With the passage of the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), local school boards have been given authority to set the priorities and funding allocations for their districts, which makes building relationships with your local school board members more important that ever.

Now that the elections are over, a great way to start a relationship with the winning candidate is to write her or him a congratulations letter. It doesn’t matter who you voted for, now is the time to reach out and start building bridges to ensure supporting arts education is a part of their plans. A congratulations letter is a good way to let your voice be heard while starting off on a positive note.

First look up which candidates won here. You should be able to find your candidate’s contact information on your local County Office of Election website.

There is a draft of a letter at the end of this blog post, feel free to personalize it, keeping the following things in mind:

• Mention the benefits of arts education and lay down the foundation for further discussions on the matter

• If your winning candidate took our survey, check out their response and mention in your letter if they spoke to any shared values. For example, if the candidate stated that she is an engineer and values the importance of STEAM, mention this commitment

Sample thank you letter.