create a presentation to convince school board members

Articles / Leadership

Communicate Effectively with Your School Board

by MiddleWeb · Published 04/18/2018 · Updated 11/14/2019

By Barbara Blackburn, Robert Blackburn, and Ron Williamson

Communication is central to your role as an advocate. If you can’t communicate effectively, your message will never be heard. Of particular importance is the ability of school and teacher leaders to communicate with the school board to advocate for an issue.

Nine Principles of Effective Communication

Conciseness and consistency matter Open with your key point Match to your agenda Make it coherent Understand your audience Name your objective/desired action Courtesy rules Ask questions Tell a story

► Conciseness and consistency matter

It’s important to have a concise message. Oftentimes your listeners are busy, and they do not have a tremendous amount of time to give you. If you take too much time, they will either move on or tune out. Additionally, be consistent in your message. If you send unclear messages that are not consistent, you will confuse your audience.

► Open with your key point

We live in a busy world and your audience will be busy. Start your verbal or written message with your key point. When you are advocating an issue, begin with the most important thing you have to say. This way, if your listener does interrupt you, you will still have communicated your main point.

► Match to your agenda

Next, be sure your message matches your agenda. You may be thinking this is common sense, but you might be surprised how often this does not occur. For example, we heard one principal discuss safety. Her goal was to convince the Superintendent and Cabinet to improve lighting in the parking lot and around the exterior of the building. She created a one page fact sheet, but she never stated that as her goal. Instead, she simply shared information about the importance of school safety without focusing on her agenda. The decision-makers were left with information, but without a clear idea of what the principal wanted.

► Make it coherent

Similarly, you want to have a coherent message. If you stray off topic, you will lose your audience. Unfortunately, it’s too easy to do this. A lack of focus can undermine your advocacy efforts.

► Understand your audience

As you craft your message, you’ll want to understand your audience. As you interact with different stakeholders, you will find that each person has different needs, goals, and prior experiences related to your agenda. Once you discover where they are coming from, you can tailor your message to them, and your chances of being effective are improved.

create a presentation to convince school board members

► Name your objective/desired action

As you are delivering your message, be sure to ask for help with your objective, or ask for a specific action. If we only present material, the stakeholder is left with information but no idea what they’re being asked to do. That’s nice, but what do you want them to do with that information? Notice in the example below that the teachers were very clear on the action they wanted the school board t o take.

► Courtesy rules

As you communicate with stakeholders and influencers, courtesy should be at the forefront. We don’t always see courtesy used in the advocacy process, but if you want to accomplish your goals, you will make more progress if you are considerate. This includes our words, but also our non-verbal communication.

► Ask questions

Another important concept is to ask questions while you are delivering your message. People are more responsive when you talk with them, not at them. Part of effectively asking questions is listening. You should listen just as much as you talk. Asking questions is one way to have a conversation, rather than simply stating information. The use of open-ended inquiry questions promotes dialogue.

► Tell a story

Finally, as you are sharing information, tell a story that supports your ideas. Stories are personal, and people remember stories longer than they remember facts. If possible, you want to tell a first-hand account of a story, something that you experienced. However, secondhand stories can also be effective. Perhaps you can explain a personal experience someone else shared with you, such as how this issue will impact a child in your school. The point is stories are effective, particularly if they tug at the heartstrings.

A Board Presentation That Delivers

Let’s look at a sample presentation for a school board by a district-wide teacher leadership team advocating to school board to provide early release time for collaboration and planning (given 5 minutes on the agenda).

As you know, in our continued efforts to improve student achievement, we have recently focused on increasing our use of evidence-based teaching strategies, identified by John Hattie.

Although we are making progress, we find that teachers need concentrated time to work together. We are asking that, for the next school year, the district consider building four early release days into the calendars. Students would be dismissed after lunch, which would allow teachers to have 2-3 hours of collaboration.

Based on a survey of teachers and interviews with school administrators, we have identified three specific tasks that would occur during the early-release planning time. These are listed in your handout (specific examples provided by teachers in presentation). Each school has also used surveys, focus groups, and interviews to gather parents’ perspectives on the plan.

As you can see from the survey results, 73% of parents support the early release time as long as they are given ample notice of the dates and that we communicate how teachers are working together to improve student learning.

