pointed out the value of the Community Colleges. Electronic mail has enabled us to bridge a critical gap in our information cycle and participation level.
Our political strategies most certainly center around budget issues. Remember that within community colleges, we may not always have agreement on what we are trying to save, and what we are willing to cut. With regards to special legislation and legislative bills, care must be taken to fully understand the impact and determine the best approaches to either support or oppose the legislation. Many times our first reaction is to “kill the bill,” but there are times when it is more important, in the long run, to work with the legislative member to amend the bill. In this manner, you may end up getting changes to the Education Code and/or Title 5 that will benefit your cause.
There are some basic things we must understand about “getting political:”
1. “Getting political” is a “must”. We cannot stay apolitical and assume that others will advocate for us. Worse yet, we can’t simply think that it “should be obvious” how valuable our work in the community colleges is and that state officials will come to their senses. Not.
2. Know who are your elected officials. Gray Davis is the Governor until December 2006. Each community college has at least one state Assembly member and one state Senator representing the college. Many colleges have several. You also have an elected member of the Assembly and of the Senate based on where you live. In that case, you are a voting constituent, and believe me, your elected legislators pay attention when you speak!
3. Once you get involved; stay involved. One-shot efforts won’t help Community Colleges, especially Student Services, to be recognized and respected over time. To make it worthwhile, you should continue to develop ways to become and stay politically involved and connected.
4. Never underestimate your power. You are a constituent. You are an educator. You are a student advocate. You have power. You have an opinion that elected officials must listen to. Very few people ever take the time to personally contact their elected officials. Therefore, when an effort is undertaken, the power of the contact is immense.
5. If not us, who? We can always leave political involvement and activism to others. But remember, their message and their agenda may not quite be yours. For example, for elected officials to understand matriculation, EOPS, DSPS, and transfer issues, Student Services professionals must be the one carrying the message forward, or it won’t happen.
Each and every one of us can and should “get political.” If marching in a rally isn’t quite your cup of tea, then here are some practical things that you can do:
1. Write a letter to your elected Legislators and to the Governor. Make it personal, rather than a form letter. When writing to the elected officials representing your college district, make sure you let them know whom you are representing and what your role is. When writing to elected officials for your city/community where you live, make sure you make it known that you are a voting constituent as well as a professional educator. Have an up-to-date list of legislators serving on education/higher education committees and budget committees, especially education budget subcommittees. Plan to write to these individuals as well, regardless of which communities they represent. Additional points:
- Don’t: be condescending, accusatory or bitter in your letter.
- Do: be concise, convincing, and compelling.
- If your legislator has been supportive of community colleges, or especially supportive of your college in the past, make sure you remind them by thanking them for their prior support/involvement.
- Be specific as to what your concerns are.
- Spend the bulk of your letter with facts and key points related to your request and/or concerns.
2. Invite your elected legislators to your campus—now and continuously. VIP tours are always popular—be sure you highlight your best attractions as well as your areas that are in need of support.
- Make a habit of inviting your college’s legislators and their staff members to special events at your college like EOPS Graduation Ceremony, Disabled Students Awareness Day, Scholarship Ceremony, Transfer Symposium, Financial Aid Seminar, Student Government Awards Banquet, etc. Use this vehicle as a means to develop and maintain an ongoing, working relationship with your legislator and her/his office staff. You should consider appointing a legislative staff person to an advisory committee. Other points:
- If provided with sufficient lead-time, members of the Legislature often like to provide students or celebrated employees with resolutions or certificates.
- If invited, make sure that you officially announce and introduce the presence of the elected official. They will want to say a few words—it is a given.
- In addition to outreaching to your local legislators, be sure to connect with legislators on education committees and budget committees.
3. Market to your elected legislators—send them publications, information, statistics, and other items of interest on a regular basis. Better yet, take these items with you when you go to meet with them.
- The marketing goal is to tell your story—what is your college/program about, why is it valuable, what does it accomplish
- Make sure that your legislator has a very nice photo, plaque, or other commemorative piece about your college in their Sacramento and local office.
- Be sure to take a “Kodak moment” photo whenever the legislator visits the campus, have it framed and presented to the elected official in a follow-up meeting/visit.
- Get to know the legislative staff—both in Sacramento (the capital) as well as in the local office. These folks are your lifelines. While there may be some turnover in local offices, the Sacramento staffs are more permanent, and very knowledgeable. The appointment secretary is a key person to know. The education staff person is also a critical individual with whom to establish an ongoing relationship.
4. Call a press conference—and make sure you have plenty of student testimonials. Many communities have small newspapers that are always looking for local-oriented and human-interest stories. Elected officials pay attention to coverage in these community type of newspapers. If you can get major print media or even television coverage, that is even better!
