MI Charter Action Center

Sending a message to your lawmaker is a great way to advocate for MI charters. Periodically, MAPSA puts together activations that pre-format a message to lawmakers around specific issues like the School Aid Budget and more. Taking action through this system takes just a couple minutes. 

You can also use our system to compose a message to your MI state lawmakers, not around any specific issue, whether it's just to introduce yourself or even invite them to your school.

When sharing your story, we suggest you introduce yourself, share your role (parent, teacher, etc.), your school name, and how your school has impacted your student or family's life.  When composing the message, here are some resources you can share: 

• MI Charter #GetTheFacts document (including some basic charter facts, how they can support us legislatively, etc.)
• Your "5 Things About My School" document - use this form to fill in your custom answers & get an auto-filled PDF! 

The legislator directory is your one stop for locating you & your school's local lawmakers. You'll want to start with your personal mailing address. Simply input your street address and zip code, and immediately our system will match you with your federal and state elected officials. (While it's great to stay in touch with federal officials, we at MAPSA focus in on state officials - including your State Representative and State Senator.) If you click on one of your lawmakers, you'll see this info: 

• Ways to get in touch - Right at the top, you'll see icons to get in touch with your lawmaker. Every lawmaker must be accessible via their government email, but some also have social media channels and/or websites that make it easy to get in touch. 
• Lansing office info - You'll see your lawmaker's Capitol office address and phone number listed as well. As a constituent, this office is a place that you can organize a one on one meeting with your lawmaker (whether that be virtually or in-person when you can), or even call to share your opinion on an issue that matters. 
• Committee assignments - Towards the bottom of their profile, you'll even see which committee(s) your lawmaker serves on. Committees are the places where issues (like education) are discussed, so it's important for our purposes to check and see if your elected official serves on any committees related to Education, K-12 Education, School Aid, etc. 

Once you have YOUR State Representative & Senator, you'll want to look up your SCHOOL'S elected official, as it's very possible that you might live in a different House/Senate district than where your school is located. To do this, simply repeat the above process using your school's address instead of yours. 

The media is another key audience that we need to continue building relationships with. Our tool allows you to input your zip code and locate media outlets in your area. Here are some things you may want to share with your local media: 

• Positive school news - There are amazing things happening in your school every day - it's up to us to make sure your surrounding community members hear about them. If your school/a student/ an educator receives a special recognition or award, if you're pioneering an awesome new project, or if you've recently renovated your building to add something cool, tell your local news! 
• Educator spotlights - Many smaller news outlets are always looking to highlight outstanding educators - lucky for us, we've got no shortage! Share an outstanding teacher, counselor, school staff, etc. with your local media outlet. 
• Your voice on charter issues - Not everyone in your community knows a student/educator at your local charter school. When we face funding cuts or other attacks, write an opinion piece to submit to your local media outlet to help spread awareness in your community.