The biggest concern of parents is the need for a plan in case a parent cannot pick their child up early. The principals agreed they would use teacher assistants and other personnel to provide supervision and activities during the time if parents are unable to pick up their children.

We ask that you consider our request. Thank you for your time.

Specific Tips for Communicating with Your School Board

In addition to effective communication, there are specific strategies to communicate with your school board.

♦ Identify a parent or community spokesperson to help deliver your message to the board.

♦ Frame the importance of your issue in your opening statement. Link it to board goals and how students will be successful once they leave your school.

♦ Share examples of your work to illustrate the impact. It can be very helpful to highlight the effect of greater rigor on one or more students.

♦ Give recognition to the individuals who have contributed to your success. It is a time for you to be modest and allow others to be recognized.

♦ Conclude your presentation by aligning your vision with the board’s vision for the district.

When communicating with your school board to advocate for an issue, it’s important to clearly frame your message. You’ll also want to use a variety of strategies during the presentation, such as asking other stakeholders to participate in the presentation.

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13 Tips on How To Nail a Presentation To the Board of Directors

Published: January 13, 2021

In college, I always made it a point to listen intently to presentations. I knew how stressful and nerve-racking it was to present in a room of peers and authority figures.

board of directors listens to man's presentation

I would nod feverishly to let presenters know I was invested in their presentation. And they knew it too. They often zeroed in on me as I became their focus point and silent motivator. The fixation felt awkward at times, but that felt like one of my small contributions to society. That, and an endless supply of cat videos.

Back then, the stakes were relatively low. But when you’re tasked with putting together a presentation to a board of directors, the pressure’s on.

But with a few tricks in your arsenal, you won’t need a sympathetic audience member to gauge how well you’re doing.

Let’s walk through some tips to prepare for your presentation and review some things to avoid.

How To Make a Presentation To the Board

Know your audience.
Plan ahead.
Structure your presentation.
Keep it concise.
Set up early.
Incorporate visuals into your presentation.
Focus on results.
Send materials beforehand.
Build confidence with your power outfit.
Rehearse your script.
Don't fall into the PowerPoint Trap.
Read the room.
Include time for questions.

1. Know your audience.

Knowing your listeners is as important as the content of your presentation. When you understand their priorities, you can put together a presentation that speaks directly to them.

If you don't know the board well, do some research and get answers to these questions:

What does the board care about?

This will help you see from what lens they look at things. For instance, a board keen on community impact may not be drawn to a presentation focused on return on investment (ROI).

There are a few ways to find this out. You can start by looking into each board member’s professional background. If most members have a finance background, for instance, you’ll want to make sure you cover any financials as it relates to your presentation. This could be cost, expected ROI, or operating margins.

You can also get some insight into what the board cares about by looking back at your interactions with its members. Think about the conversations you’ve had: What comes up most often? Is it company culture, profit, philanthropy, innovation, or something else?

What are their main concerns?

A board of directors is responsible for making decisions that will ensure the growth and sustainability of a company. So naturally, they will be looking out for anything that may impede that process.

Common concerns a board may have are:

Costs: How much time and money will it require?
Timeline: How long will this project take and is that timeline feasible?
Risks: How risky is your proposal and what is the risk-to-return ratio?

You may find that each board member has a different focus, which means your presentation should be well-rounded to tackle these issues.

Once you know this answer, you can subtly handle each concern throughout your presentation. Getting those answers will help you create a presentation that not only interests your audience but also aligns with their goals. This, in turn, will bring you much closer to accomplishing the plans laid out in your presentation.

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2. Plan ahead.

The next step in delivering a great presentation is making a plan. This means figuring out the focus of your presentation, what you’ll cover, and what you’ll leave out.

A presentation should follow the structure of any good movie, with a beginning, middle, and an end. Here’s an example outline for a presentation where the head of the marketing team is proposing course offerings as a new lead generation channel.

The middle is the meat and potatoes of your presentation. You'll likely spend time providing data, contextualizing it, and explaining your approach.

Your ending should bring together your key points and leave your audience with actionable steps. Because what good is providing the information if you have no plan for what to do moving forward?

