Meet CATESOL's Advocacy Team
From L-R: Jeff Frost, Lisa Ireland, Bette Empol
Bette Empol
Bette Empol began her involvement with CATESOL in 1999 when she became an ESL teacher at Conejo Valley Adult Education in Thousand Oaks, CA, where she is now the ESL Coordinator as well as the CBET Coordinator for Conejo Valley Unified School District. She has been involved in critical legislation for adult ESL programs and will continue to do so as there is a continuing need to advocate, fund, develop, and implement quality programs that provide adult ESL students with the necessary education needed for them to improve their lives. This is her first CATESOL Board position and she is excited to be part of the socio-political advocacy team focusing on adult, community college and university issues, and looks forward to promoting effective legislation. You may contact her at BetteE@conejo.tec.ca.us.
Lisa Ireland
Lisa Ireland is currently teaching English Language Development (ELD) and Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) in the Escondido Union High School District. She has served in a variety of positions, including ELD Department Chair, Site AVID Coordinator, Campus Outreach Coordinator for Cal-SOAP, and Site Liaison for GEAR UP. In addition to being a member of CATESOL, she is a member of the ASCD, Phi Delta Kappa, and TESOL professional organizations.
Her primary focus of professional interest is preparing high school ELLs for college because she sees education as a means to empower students. She is a strong advocate for equity in education, especially in regards to post-secondary education access opportunities for ELLs.
Lonnie Shields
Nevada Advocate
Lonnie Shields began his career as a teacher and coach in Montana in 1963, but then moved to Reno, Nevada in 1967. He taught elementary and middles school for 17 years before becoming a principal in 1981 of what would be considered an inner city school in Reno which served a diverse population of non-English speaking students. Many of the students were the children of parents who worked in the downtown clubs and few children had any proficiency in English at all. He feels he was blessed with extremely talented ELD teachers and he continually learned from them. He retired in 1998. During these years, he served as the Governmental Relations Chairman for the Nevada State Education Association for almost 10 years and lobbied on their behalf at both the state and national level. He also served as the President of this association for two years and as President of the Washoe county Teachers Association for two terms.
From retirement until October 2004, he served as the advocate for the Washoe County Education Administrator’s Association, and then began lobbying efforts for the Nevada State Administrator’s Association and then for Clark County Administrator’s Association. He also assisted the CATESOL advocate in Nevada whenever she needed support or information. He has a strong passion for providing Nevadans with a strong educational system and seeing that second language students have a system that truly meets their needs. You may contact him at lshields414@charter.net.
Jeff Frost
CATESOL Legislative Advocate
Jeff Frost has an MA and a Ph.D. in political science and taught American Government courses in college for several years. He has been an adjunct faculty member at California State University, Sacramento. Jeff has represented public education clients since 1987 when he worked at the California School Boards Association. In 1990 he started the firm Frost Davis & Donnelly, specifically to represent school districts and educational associations. Jeff has worked extensively on adult education, ESL and litereacy issues over the last decade and is considered one of the state's experts on adult education policy.
What Does a Lobbyist Do...and How Does It Help CATESOL?
Jeff Frost, CATESOL Legislative Advocate
I have been an education lobbyist for almost 25 years and have represented CATESOL before the State Legislature, State Board of Education and Commission on Teacher Credentialing for 13 years. During this time people have asked "exactly what is it that you do?" If people are still asking that question perhaps it is time to explain my job to CATESOL's members.
Historical Role of a Lobbyist
The earliest usage of the term "lobbying" in the United States dates back to 1808 when the word was used in the annals of the 10 Congress. By 1829, the term "lobby-agent" was used in the New York state Capitol. This term was ultimately shortened to "lobbyist," and that term ahs been sued ever since as a means of defining a person who works on behalf of a citizen or group to influence government actions.
I have represented client groups for more that 25 years in the State Capitol of California and would simplify the actions of a governmental lobbyist as someone who acts as a "tour guide" on behalf of their client. The jobs are similar. If you take your family to Europe for a vacation, you can do all the research on where to stay, what to eat and what to see. You can also make a stab at communicating with the locals. However, if you have limited time to prepare of focus on these tasks, you might find it prudent to hire a tour guide to help you navigate in the most efficient and enjoyable manner.
While this analogy is not perfect for what a lobbyist does for a client, it is quite similar. Lobbyists know the members of the legislature, governmental agencies and the Governor's Office. They are familiar with the all the key staff, the customs of the legislature and rules of how a bill moves through the legislature. Lobbyists are also knowledgeable about how to draft bills and find legislators that are willing to author a specific type of bill. These are all things that a client could do, but clearly does not have the time to learn. This is my job on behalf of CATESOL.
