Battle Cry:  Ante Up!

Grassroots lobbying targets Mississippi legislators. The goal: adequate funds for public schools

Illustration: Bill Johnson

After 20 years in the classroom, Mimi Gray is a pro at convincing kids to do their work—but state legislators have a few lessons to learn too, she says, particularly when it comes to funding public education.

Along with thousands of her colleagues, Gray, a math teacher at Coahoma County High School in the Mississippi Delta, has been preparing for a new after-school job—as an informal, unpaid lobbyist for education.

"Around here, everybody wants education," Gray says. "If we can put pressure on [our legislators], I know they'll support us."

With Mississippi schools facing a record $226.6 million deficit this year—which means "losing teachers and losing programs" in tiny Coahoma—it's become more critical than ever that Mississippi Association of Educators (MAE) members like Gray raise their voices.

So, MAE is leading a statewide effort to train nearly 100,000 teachers, parents, school board members, and administrators, plus business leaders and clergy, to speak up.

The initiative began last year with a series of passionate phone calls from MAE President Beverly Brahan to her friends at the state associations for superintendents, school boards, and administrators. All shared the same goal and the same frustration: We want great public schools, but we can't get the necessary state money to support them.

Months later, they came up with an answer—the Coalition for Children and Public Education (CCPE)—a cadre of citizens armed with letter-writing and lobbying skills, and the sheer will to knock on the doors of state senators and representatives and demand adequate funding. 

"I've been kicking around Mississippi politics for a long time and I don't think I've seen a time when things are so grave," CCPE co-chair former Governor William Winter told dozens of the coalition's new recruits at Brookhaven High School last fall.

"We are going to slip back unless there's a concentrated effort by the people in this state to insist the adequate education program be fully funded," warned Winter.

The shortfall faced by Mississippi schools isn't unique; many public educators have become accustomed to writing letters and calling for help. But MAE believes its new effort can be more effective than ever because it relies on community-wide support. And it provides regular folks with the necessary tools to do good lobbying.

"Individually, you really don't know what to do—but this gives you something to do," Gray says. And, like Winter, Gray is confident legislators will respond to citizens, if they hear from enough of them.

The Mississippi coalition kicked off its efforts in early September with training sessions in Jackson and Brookhaven, and then followed them up with more than a half-dozen meetings across the state. From every district in the state, six-person teams that included all of the affected groups—teachers and parents and business people—attended the sessions.

MAE and the coalition's other leaders asked each of those six people to reach out to 10 more friends—but not the usual suspects who regularly fire off letters to the editor. Then those 10 were asked to involve 10 more. That adds up to 90,000 foot-soldiers for Mississippi schools.

The coalition supplied them with sample letters, facts and figures about the looming deficit in each school district, and more than a little advice on getting the job done:

Make it local. "The way to motivate a community is to talk about how this will affect my school or my children's school, and my community's businesses," Brahan advises.

Start early. Mississippi's legislative session kicked off in January, but Brahan asked every team member to contact at least two legislators by December. It's best to shake hands in person, says Frank Yates, MAE's executive director. "It's nice to send them a letter, but it's better to get to know them."

Be strategic. Begin your conversation by thanking them for their previous support, Yates suggests. Then let them know you're worried and point out a specific consequence of poor funding. Are your school buses getting old and unsafe? Will your aide lose her job? Ask administrators to help you identify potential consequences.

Deliver a consistent, positive message. In Mississippi, for example, public schools have made historic progress and have proven accountable. Tell them people are not asking for luxury; they just want fair funding.

Don't let them get to you. When a legislator argues, "Do you want us to raise taxes? Kick kids out of wheelchairs?" remember it's not your job to find the money. "We can tell them it's a matter of priorities and we want education to be number one," Brahan advises. "Put the burden back on them."

—Mary Ellen Flannery