3. Structure your presentation based on the board’s process.

Not every board of directors operates in the same way. Sure, there are standard guidelines for every meeting. However, the approach may vary for presentations.

Some may operate more like a town hall, pausing periodically to discuss the points as they come up. In this case, leave room after each section of your presentation to discuss what was covered.

Others may follow the more standard approach: presentation followed by a discussion. Studies show that humans remember best the beginning and end of what they read, hear, and see. What’s in the middle tends to get lost. With that in mind, consider sharing your most pertinent information toward the beginning and end of your presentation.

4. Keep it concise.

One thing board members aren’t known for is open availability. That said, you want to make the most of your time with them. How do you do that? Stick to the scope of the presentation.

While it’s great to incorporate storytelling, avoid getting sidetracked and wasting time. Be clear and keep it simple.

If you’re showing data, only share one highlight per data graph. There are several reasons for this:

Data itself doesn’t tell a story. You, as the presenter, do. As such, you have to explain what it means and why it matters. Let’s say lead generation at your company has plateaued in the past year across all channels. That’s all the data says. But during your research, you realize it’s due to a shift in how your audience is consuming information. Your role is to present the data and explain the "why" behind the plateau along with a solution.
You want to prevent information overload. Share the piece of data that best supports your points and has the most impact. For instance, if a new lead generation channel is the focus of your presentation, diving into the specifics of another channel may not be worth your time.

If you leave it to your audience to make sense of the data, they might reach a conclusion that doesn’t align with your message.

5. Set up early.

There’s nothing more awkward than silence during a technical difficulty.

Everyone’s looking at you while you’re figuring out why technology has forsaken you. The more time the issue takes to resolve, the more panicked you get. We’ve all been there.

To avoid this, set up early and do a run-through before your scheduled presentation time. It’ll give you time to get familiar with the space and any technology you’ll need to run during your presentation.

6. Incorporate visuals into your presentation.

When choosing between words and media, pick the latter.

Visuals help us make sense of information at a much quicker pace than words do. We’re also better at remembering what we see versus what we hear by 55% – it’s called pictorial superiority .

It’s also beneficial to keep your visuals simple. If you have too much going on, your audience will be confused. But if it’s too bare, it will take too many visuals to paint the picture. So, pull your most significant data and use data visualization tools to design intuitive graphics.

7. Focus on results.

A board of directors typically focuses on big-picture decisions that will have a long-term impact on the company.

In this vein, every piece of your presentation should get you closer to answering these questions:

" Why does this matter? "
" What is the long-term impact? "
" How does this bring the company closer to its goals? "
" Any potential roadblocks? How will you address them? "

Incorporating these answers into your presentation will set you up for a smoother Q&A session.

8. Send materials beforehand.

Depending on what you’ll be covering in your presentation, it may be helpful to send the board materials to review in advance. This should only be supplemental information that would be too time-consuming or distracting to cover in a presentation, like reports and demos. This way, the focus during the presentation will be on the "why" and not the "how."

The one material you don’t want to send is your presentation, as you want to be the one to contextualize it. Otherwise, the board might form an opinion based on limited information.

A week before the meeting is a good rule of thumb, leaving room for you to respond to initial comments or feedback.

Think of this process as an advantage. You get insight into what the board members may bring up during the meeting and more context to prep. Secondly, it ensures everyone is on the same page ahead of the meeting. That way, you can dive straight into key points during your presentation without covering minute details.

9. Build confidence with your power outfit.

Building confidence is one of the less concrete tips on the list to implement. But the good news is, there are research-backed techniques you can use to achieve it. One of them is right within your reach: clothing.

Many of us can relate to the feeling of trying on clothes in a fitting room and feeling like a million bucks. It tends to put us in a better mood and shift our perspective.

Well, turns out there’s a reason for this. In 2012, two researchers coined the term " enclothed cognition " to refer to the impact clothes can have on the psyche. They found that the clothes we wear can shift our perspective.

In that spirit, put on your best blazer or suit the day of your presentation. That outfit may be just the boost you need.

10. Rehearse your script.

During a presentation with a board of directors, you want to avoid the Michael Scott approach at all costs.

Instead, go the exact opposite route: practice. Practice is the cure to presentation jitters and the formula for seamless delivery. The more familiar you become with your content, the better the presentation will be.