Lobbying Role With CATESOL
As CATESOL's advocate, I focus on an array of issues and priorities. I monitor all education legislation to determine the impact a bill will have no ESL teachers and EL students. Where it is appropriate, I work with the two Socio-Political Chairs and the Board to support or oppose specific bills. At times, the organization will sponsor a bill that ahs significant policy importance. This year CATESOL is a co-sponsor of AB 124 (Fuentes) that will require a complete overhaul of the English Language Development Standards. For all bills on which CATESOL takes positions, I provide testimony before legislative hearings and meet with both legislators and staff on behalf of CATESOL to make sure they are aware of our priority issues and the importance of a particular bill. Involvement with this bill will expand awareness of CATESOL and create new opportunities for us to impact other education policy areas in the future.
I also monitor the State Budget process and support funding in areas that are a priority for CATESOL. In prior years, this has included opposing the "maximum categorical flexibility" proposal that was a part of the 2008-09 Budget. This policy change was a very significant issues for the adult education level members of CATESOL. I also work with all levels of CATESOL to make sure that the Level Chairs are aware of the impacts of budget on their levels. In areas where there are significant consequences for CATESOL members I work with the Socio-Political Chairs and the board to establish outreach opportunities with other state level organizations that have similar interests. Finally, this outreach and t he contacts with other state level organizations and leaders helps CATESOL implement strategies for counteracting policies like maximum flexibility.
Opening Doors & Creating Opportunities
While the activities related to legislation and the budget are important, they are not the only tasks I handle for CATESOL. Just as in the analogy of the "tour guide," I have gained access to key policymakers in the legislature, Governor's Office and state administrative agencies. In this capacity I serve as the messenger form CATESOL on key ESL issues. Here are some examples:
ESOL Credential – In 2007, CATESOL determined that it wanted to pursue a proactive effort to establish a secondary credential for English as a Second or Other Language (ESOL). The organization drafted a position paper that was designed to provide a policy road map for the Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC). Based on this paper, I was able to meet with key staff members and to set up a meeting between CATESOL leaders and key CTC staff members ultimately led to the Commission developing an advisory committee to make recommendations on an array of issues related to ESL teaching in the secondary level. In 2009, the CTC approved a set of policies that implement much of the original CATESOL position paper.
ELA Frameworks - I testified before the State Board of Education (SBE) and negotiated behind the scenes on Board’s policy on how English Language Learners were addressed in the new English Language Arts frameworks. The development of this policy was quite contentious and did not end as well as CATESOL would have liked, but I was able to ensure that the organization was at the negotiating table and that our policy priorities were addressed and understood.
Input to the Common Core Standards – In 2010, the state legislature and the SBE were providing input into the draft of the Common Core Standards (CCS) that were being developed by the National Governor’s Conference. CATESOL believed that the CCS did not adequately address the needs of English Language learners. CATESOL developed a set of recommendations for changes to the CCS and sent those to legislative leaders and the Superintendent of Public Instruction who was a participant in the drafting of the standards. This effort, while not ultimately successful in gaining significant changes to the CCS, did serve as a way to share our policy concerns with the SPI, the members of the State Board and key policymakers in the legislature. This work also proved to be very helpful as the State Board addressed the Common Core Standards issue once more in early 2011.
Race to the Top Legislation – In 2009, the legislature and SBE worked diligently on its grant for Race to the Top (RTTT) funding. This effort resulted in two new bills being passed and signed into law in a very short time period. Two of the key issues addressed were on the way student test data should be collected and how it should be sued in the evaluation of teachers. CATESOL strongly opposed any effort to make student test data the sole, or even the most significant, component of the evaluation process. The organization felt that any legitimate evaluation process for teachers or principals must include an array of factors including student demographics, the academic status of the school, classroom evaluation of each teacher, the availability of local resources including instructional materials and student and teacher support. To be legitimate, teacher evaluation must be a comprehensive process where student test data is used as one component of a long-term analytic review of student progress. CATESOL communicated directly, through our advocacy efforts, with the author of this bill, legislative leaders and other statewide organizations including the California Teachers Association. These efforts paid off when the final version of the bill included the need for student test data to be collected but was very limited in how that data would or could be used in the evaluation of teachers.
Final Comments on the Work of a Lobbyist
While a tour guide can work as hard as possible to provide an enjoyable trip, the success of that trip is also dependent on the client. It has been a pleasure and an honor to represent CATESOL and its members for more than 12 years. A lobbyist can only be as successful as the client will allow. The membership of CATESOL has a vast knowledge of how to provide services to EL students and how to best prepare teachers to work with EL students. This knowledge comes from both a practical classroom-based perspective and from a research perspective. It is this knowledge and understanding that I try to share everyday with members of the legislature, the Governor's Office and the administrative agencies that impact public education.
Clients also need to know when and where to best use their advocates. In this regard, it is very helpful to have knowledgeable and hard working Socio-Political chairs and a Board that represents the full breadth of CATESOL interests. Working cooperatively, we are able to develop strategies and priorities that allow the organization to be successful and make a real difference in the lives of teachers and students. My job is to be creative, work to find alliances, openings and political and policy opportunities. Being able to represent CATESOL makes that job easier than most.