For State and Federal Legislators

Your concerns about transformational change:

• change not happening fast enough
• legislating change
• keeping costs down--best education for least dollars
• getting good data of what is happening in the schools
• taxpayers and voters
• special interest groups, lobbyists, unions…

What you can do in FutureMinds:

• Listen to your State Superintendent of Schools and State Department of Education about what school districts want and need.
• Support school district transformation by providing necessary resources; find money in the budget without permanently raising taxes.
• Hold the State Department of Education accountable for improvement in school districts.
• Resist the temptation to micro-manage or legislate change.
• Remember that a school district is a special interest group; one size does not fit all; each school district is unique--what works for one district may not be what works for another.
• Taxpayers and voters will benefit from improved schools.  Keep reminding them.