If it’s been a while since your last presentation, start by practicing in the mirror. You’ll immediately notice any mannerisms that may be distracting to your audience. Recording yourself also works great.

Then, practice in front of an audience. And, unfortunately, your dog won’t cut it for this one. Practice with family or friends who can give you feedback on how to improve.

And remember: You’re the only one who knows your speech and presentation. So, if you mess up or forget to mention something, you’re likely the only one who noticed.

11. Don’t fall into the PowerPoint trap.

You’ll likely use a tool like PowerPoint to guide you during your presentation. Yet, it’s important that you don’t overly depend on it.

For instance, packing your slides with heavy text or bullet points is a surefire way to lose your audience. In fact, 40% of respondents in a 2018 study by Prezi said it caused disengagement and made it harder to retain information.

So, stick to one key point on each slide. It’s easier for your audience to remember and prevents information overload.

12. Read the room.

Even if you follow every tip listed above, you might hit a point in your presentation where there’s a disconnect between you and your audience. You might notice confused looks or a shift in body language. If that happens, that’s your cue to pivot.

If your audience seems confused, dive in a little bit deeper on your point. If you sense disagreement, tackle those concerns head-on.

Let’s say you’re proposing a new initiative for the company, and you sense some pushback on the timeline.

You can address it by saying something along the lines of, " You may have some concern regarding the timeline and whether it’s feasible given our current projects. While the timeline may seem tight, we have factored in X, Y, and Z, and, given our past initiatives, we believe this timeline will account for A, B, and C ."

A response like this can mitigate the situation while still keeping you on track.

13. Include time for questions.

As a foodie, dinner for me isn’t complete without a good piece of chocolate. Whether it’s a KitKat or a chocolate cake, having chocolate after dinner feels like the perfect ending. Q&A sessions are kind of like that. It’s the audience’s chance to ask questions and discuss the presentation.

Be ready for questions regarding the data and solutions you presented. The length of the Q&A session will vary depending on the length of your presentation, the size of the board, and other factors.

Additionally, it’s your opportunity to address any looming concerns and re-emphasize your key points. Not sure what to do if you don’t have an answer to something? Here are a few responses:

"That’s a great question. I don’t have an answer for you at the moment, but I will follow up over email by end of day."
"I don’t have much experience in that X [topic/department/]. However, I will reach out to X and get back to you within a week."
"We haven’t explored that yet, but what I can tell you is …"
"That’s a great point we hadn’t considered before. My team and I will reconvene and strategize on the best way to approach this."

When the stakes are so high, a presentation to the board can seem daunting. By incorporating these tips into your strategy, you can remove the stress and focus instead on your delivery.

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A Brief Guide to Better School Board Presentations

September 1, 2003 • Joey Campbell, Senior Editor • Bookmark +

Face it, as a transportation manager, some things are just out of your hands. Budgets, school bus procurement, community concerns, school boundaries, major discipline issues, grants, audits and major policy decisions are among the many issues that require the attention of school district administration, or in some cases, the school board. Though the prospect may seem intimidating, making a presentation before a school board can play a vital part in the successful operation of a transportation department.

School board members are elected to represent their constituents in matters affecting the running of a school district. They are sensitive to safety, financial issues and public opinion, and they appreciate hearing from important district departments, including transportation. More importantly, they are human beings, and they want to see the best for students.

A school board presentation usually occurs for one of two reasons. You can be summoned to make a presentation if the board takes an interest in a particular issue. Or, you can voluntarily schedule a meeting to help gain support for something of your choice. In either case, it’s important to be informative, honest and relaxed. The following six steps, with input from several industry professionals, will help you prepare for and then deliver a successful school board presentation.

1. Scout the terrain The first step to a successful presentation is to learn as much as possible about the people on the board, dynamics of board meetings, related protocols of board business and a general layout of how the system works. A simple but wholly critical action, for example, is to find out where and when meetings are held and how they are scheduled. David Pace, director of transportation services for Virginia Beach (Va.) City Public Schools, says that the chairman of the school board and the district superintendent might meet the first or third Tuesday of every month to decide the agenda for school board meetings. Finding out exactly when, he says, is critical when trying to schedule a presentation or have the board agree to give you time.

