CRAFT

2. Be prepared to be called some rather nasty names. Know that school boards, teachers, administrators and really ill informed parents will try legally and illegally to change your mind. Keep in mind school employees do not want to lose any part of their gravy train.

3. Remember it is not "for the kids", that it is for the teachers and administrators.

4. Start a group! Two IS a group trust us it will snowball rather quickly.

5. Educate yourself, go to the school board get a copy of the teachers' contract, support staff contracts and all the administrators' contracts. Ask for a copy of the school budget too (this is a bit more complicated to read). You have a right to this material as a citizen, you will have to fill out a Freedom of Information Act form and pay for the copies. Go to the champion.org and get a list of salaries for your district. If you live outside of Illinois ask your school board for a copy of the salaries.

6. Read books on the subject - great examples are "The Worm In The Apple How Teacher Unions Are Destroying American Education", "Public Education an Autopsy" and "Battling Corruption in America's Public Schools."

7. If you can develop a web page for your group do so. You will probably be able to do it with your intranet account you have now. Worst case scenario, do not spend more than $99 to have someone else make a web page for you (it is a lot cheaper than the property tax increase).

8. Make a flier pointing out the problems. Email us if you need examples.

9. Make sure that you are honest with everything you put out. Your campaign must be fact based and not based on emotions. Your opponents' side has no choice but to be emotional because they do not have any real persuasive reasons to raise your taxes.

10. Write letters to the editor to let people know about your group. Keep to the facts, no emotional appeals. Write letters to the editor on a monthly basis. Email us if you need examples.

11. Get your friends and family on board see if you can find other people to join your group.

12. Make a presentation to the community. Do it in a church, school, restaurant, banquet hall or library. Make sure that the room is donated or you borrow a free room. Do it at home only if necessary.

13. Try to advertise the meeting in the calendar section of as many newspapers as possible. Advertise the meeting in a letter to the editor. Tell friends at church or other parents. If you live near a train station pass out fliers at the train station. Hang fliers in local establishments (talk to them, first persuade them to your side and than ask permission to hang a flier).

14. At your presentation stick to the facts. No emotional appeals. Save all questions to the end (this is a strict policy because teachers may be present and will try to throw you off track.) Ask disruptive people to leave. For your first meeting you may ask people to write out questions on index cards so things do not get out of hand. We will help with the presentation if you are relatively close to us or send you our power point ideas.

15. After the meeting tell each person to tell 10 people and so on and so on and so on. Get people from different parts of the community to hand out fliers to their neighbors. Continue to write letters to the editor.

16. Election evening if you followed all these steps the referendum is sure to fail. We had one group not follow through in McHenry County the referenda passed. In two groups in McHenry County where the referendum opponents were strong one referendum failed 78% to 22 % and the other failed 70% to 30%.

Remember you can do it. Good luck! It is hard work but lots of fun. Keep in mind you are fighting for true education reform and your children's future.

Helpful links:

CRAFT Mission Statement

Join CRAFT and/or add me to your e-mail list.

Who we are -FAQ

CRAFT BLOG

How to fight a Referendum

School District Lies

Budget Solutions

The spending problem

Comparing State level plans

The tax cap

Understanding a teachers contract