You can influence education finance and policy. Start with understanding which legislators have the most power to impact our schools.

The most influential decision-makers include:

• The Governor, Senate Majority Leader, and the Speaker of the House make the final decisions, relying on input from their committee chairs.
• Committee chairs in the majority party determine what bills are heard and what provisions appear in the bills leaving their committee.
• Committee members work closely with the committee chairs.

The education committees in the House and Senate set education finance and policy. The tax committee is involved when making school levies more affordable through equalization. Equalization is property tax relief for local taxpayers and is not funding that goes to schools. Funding for equalization should come from the tax committees.