August 2026: AESA State Examiner

How educational service agencies can prepare now for election season and the 2027 state-policy agenda

August is not an advocacy off-season. For educational service agencies (ESAs), it is the window to turn summer reflection into a disciplined plan for the months when elections, budget signals, legislative turnover, and pre-session agenda-setting begin to shape the next year of state education and budget policy. The organizations that wait for a bill to be introduced, a budget to be released, or a crisis to emerge are usually forced to react. The organizations that use the next 90 days well enter the fall with clearer priorities, stronger relationships, better evidence, and a more credible voice. Remember, it is always easier to board the ship at port rather than when its already out at sea.

A readiness plan does not require an extensive lobbying operation or a large communications staff. It requires leadership attention, a manageable calendar, and a shared commitment to connect ESA expertise with the needs of policymakers, districts, students, families, and communities. ESAs sit squarely at the nexus of policy and practice and are uniquely positioned to shape public policy.  The goal is simple: by the end of the next 90 days, your ESA should know what it is trying to accomplish, who needs to hear from it, what proof it can provide, and what it will do when an opportunity—or a challenge—arrives.

The advocacy moment

The period from August through October is especially consequential. Election-year activity can reshape state legislative membership and committee leadership. Candidates and returning legislators are increasingly accessible in their home communities. State agencies, governors’ offices, and legislative staff are often beginning to frame the issues that will surface in the next session. At the same time, districts are confronting immediate operational challenges—staff shortages, enrollment changes, special education needs, student mental-health demands, transportation pressures, technology and data-security responsibilities, and constrained budgets—that ESAs are uniquely positioned to help solve.

This is the moment to make the ESA’s value visible as regional public-service infrastructure. Rather than leading only with a request for funding or protection from a policy change, lead with a practical proposition: when the state asks districts to deliver more, ESAs can help make implementation more equitable, more efficient, and more feasible—especially for small, rural, and capacity-constrained systems. That framing gives policymakers a reason to see ESAs as partners in solving problems, not simply as another stakeholder asking to be heard.

What ESAs should watch

A 90-day plan begins with disciplined observation. Your team does not need to track every headline; it needs to identify the few signals most likely to affect your member districts and the services your ESA provides.

• Election and turnover signals. Open seats, retirements, competitive races, newly drawn districts, likely leadership changes, and prospective committee assignments. These developments identify where early relationship-building will matter most.

• Budget and economic signals. Revenue estimates, enrollment trends, state-agency budget requests, property-tax developments, workforce data, and other indicators that may shape the fiscal environment for education and regional services.

• Policy and rulemaking signals. Pre-filed concepts, draft rules, task-force recommendations, agency guidance, regulatory agendas, interim committee activity, and issues gaining attention in neighboring states.

• District implementation signals. The problems district leaders are raising repeatedly: staffing, service access, compliance burden, purchasing costs, student supports, or emerging technology needs. These are the raw material for credible advocacy.
• Public narrative signals. The terms and concerns appearing in local media, community meetings, parent conversations, and candidate events. Monitor not only what is being said, but what assumptions or misinformation need respectful correction. Pay particular attention to false narratives meant to distract, divert and divide.

Build the plan around five moves:

1. Refresh and narrow your priorities.

Review last year’s legislative platform, board priorities, member feedback, and emerging state issues. Distill the list into three to five priorities that are specific enough to guide action but broad enough to remain relevant if the policy landscape changes. For each priority, identify the problem, the desired state action or outcome, the beneficiaries, the likely implementation implications, and the evidence that supports your position. A short list signals discipline; a long list signals that nothing is truly urgent.

2. Map the people behind the decisions.

Create a working relationship map that includes current legislators, candidates for open or competitive seats, legislative staff, education-agency officials, local government partners, business and community leaders, and trusted district messengers. Do not treat this as a list of names. Record what each person cares about, their connection to your ESA’s region, the best messenger, and the next appropriate contact. Legislative staff deserve the same care as elected officials: they often carry the institutional knowledge, research questions, and follow-through that shape a policy decision.

3. Prepare evidence that travels.

Policymakers need information they can understand, remember, and use. Develop a compact evidence bank for each priority: one statewide fact, one regional or local fact, one short story, one visual or chart, and one clear statement of the action you want. Use plain language. Translate technical details into consequences for students, families, educators, and taxpayers. If your evidence cannot be summarized in a one-page brief and explained in two minutes, it is not yet ready for a busy policymaker.

4. Create a contact rhythm before you need it.

The most effective advocacy relationships are built outside a crisis. Schedule a fall rhythm of introductory meetings, ESA or district site visits, listening conversations, community events, and carefully timed follow-up. The immediate purpose of every interaction need not be a policy ask. Often the better first move is to learn: What are new or returning policymakers hearing from constituents? Which education concerns are they trying to understand? Where do they see implementation barriers? Listening earns credibility and improves the quality of later advocacy.

5. Make internal readiness everyone’s work.

Advocacy cannot live only with the executive director or government-relations lead. Identify a small internal readiness team that includes leadership, communications, program experts, and a board liaison. Establish who monitors legislation, who validates data, who approves messages, who coordinates district partners, and who responds to a time-sensitive request. Train board members and key staff on a consistent elevator message, appropriate advocacy boundaries, and the process for sharing useful local stories. A prepared organization can respond quickly without sacrificing accuracy or trust.

An illustration: moving from concern to readiness

Imagine that several districts in an ESA region are struggling to recruit and retain related-service providers. The issue is real, but a general message that “schools need more staff” is unlikely to distinguish the ESA’s perspective. A readiness plan helps turn that concern into an advocacy asset.

First, the ESA gathers local vacancy and service-access data, along with examples of the effect on students and district operations. Next, it identifies how its regional model—shared specialists, coordinated recruitment, telepractice, professional learning, or pooled purchasing—can reduce the problem. The team then prepares a short brief that identifies the policy barrier or support needed, the number of districts affected, the cost of inaction, and the practical role the ESA can play. During fall meetings, the ESA asks policymakers what workforce concerns they are hearing and shares the brief as a solution-oriented resource. If a related bill or budget proposal appears months later, the relationship, data, message, and implementation proposal are already in place.

Measure readiness, not just activity

Do not confuse activity with accomplishment. A full calendar does not necessarily equal an effective advocacy strategy. At the end of 90 days, assess whether your organization is more prepared than it was in August. Can your leadership name the top priorities and explain why they matter? Have you identified new and influential policymakers? Are your core facts current and locally meaningful? Do board members and staff use consistent language? Do you have district partners ready to tell credible stories? Have you created an internal process for rapid response?

Those questions matter because advocacy success is rarely the product of one meeting, one testimony, or one alert. Policy making is incremental by nature. So is advocacy.  It is the cumulative result of trusted relationships, clear evidence, disciplined communication, and organizational readiness. The coming fall is your opportunity to build that foundation. The “slow drip” process may be frustrating at times.  But use it well, and your ESA will enter 2027 ready not merely to respond to the state-policy agenda, but to help shape it in meaningful and impactful ways.

90-Day Advocacy Tool (docx)