Survey Your Candidates in 5 Easy Steps:

Join us by surveying the school board candidates in your local school districts. Here's how: 



1. Gather candidate information
The  Alliance has gathered contact information for candidates across the state.

If a district you would like to survey is not on our list, the California Secretary of State provides a list of county websites where you can find information about candidates for school board elections. Decide which district(s) to survey. If you live in a county with multiple districts, consider selecting a few key districts, such as a district with a hotly contested race or multiple seats up for election, a district where you have relationships with community members and leaders, or a district likely to get press coverage. Determine who will be running and gather contact information for all candidates.

 It's also a great idea to gather their Facebook page information.

2. Invite candidates

Email all the candidates in your district, using our sample letter to invite them to participate. The sample letter includes the link to the online survey questions. Fill in each candidate's name at the beginning of each letter, and include your contact information at the end so that candidates can follow up with you. Paste the letter in the body of your email, and attach a copy of the list of survey questions. It may be useful to also attach our LCFF flyer. Invite and encourage other voters in your district to send letters to candidates as well!

3. Send the Alliance a list of candidates for each district
*It is important that you let us know which district(s) you survey and the names of all candidates running if they are not already on our list.  All candidates must be listed in the published results - candidates who do not respond will appear with "no response" next to their name. Register your district(s) here.

4. Candidate responses due by October 20 - remind candidates
Plan to follow up with a reminder email and phone call to confirm that each candidate has submitted their responses by Thursday, October 20th. If possible, post to their Facebook page to persuade and remind them to participate. (We will do our best to publish responses submitted after that date in a timely manner, but cannot guarantee that they will be immediately available)

5. Promote the survey before Election Day

Help make the survey a success—share the results in your community! All results will be published and available two weeks before the election. Once published, share the link to responses with your social networks, announce the survey at local meetings, or include the results in your organization’s newsletters or eblasts. Get the word out well in advance of the election! This is a great time to post on the candidate's Facebook page again - thank them for participating and provide a link to the survey results.

The California Alliance for Arts Education is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and we do not endorse candidates. In some cases, nonprofits may endorse bills or pieces of legislation.



Questions?

For help with surveying candidates in your community, .