Take Your Legislator to School Month returns to Arkansas classrooms

Take Your Legislator to School Month returns to Arkansas classrooms

Last September, legislators made visits to more than 120 school districts. That is nearly half of all school districts in Arkansas.

The first “Take Your Legislator to School Month” was a huge success. We knew heading into the event that this would help strengthen our relationship with students and teachers, but we discovered that is only the beginning of the benefits to this program.

We are now preparing for our second year. In the 2015 Regular Session the Arkansas General Assembly passed a resolution designating September as annual “Take Your Legislator to School Month”.

HCR1008 encourages public school districts to plan special events with their local legislators. Examples include the following:

• Showcasing district/school innovative solutions and successes.

• Organizing faculty and staff to discuss possible solutions for issues and challenges.

• Scheduling guided tours of the district campus and classrooms and providing opportunities for legislators to speak to students.

• Sponsoring a panel discussion with administrators, teachers and students to address issues facing the school.

During our visits last year many of us were able to see firsthand just how rapidly our classrooms are changing to prepare our students for college and the workforce.

The visits also allowed teachers to have one on one conversations with us.

Many of us continued to hear from those same teachers throughout the year.

We devote over 43 percent of all net available General Revenue to K-12 education.

Our education committee hears testimony hundreds of bills every session and studies our progress continually in the interim. Relationships with our schools can help provide us with the valuable insight needed to vote in a manner helpful to students and teachers.

On our website, www.arkansashouse.org, we have a section titled “Kids in the House”. There you will find all the materials your local school district will need to take advantage of this opportunity. In the materials we have included a spreadsheet listing the members who represent all 257 districts in our state.

You can also find materials your child or student can use throughout the year to help better understand the legislative process.

We can’t wait to see what we learn from our students and teachers this year.

From State Representative Milton Nicks