In her opening remarks on April 4, ACSA Vice President for Legislative Action Gina Potter welcomed 437 virtual attendees representing all 19 ACSA regions.

“This is the largest contingency of ACSA’s members to join Legislative Action Day in the history of ACSA,” Potter said. “Educational leaders throughout the state will meet this week with over 70 — or over half of California’s legislative leaders in both the Senate and Assembly — to elevate our voices and to advocate on behalf of education.”

Potter recognized ACSA’s Governmental Relations staff and the “mighty VPLA team” from each region for their hard work in putting on this advocacy event.

Organizers decided to hold meetings with representatives virtually this year, as was done in 2021, due to COVID concerns and renovations at the Capitol, as well as out of consideration for the demands facing school administrators during what has been a difficult school year.

“Our voices are important,” Potter said. “Your voices matter as educational leaders and now is the time to make sure that we advocate to ensure our students have the best possible education they can have.”

Some of the big issues members advocated on this year: Declining attendance and enrollment, increased pension costs, the expansion of transitional kindergarten and staffing shortages. On Monday, ACSA Legislative Advocates reviewed some of the specific “asks” ACSA members have surrounding these topics.

Due to historic spending proposed for education, Legislative Advocate Megan Baier said members should anticipate pushback from some legislators at the mention of funding challenges. She said Legislative Action Days was a great time to highlight that much of that funding is tied up in categorical programs.

Another big theme was the need to invest in the “core functions” of K-12 education following two years of schools performing health protocols during the coronavirus pandemic.

ACSA Senior Director of Governmental Relations Edgar Zazueta urged members to share their stories about the challenges the system has faced over the pandemic. “The policymakers know a fraction of what you folks know,” he said. “You’re already experts on this ... you know what your students need.”

Attendees Kevin Gordon and Jack O’Connell from Capitol Advisors shared important do’s and don’ts for meetings with legislators. They also shared the need for continuing advocacy efforts, especially next year when there will be many new legislators in both houses due to reapportionment, term limits and general turnover at the Capitol.

“We need you to join that chorus permanently,” Gordon said to ACSA members participating in LAD for the first time. “We need all those voices. The bigger the delegation that we have up here, the bigger the impact.”

Patrick O’Donnell, chair of the Assembly Education Committee, will be one of those departing legislators next year. He joined the virtual Legislative Action Days to share his legislative priorities and some advice for the next Assembly Education Committee chair.

“Don’t try to micromanage schools from Sacramento,” he said, giving the example of the late school start time bill that caused some schools to have to cut instructional minutes to meet requirements of the law. “Let school districts run schools.”

Participants also heard from Kevin McCarty, chair of the Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Education, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, Executive Director of the State Board of Education Brooks Allen, Dr. Sohil Sud of California’s Safe Schools for All, former State Board of Education Vice President Ilene Strauss and current State Board of Education Member Francisco Escobedo.

Jared Hungerford, director of Curriculum & Instruction with Calaveras COE, participated in his first Legislative Action Day last year in 2021.

“It was exciting. I had never interacted with a legislator or their staff aside from writing letters,” he said. “I was happy to be representing students and educators in the Mother Lode. Rural schools have unique challenges that can be easily overshadowed by those faced by larger districts on the coast and in the valleys.”

This year, he had the opportunity to serve as the Region 7 Vice President for Legislative Action. He felt compelled to volunteer for the role because his work is constantly impacted by new and changing legislation.

During meetings with their representatives, members from Region 7 shared the need for more local control.

“The more and more these categoricals are coming from Sacramento, the less control we have locally,” said Cathy A. Parker, Tuolumne County superintendent of schools, during a meeting with legislative staff.

Parker also shared how COVID protocols in schools are being performed by people not trained in health care, likening it to calling an educator to put out a house that’s on fire.

“We step up and we make it happen. We do it because we love our kids … but we’re acting out of our scope of service,” she said. “We have to get back to educating our kids.”

The Region 12 delegation met with Sen. Connie Leyva, chair of the Senate Education Committee. Oro Grande School District Assistant Superintendent Kimberly MacKinney shared the need for more LCFF dollars as a flexible funding source. San Bernardino High School Principal Antoinette Gutierrez detailed for the senator the specifics of how much time educational staff are spending on COVID contact tracing.

Susan Brown shared that her district is an early adopter for universal TK. She said having ADA funding for TK students would help schools with universal TK implementation.

“It’s little snippets like that that help me be better at my job,” Leyva said during an interview with Zazueta and ACSA Senior Director of Marketing and Communications Naj Alikhan. “I love meeting with our school districts up and down the state, especially in my district, so I can hear what’s actually going on and what we’re doing — if we’re helping you or we’re hurting you.”

Region 12 VPLA Dana Carter said legislators were hearing the message that schools need to return their focus to educating students. During their meeting, Sen. Leyva shared that while she supports COVID vaccination, she would not support mandating COVID vaccinations for students right now because of how it would detract from education.

“Our members did a great job of both building and strengthening relationships with our state legislators helping them to understand how they can make a positive difference for students across the state,” Carter said.

While Hungerford said there are some benefits to holding virtual meetings with lawmakers — like giving more people the opportunity to participate — there are also some drawbacks.

“The con is that something in the personal aspect of the meeting, the human connection, is lessened when we meet over screens. I would also guess that ACSA members experience a feeling of empowerment when they step into the Capitol building to visit a legislator’s office. That is also minimized through the virtual experience,” he said. “Personally, I am very much looking forward to an in-person Legislative Action Day(s) next year.”