For Timothy Healey, a veteran principal from Prince William County, Va., advocating for his students and educators has always been part of the job. Last week, though, he had the chance to put that belief into action for the first time in 21 years, as he spent a day on Capitol Hill meeting his state’s representatives.
Even though Healey felt prepared to discuss his main concern—a thinning pipeline of qualified teachers and principals—doubts crept in the day before he visited the congressional offices: Would the legislators only entertain federal issues? Will they be familiar with state-level education challenges? How much did he know about federal grants and funding?
The learning curve from being a principal to a first-time advocate is steep. Yet it’s increasingly becoming a role that principals like Healey feel they must play.
“Public education is in the [political] crosshairs more now than before,” said Healey. “The need to advocate is urgent.”
Nationwide, principals are closely watching the Trump administration’s education policies and Elon Musk’s so-called “efficiency drive.” The efforts to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education have worried principals because they fear it could become more complicated for them to access federal funding for essential services like teacher training, serving students with disabilities, or reading programs.
In preparation for their day on Capitol Hill, first-time advocates like Healey attended a daylong training, hosted by the national associations for elementary and secondary principals, where attendees swapped stories, strategies, and to-do lists for the best ways to advocate for their schools in front of elected officials. Principals with experience lobbying lawmakers said they’ve tried a number of things to make their conversations stand out—from telling stories about individual students and teachers to gifting personalized souvenirs made by students.
This year, principals even brought ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence-powered chatbots into the mix.
Jenny Hayes, an elementary school principal in Missouri, asked an AI tool to “craft a compelling conversation about public education” for a specific representative.
“It told us to start with common ground, acknowledge what they stand for, and it gave us specific phrases about local control and empowerment,” Hayes said.
Education Week spoke to six principals who have lobbied for a number of issues at the state and federal level and led sessions last week to train their peers on the best strategies for effective advocacy. Here are a few key takeaways.
Make personal stories pop
It’s important for principals to layer their appeals to lawmakers with real-life stories about students and teachers, said Andrea Sifers, the principal of Fort Gibson Elementary School in Fort Gibson, Okla.
For instance, Sifers said she always talks about how federal and state funds have helped her establish a “successful” reading program in her school. She’s been able to hire more teachers and interventionists to help students who aren’t able to read at grade level—a concrete example she shares with legislators.
“Without the funds, we can’t do the work of making these students productive citizens,” Sifers said.
She also paints the flip side: Without the ability to fund these positions, she’d have to curtail the program, and teachers and aides could lose their jobs.
Hayes, from Missouri, said representatives are often “shocked” at the stories she tells them, because they’re able to visualize the depth of services that public school leaders now need to provide for their students.
“Parents aren’t parenting the same way anymore,” said Hayes. “When you say, ‘you know, I have to physically meet basic needs of my students and teach them how to eat with utensils, or potty train them when they come to school,’ that’s very eye-opening.”
Like Sifers, Hayes tries to paint a picture of what would happen if grant programs or Title I funds—which help schools provide essential services for students from low-income households—are slashed or discontinued.
“I say I would lose three teaching positions, or I wouldn’t be able to feed kids or send them food over spring break,” Hayes added.
Principals should also make the effort to connect their stories with their representatives’ personal backgrounds, said Hayes. She knew, for instance, that a legislator she was going to meet on the Hill was invested in improving rural education. In their meeting, Hayes said she played up how important small schools are to a rural community, and that without funding support, they might have to cut positions or stop student services.
It also helps, Hayes added, to speak with representatives about their own schooling, and teachers who’ve left an impression on them. In some cases, elected officials have educators in their families and can connect easily with the kind of challenges that principals bring to them.
Focus your advocacy
For first-time advocates, it’s impossible to go into a meeting with an elected official or their aide with complete knowledge of each grant or federal funding stream, said Sifers.
It works better to focus on a funding source or issue that affects your school the most, she said, and build your advocacy around that.
“If [cutting back] Title I is the biggest issue in your district, focus and find the people in your district who can give you facts that you can go in with and show how that impacts your school,” Sifers said.
When lobbying local or state elected officials, Jay Apostle, the principal of Monett Middle School in Monett, Mo., recommends that principals keep track of education-focused bills being introduced or passed in the state legislature. Apostle has been meeting with his state representatives for the last three years to advocate to sustain funding levels for public schools.
Apostle said he picks specific times in a year to connect with or meet his representatives. For example, in late February and early March, the Missouri legislative session is in full swing.
“For some representatives and senators, education may not be their expertise. Our goal is to always to try and figure out ways that we can extend their expertise or our insight,” Apostle said. “If there are any bills that are coming up that they might have questions about or might need some feedback on, [we try] to give them a clear idea of how that bill might impact schools.”
Principals can also stay in touch with their legislators as a bill is being debated and help shine a light on any “unintended consequences” of amendments, Apostle said.
Build a sustainable relationship
Sifers, like Apostle, believes it’s not enough to meet legislators just once a year, or wait until an issue like a funding cut is already on the table. Sifers said she tries to stay in touch with her legislators regularly and invites them to events at her school that are centered around student achievement.
Hayes has invited Missouri lawmakers to be “principal for a day” at her school, but none have yet taken her up the offer. That hasn’t deterred Hayes from showing up to all the open advocacy days hosted by her representatives. “I could send emails all day long, but it helps to put a face to the name,” she said.
Following up is key, too. Apostle said a week after he meets with a federal or state legislator, he contacts their office to emphasize the difference that state and federal funding and support has made in his school.
Advocacy can be a frustrating process for principals, Healey said, because it might not ultimately affect how legislators vote. But Healey said he learned valuable lessons from his first time advocating on behalf of his school.
He found it helpful to be armed with facts about grants or support services he wanted to flag to his representative. And the most valuable tool in his arsenal was his real-world experiences, he said.
“We can bring kids’ lives to the forefront,” Healey said. “Beyond all the discussion about money and bureaucracy, that’s what principals bring to the table when they advocate.”