Another simple, but highly recommended action is to attend a school board meeting or two in advance of your presentation. Observe the format by which issues are addressed and take notes of how board members react to specific topics. Pay attention to the length of the meeting and the time allotted for each subject discussed. Also scout out the way the boardroom is set up and what resources are available to aid in a presentation. Later, when you rehearse your presentation, you will be able to visualize the physical setup of the meeting.

If at all possible, learn the school board’s key goals, objectives or even its mission statement. To give yourself the best chance of impressing a school board, says Claudia Sherrill, director of transportation for Elk Grove (Calif.) Unified School District, you’ll want to adapt your own project goals to meet those of the school board’s mission statement. “A key to a successful presentation is having sensitivity to the larger picture of the board’s goals and means, and making sure that you are in line with both,’ she adds.

2. Introduce and acquaint Once you have researched who and what you are dealing with, the next move is to introduce yourself to each member of the board and any other important people involved in the process. Building a solid rapport with school board members may not pay immediate dividends, but as your relationship with them grows, so do your chances of having issues important to you heard and addressed. Additionally, as you get to know board members, your ability to cater to their personalities only improves. “Know the personality of the board and the tone of the subject and play to that,” says Fred Murphy, assistant superintendent for Polk County Public Schools in Bartow, Fla. “If they are not light-hearted, then donÕt attempt humor.”

There may be other people who are important to meet and work with. For example, if you are making a presentation on the seat belt issue, which is a hot topic with parents, you would want to work with the PTA, says Lenny Bernstein, director of transportation for North Rockland Central Schools in Garnersville, N.Y. Other people with expertise from which you could possibly benefit include vendors, special-needs educators, politicians, industry associations and school administrators. Even a board secretary can help immensely by telling you what equipment is available and how to use it. Knowing the right people will help you become acquainted with the school board presentation process and make you look better in the eyes of the board itself.

3. Build momentum After you have acclimated yourself to the system and started a working relationship with the important players, you should attempt to inform the board of what you plan to discuss and bring positive attention to the issue. School boards are usually under a lot of pressure from the public, the media, district administration and area politicians. They may be wary of your position and will welcome brochures, flyers or write-ups to prime them for your presentation. According to Michael Dallessandro, transportation supervisor for Lake Shore (N.Y.) Central School District, school boards prefer not to be “blindsided” by touchy public interest and student safety issues. “They need a topic title and rough idea on the purpose of the presentation,” he says.

However, if your presentation is a topic of public concern, you might want it to be covered by the media. If your district has a public relations department, send them information to be distributed through the proper channels. Another option is to create your own press release and send it to local news stations, newspapers, reporters and other media outlets.

Also make sure to tell supporters of your cause the date and time of your presentation, since board meetings are open to the public. If your presentation asks the board to reward the accomplishments of your driver staff, for instance, make sure you ask drivers to attend the meeting. Their presence will provide moral support for you and evidence to the board that someone is behind your idea. Inviting staff members has an added benefit as well, says Sherrill. “If questions are asked and I can’t answer them, I can call on a staff person to assist,” she says.

4. Prepare, prepare, prepare As is true with just about anything you do in life, preparation will make a huge difference in the ultimate success of your presentation. School boards want to hear thorough, professional points of view, without inaccuracies, sloppy mistakes and gaps in logic. The following suggestions, offered by transportation managers with experience in making school board presentations, serve as tips to preparing for a school board meeting:

5. Make it happen When the time comes to present, don’t get too excited. Keep in mind that the school board members have a lot in common with you. After all, they, too, are interested in the safest possible transportation of students between home and school. It may also give you comfort to recognize that you are the expert on your given topic. If they were as well-versed in transportation issues as you are, then they probably wouldn’t be hearing from you. “Board members are many times members of the community who do not have your level of expertise,” says Jim Minihan, supervisor of transportation for Lakeland Central School District in Mohegan Lake, N.Y. “It is important to speak clearly and in layman’s terms. The board relies on your information to make informed decisions for the district.”

