Here are a few tips about how to start.
Make public education an election issue
Elections can be won or lost on the basis of issues that matter to voters. Political parties do their best to define and shape the issues they want voters to talk about during the election, but voters and interest groups need not be limited to what the parties want. Voters can bring their own issues to the debate. Their effectiveness in doing so can determine whether their issue becomes an election issue.
Public education is a topic that many people care about. Education funding, in particular, is often in the news. Politicians understand that public education can become a pivotal election issue. The job for community groups is to raise the profile of the issue within the context of the election, then to make voters aware of what the various politicians are saying and doing about strengthening public education.
Develop Strategies
There are a variety of strategies you can use to heighten the profile of public education as an election issue. Through these strategies, your two major goals are:
- to put politicians in a position where they must respond in a serious way; and
- to have voters base their voting decisions, at least in part, on where the politicians stand on public education.
The size of your organization and your available time and resources will be factors in what strategies you decide to pursue.
Identify the Candidates
Elections BC (www.elections.bc.ca) can help you locate BC provincial political parties and candidate information.
For contact information, you can either search the internet for candidate websites directly or check for links on the party websites. The major party websites active in BC are listed below:
www.bcliberals.com
www.bcndp.ca
www.greenparty.bc.ca
