AR Handbook – 41 Committee members work with the NJEA Government Relations Division staff to organize members for political action in their counties through county Legislative Action Teams (LAT). County LATs should have at least one representative on the LAT from each local. The local LAT rep then organizes the local for political action. As an AR, you play a key role in organizing for legislative action. You need to help the LAT rep find members in your building to serve as building LAT reps, and help them promote NJEA’s positions on legislation and regulation and organize members for political action. If your local association does not have an LAT rep and structure, you need to fill that role until that structure is created. Organize your local association for political action: • Create a structure for your local association’s LATs – both for sharing information and for taking action when needed. • Recruit volunteers for election and other NJEA activities. • Encourage members to support NJEA PAC-endorsed candidates. • Be a fundraiser for NJEA PAC. Communicate with members of your local, your county LAT, and with NJEA staff: • Stay informed by attending county LAT meetings, legislative conferences, and legislative dinners. • Inform members about educational issues pending before the State Legislature and the U.S. Congress, how your legislators voted or plan to vote on issues, and NJEA’s positions on issues. Do the same for regulations pending before the State Board of Education. • Share information about NJEA PAC-endorsed candidates. • Report back to your county LAT and to NJEA about results of meetings with elected and appointed officials and the results of any grassroots lobbying activities. Advocate NJEA positions to your elected and appointed officials: • Contact elected and appointed officials to present your stand on issues. • Lead letter-writing/phone/email campaigns as needed. • Encourage members of your local to contact elected and appointed officials on important educational issues. • Help elected and appointed officials understand the impact of their decisions on the public schools in their district. Organizing your local association for political action The local association president appoints a local LAT rep. The LAT rep should serve as the chair of a local legislative action team. As an AR, you can play an active role in helping find members to serve on the local team. You can also assist members of the local legislative action team to carry out their duties. NJEA Government Relations and UniServ staff are available to help. • Encourage members of the local to check their voter registration, apply for vote by mail ballots as needed, and vote in elections. • Help keep membership informed of legislative and regulatory actions on a regular basis. • Tell members about PACendorsed candidates and get them involved in campaign activities. • Encourage members to participate in county and state legislative events, such as county legislative dinners and the Walter O’Brien NJEA Legislative Conference. • Prepare your local association for lobbying. The local association membership should be prepared to go into action when needed. It is helpful for the LAT rep and AR to organize a communication system to get the word out and teach members how to effectively write letters, emails, and make phone calls before the need arises. How does NJEA determine its position on proposed legislation and regulation? When new legislation and regulations are proposed that affect students, schools, or school employees (both active and retired), NJEA staff determines the association’s position based on input from appropriate NJEA committees and relevant policies passed by the NJEA Delegate Assembly (DA), the policy-making body. Staff and leaders then work together to determine the appropriate course of action. When members want to see the association take action about current law or lack thereof in a certain area, they can ask that NJEA take a position. The appropriate NJEA committee studies the issue, takes input from members and staff, and makes a recommendation to the DA. If the DA adopts the recommendation, the adopted policy then goes to NJEA Government Relations. Staff then works to promote the idea with policymakers.
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