- You will need a good “story line.” When you call a press conference, the media will want to know the significance of your issue.
- In order to get coverage, you will need to make personal contact with editors, education writers and news station managers in advance so that an assignment can be made. Remember, in order to be printed the next day, print media generally need to have the story filed by around 5:00 p.m. Unless a television news station is going live, a taping usually needs to be done by around noon to make the early evening news.
- Decide who will speak and make sure they understand the key points to be made and are not too inhibited to speak out. Select individuals who have something to say, a story to tell, and a diverse perspective. Go for “sound bytes” remembering that a quote is usually only one-half inch in print, or about 30 seconds or less in a broadcast.
- Another strategy is to write a letter to the editor or an editorial column. You can either submit a letter to the editor on your own and hope that it gets printed, or work with the editorial page editor to approve the publication of a planned commentary. Remember that letters and editorials are timely, and in some cases must be written within hours of a particular event occurring.
5. Testify at legislative hearings. Arrange to attend legislative committee hearings related to your issues and concerns. Explore ways that you provide testimony. Sacramento is full of lobbyists—the same players day in and day out who speak to educational concerns. Legislators appreciate hearing from new faces, especially those who have made an effort to travel to Sacramento and have personal experience from which they are speaking.
- Know the legislative committees that will be hearing your issue (budget issue or bill) and when the issue will be heard.
- Make sure that you have communicated with the staff of the chairperson of the committee so that they know you wish to speak.
- Utilize key legislative contacts to help you—either a lobbyist for your organization or one of the community college organizations which have lobbyists.
- Be prepared to speak for about two minutes. Also be prepared to be interrupted, questioned, or even ignored by committee members. Just don’t get rattled. Make sure your points are cogent and that you speak with authority and passion.
6. Lobby. Lobbying means walking a lot, having your business card handy, having your position paper ready, and being prepared to speak on a moment’s notice and to wait for long periods of time in hopes of being able to speak to someone for a few minutes.
- If you can set up appointments in advance, that is ideal. There may be times when you need to be in two different places at the same time. It is advisable to take at least one other person with you in case you have to split up.
- Legislators’ offices can be small. If your group is large, either split up or have some wait in the hallway until you can be seen.
- If you don’t have advance appointments, check with the office staff to find out when the best time might be for you to catch the member, and be sure to show up.
- Legislative staff often sit in on the meeting when you are able to meet directly with the legislator. Make sure you provide them with a copy of whatever you are handing out as they are the ones who need to read and understand your issue/platform.
- Remember to lobby all sides—those who are clearly supportive, those who are probably not supportive, and most importantly, those who are undecided or uncommitted.
7. Educate, train, and involve students—our most powerful assets and allies! Our business is educating and serving students. Help them to understand the issues and be sure to include them in press conferences, visits to legislative offices, and in all aspects. The impact of any budget concern, any intended piece of legislation, should always be couched in terms of how it affects students and their success in college.
8. Build your facts. In addition to student testimonials that focus on emotions, you will also need to have clear and convincing statistics about the importance of your particular programs/services and the outcomes (evidence) that the program works. Being able to point to the economic efficiency of your program, demonstrate your success through statistics, and showing the impact of your efforts on individuals, the economy, on society, is critically important.
9. Organize your colleagues. Someone has to take the lead—let it be you! Find ways to motivate and involve your colleagues to get involved. This is especially important for Student Services as we often have similarities that are more inter-campus than intra-campus. Build upon your most critical issues in which your membership/colleagues have agreement.
- Develop your constituency as counselors, health care professionals, financial aid/EOPS/DSPS staff.
- Have legislators and Governor’s office staff attend and speak at your professional conferences and meetings.
- Develop position papers from your particular organizations.
10. Stay informed. This should be a “no-brainer” for educators. If you need to, review your Political Science 101 notes so that you understand how the government works, how budgets are developed and voted on, how bills are signed in to law, the key political issues surrounding each political party.
- Read the newspaper daily.
- Log onto key websites.
- Trace your facts to make sure you understand opinion from a final decision.
- Always understand the other side’s issues so you can be prepared to explain your position, in light of those concerns. This is especially true when you are speaking to someone who has opposed your position, whose party has opposed your position, or is probably not inclined to be supportive.
- Take time to learn about key concepts like equalization, Prop 98 guarantee, block grant funding, May Revise, statutory COLA’s, maintenance of effort, mandated local cost reimbursement.
Closing Thoughts
Regardless of the level of your involvement, make sure you at least do something. Make a phone call, send an e-mail, sign a petition, study the issues, speak to others, but whatever you do, get involved and stay involved! Community Colleges, and especially Student Services, cannot afford to stay silent and uninvolved. If we fail to politically fight for our survival, we will have failed our field, our profession, and our students.
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