When making your presentation, choose the format that will best allow you to get your point across and utilize all statistics and visual aids. “Microsoft PowerPoint is the only way today,” says Dallessandro. “PowerPoint provides the ability to produce high quality presentations with imported pictures, charts, graphs and streaming video. It keeps people’s attention longer than changing overhead transparencies or reading from dry erase boards or flip charts.” Make sure that the meeting room will be able to accommodate whatever resources or equipment you settle on.

Remember to smile and be pleasant. Always tell the truth and not what you think the board wants to hear. If you don’t have the answer to one of their questions, do not try to bluff your way through. Instead, if you are unsure of anything, let them know that you will need to check and then get back to them. Bernstein offers another tidbit of advice, “Never argue.” You are there to persuade, not to antagonize.

6. Follow up When the presentation is complete, your work is not finished. First and foremost, plan to stay at the meeting until it’s over, even if there are presenters after you. It’s important that you make yourself available to answer the questions of school board members. It might be prudent to send some type of memo to board members a few days later, too. “Many times school boards suffer from overload after a late meeting, and your presentation could be forgotten,” says Bernstein. “A follow up is always good.”

Sherrill recommends another very thorough method of following up a presentation. “I take notes from the questions and comments of the board members,” she says. “I respond to their questions within 24 to 48 hours after the presentation.” Sherrill says that she also occasionally singles out board members who were exceptionally supportive and sends them follow-up e-mails or letters discussing specific points.

Finally, it’s never inappropriate to show your gratitude by writing thank-you notes to the members of a school board. After all, your presentation takes valuable time out of their lives, too.

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Get involved, sign up for our programs today, engaging with your school board, in this guide.

Introduction to School Boards

Ways to engage with your school board

Introduction

Understanding your local landscape for action, what is a school board, what is a state board of education, what does my state education leader do.

What about other people?

Before you start to navigate how to influence your community’s decision making process when it comes to education, it’s important to learn a bit more about the context for action in your local community. Every community contains slightly different players who hold different amounts of power when it comes to affecting education decision making. Below we’ve outlined some common entities that hold power to affect students' education.

It may be helpful to read the website of your school, school district and state board of education to understand who plays what role in your community. Past news coverage from local outlets might also give you a sense of where community members have tried to put pressure on in the past. Local community organizations often have a great sense of who holds power to make change. A trusted teacher at your school may also be able to sit down with you and help you understand who holds what power within your local education landscape. You can always sign up for a 1:1 meeting with a Student Voice team member by sending them a quick email. Together, we can make sure you’re prepared to navigate the decision making space in your community.

Contact us to schedule a 1:1 conversation with a Student Voice team member. We'll partner with you to provide resources and support in your school board journey.

Your local school board typically has the most power to make decisions that affect your community and school directly and is the space students most often engage.

If you attend a traditional public school or public magnet school , your school likely exists within a local school district. Your school district makes decisions that affect many schools, including creating district-wide budgets, overseeing curriculum creation and execution, conducting professional development for teachers, principals and school staff, and supporting administration and leadership at each school within the district. Most school districts have a school board that is the primary local decision making body. These decisions are executed by a district office and school superintendent. Your local school board members may be elected or appointed. A quick search to your district website should be able to tell you more about how your school board members are chosen. If you attend a public charter school , it likely exists within its own Local Education Agency (LEA), which means it has autonomy to make its own decisions. The local school district may have limited ability to make decisions about your school, or no ability at all. You can target the action steps detailed in this guide towards your own school’s decision makers. Your charter network may also have a decision making body that is local, regional or national. Your school’s website may provide you with more information about how to reach decision makers and if they have hours where they hear public commentary.

State boards of education are bodies of citizens that oversee statewide education decision-making, typically related to school accountability and assessment guidelines, graduation requirements and school staff and personnel qualifications. Every state board plays a slightly different role. Some are bodies of elected members, while some are appointed. The website of your state board of education should outline how you can get in touch with state board members about issues that are important to you.

The National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE) provides resources for state boards to advance equity in education. You can learn more about the role of state boards of education on their website .

Your state has an education leader or “state chief” who has power to affect decisions about schools on the state level. They may be called a State Superintendent of Education, a State Secretary of Education, a State Commissioner of Education, a State Superintendent of Public Instruction, or something else. They may be elected by voters, appointed by the governor, or appointed by state legislatures.

The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) supports state leaders across the country. You can view a full list of state leaders on their website to identify yours, and then visit that individual’s website to learn more about their specific role in your state.

What about other people? My mayor, city council, state governments and the federal government?

It depends. Especially when it comes to issues about school budgets, mayor’s offices, city councils and state legislatures can often play a critical role in determining how resources are allocated in your community.

Because state governments are responsible for administering public schools in their state, they play an important role in education. Though school funding is often sourced through local taxes (most often property taxes), most states use statewide formulas to distribute funding. In addition, many states have a Department of Education, Superintendent of Public Instruction or another similar office within the executive branch that proposes state legislation, sets graduation requirements, provides recommendations to teachers and administrators and more. State legislatures are responsible for passing state education laws related to teacher pay, school finance and resourcing and more.

Beyond guaranteeing equal access under the 14th Amendment and protecting students’ and teachers’ constitutional rights, the federal government ’s role in education is limited to allocating money in the Congressional budget, distributing grants and providing recommended practices.

Testifying to your school board

Petitioning your school board

Many school boards allow any interested person, including students, to offer public comment at their meetings to express their opinion on issues within the school district. The process of giving a public comment to your school board is called testifying . Testifying is a great way to voice your concerns about your experiences in schools and ask your school board members to seek solutions.

Though every school board has different processes, here are some tips you can use to testify to your school board:

1. Prepare ahead. Find out when and where your school district’s school board meetings are held and the procedures for public comment. Do you need to sign up beforehand to comment? Is there a time constraint for commenting? This information is usually available on your school district’s website. If the website does not have a section labeled school board, it could also be called the Board of Trustees, Board of Education, or another similar term. On the day of your testimony, be sure to arrive early and well-dressed and sign up ahead of time.

2. Identify the issue. Testifying to your school board is a great way to express your concerns about issues in your school or community to school board members. What issues have you experienced or do you perceive to be a problem in your school? What change do you believe needs to be made? You can testify about any issue you care about that a school board can take action on, ranging from your history class’ curriculum to funding for after-school sports to a lack of mental health support services.

3. Research the issue. After you’ve identified the issue you’d like to testify to your school board about and how you’d like your school board to take action, research the issue to understand it better. Researching for a school board testimony doesn’t have to be like writing a report for English class! Rather, it can be reflecting on your own experiences in education, asking other students for stories about their experiences, or gathering facts and statistics about the issue you’d like to testify about.

It may be helpful to research what other schools have implemented on your issue or how the school board has taken action in the past on the issue. Understanding the history of your issue can allow you to consider possible consequences of changing existing policy and have arguments to counteract them. It also gives you an opportunity to thank the board members who have been advocates for the issues you care about.

Through your research, make sure you’re gathering evidence to support your position on your selected issue. This evidence can be either anecdotal (comprised of stories about your school experience) or concrete (comprised of facts, statistics or research about your selected issue).

4. Propose a course of action. Once you’ve researched the issue that you want to testify to your school board about, you can propose a course of action that the school board can take, which they can directly agree upon or reject and compromise on.

This course of action doesn’t have to be specific! It can be as simple as asking the school board members to host a follow-up meeting with students to discuss the issue or to convene a taskforce to work through possible policy solutions to the issue. If you’ve found research about or examples of action other school boards have taken, you can also propose something more detailed.

5. Write your testimony . Now that you’ve identified an issue you’re passionate about, found concrete and anecdotal evidence to support your position and proposed a possible course of action, write your testimony. Use confident, powerful language to attract the audience’s attention, but keep in mind that comments do not have to sound formal. In fact, your testimony will be more effective if you use first person, convey emotion, and share your personal experience. Write in the way you can imagine yourself speaking—but be respectful! Make sure that if your school board has a time limit for each testimony, that your prepared comments will fit within that length of time.

In general, you should begin your testimony by stating the issue you’re focusing on, then support your position with the evidence you’ve gathered, and end your speech with your call to action.

You can also use this specific format: Story of Self, Story of Us, and Story of Now. Start with your own story—a short bio about yourself and why you’re testifying. Then, discuss the issue that the population you’re representing is facing using the evidence you’ve gathered. This will lead you into your conclusion, a call to action or reason to make change now.

Here is an example of a testimony template you can use:

My name is _____ and I’m a (grade level) at _____ school. I’m here today to discuss (issue). I’ve personally struggled with (issue) when (story, anecdote, description of your personal struggle, etc).

I’ve seen and discussed (issue) with my peers at my school and others throughout the district. We believe it should be addressed because (evidence about the issue, including anecdotal information about students’ experiences, statistics, or other analysis).

I believe (issue) must be changed by (suggestions of ways to address the issue at hand, like starting a taskforce to tackle the issue or making more specific policy suggestions).

Here are examples of students testifying to their school boards which you can reference:

An update on some #StuVoice work I’ve been doing re: school climate + student mental health https://t.co/ntyYAN9Jll (January) https://t.co/BkwLqzfsvZ (March) Let’s all work to remind the adults in the room that #MentalHealthMatters 🙌📚 — Taylor Kahn-Perry (she/her) (@taylorkahnperry) March 28, 2018

6. Stay calm and confident! Your school board members are elected to serve you, so they should want to hear what you have to say. Your opinion and experiences are valuable! Stay calm and relaxed—you’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain. You got this!

2017-18 Student Voice Ambassadors Jared Stefanowicz, Jaylan Scott, Kaleb Cook, Allison Tu and Odalis Aguilar contributed to this section. You can learn more about Student Voice’s programs and apply to join here. ‍ ‍

Petitioning to your school board

Creating a petition about an issue you care about within your school can be an excellent way to show that there is popular support for taking action within your community. A petition to a school board includes a statement about an issue and a list of proposed ways for the school board to take action on the issue. A petition can be formatted like a testimony to your school board would be—with a story about why the issue matters to you, anecdotal or concrete evidence about why addressing the issue is important and possible solutions or action that you seek.

A popular website that many students and organizers have used to host their petitions on is Change.org (note though that Change.org is a for-profit organization). Some school districts or state governments may also have initiative processes that constituents can use to impact policies.

Preparing for a Powerful Full-Board Presentation

Board of Trustees //

March 20, 2018

When a Board committee or Trustee is on the agenda to present a proposal to the Board, expect him or her to come thoroughly prepared. The following template can help Trustees organize written or verbal proposal presentations.

Purpose of the presentation. Briefly describe what strategic plan goal or annual Board agenda item your presentation supports (e.g., sharing the results of the alumni parent survey supports the development of a comprehensive Parent Education Plan, etc.).
Background. In one or two paragraphs, outline the research (include supporting documents) conducted to reach the proposal recommendation (e.g., X number of alumni parents were selected for the survey; Y number of alumni parents responded).
Board action sought. What do you want the Board to do with the information, recommendation, or proposal you are bringing before the members? If you are uncertain, consult with the Board President well in advance.
Financial implications. Does your proposal have a financial impact? If so, is that financial impact already included within the limits set by the strategic financial plan? Have you consulted with the Finance Committee Chair on this question? If you decide the proposal recommendations call for an adjustment in the strategic financial plan, consider asking the Finance Committee Chair to address that issue as part of the presentation.
Recommendation for action. What action is clearly suggested? What are the ramifications of moving forward in the manner you suggest? What alternatives have you explored? Why is this the best choice?
Impact on other Board committees or on the administration. Does carrying out your proposal impact other units of the Board or school management? Have you consulted with the affected leaders (e.g., committee Chairs and the School Head) so their responses are known?
Comments. Include any other relevant remarks or supporting documents that seem useful. Incorporate a concise statement of the consequences for failure to act, unless that has become obvious when discussing the alternatives earlier in the presentation.

Always keep in mind that full-Board proposals and committee functions should align with and support your school’s mission and strategic plan. This should be at the core of every Board presentation.

Additional ISM resources: The Source for Trustees Vol. 13 No. 1 An Enhanced Agenda for the Strategic Board The Source for Trustees Vol. 11 No. 7 Ten Essential Rules for Productive Meetings

Additional ISM resources for Gold members: I&P Vol. 41 No. 12 Refocus Your Board Agenda and Your Board Minutes I&P Vol. 37 No. 14 Action-Oriented Agendas for Successful Board Meetings I&P Vol. 29 No. 3 The Strategic Board: Guidelines for Board Meetings

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