How to Know if Your Company Is Ready to Hire an Education Lobbyist

An Insider Talks About How She Helps Education Organizations Navigate Florida's Statehouse

Written by David Saleh Rauf and published by EdWeek Market Brief

When should an education company hire a lobbyist to represent its interests at the state level??

It's a question that is potentially becoming more prevalent for decision-makers at education firms as K-12 marketplaces in some states become increasingly challenging to navigate because of the politics and restrictions on what can be taught, as well as by big changes in the curriculum-adoption process.?

Historically, education lobbying at statehouses across the country—and in Congress—has been led by teachers unions, school-affiliated associations, and a range of special interest groups. That's not to say education companies and nonprofits don't hire lobbyists—some of the bigger names in the industry have been doing so for years.

But more recently there's been somewhat of an uptick of interest among education firms in seeking on-the-ground allies to help them better understand, and influence, policies and politics at a statehouse, said Tara Reid-Cherry, a Tallahassee-based lobbyist. She represents a range of education companies at the Florida Legislature for the Strategos Group.?

"Education is inherently something that we don't want to be political," Reid-Cherry said. "But government impacts businesses. If you're running a business, whether you think your curriculum or product is political or not, you have to be looking out for your bottom line."?

A veteran of two Florida gubernatorial campaigns, Reid-Cherry has been lobbying for education companies and nonprofits in Tallahassee since 2015, helping with everything from legislation to state budget issues to the state adoption process. Some of her clients have included companies such as Discovery Education, Stride (formerly K-12 Inc), Curriculum Associates, Go Guardian, and Amira Learning, among others.?

Florida—one of the biggest and most important education markets in the country—caution. Gov. Ron DeSantis and fellow Republicans who control the state have approved several laws and policies that affect districts' selection of academic materials and limit the discussions of race and gender.?

EdWeek Market Brief's David Saleh Rauf recently spoke to Reid-Cherry about the kinds of work she performs for education companies, how state legislative and regulatory activities can help or hurt those organizations, and fundamentally, how companies can know if they're ready to hire an advocate to act on their behalf.?

What are education companies hoping to accomplish in general when they hire your firm??

They're usually either looking to do business with government, or create or stop laws that would either allow for an ed-tech solution or prevent the ed-tech solution. A lot of times it's almost as an insurance policy—that's the way I describe it. So, if you're a CEO and you're looking at the state of Florida and you've got 50 percent of the marketplace, you want to make sure that there aren't laws being written or regulations being written that are going to then limit the amount of market you can have in a state, or even decrease the market that you have in a state.?

It's about making sure that you can continue to do business in a state. That's what I mean by?insurance policy.?

Can you give an example??

I had a conversation recently with an education company that is huge in the state of Florida, but they don't have an advocate. My point to them was, you don't want to be knocking on a legislator's door when a bill is about to pass that could kill your business. Crisis mode is a challenging way to operate. You wanna have those connections personally. You want legislators calling you, or your advocate, asking how something is going to impact that business. You want to have those deep connections already when something happens.?

Does your work differ substantially from other education lobbyists, like those who represent teacher unions or school districts??

The school districts and the teachers unions have the benefit of built-in grassroots support.?

Most education companies who come into a state, they don't start off with that support, or they don't know where it is. So they need to spend time identifying who the educators are, or parents, or students who love their product. Then, we spend time identifying and building up those champions, and figuring out how we resource those supporters to accomplish something on behalf of the client.?

What should an education company consider when gauging if they're ready to hire lobbyists??

The first question for a company is can they afford to hire an advocate? I do believe that for most established companies, it's an invaluable investment. But it will depend on a company's revenue and what is the ROI of having an advocate for that company.?

To what extent would you say most education companies really grasp Florida's political landscape??

Everyone, to some extent, believes they understand Florida politics because it is this national hot topic. But it varies as to whether or not someone knows, "Hey, my product is going to sell best in these types of districts." Typically they don't know things like that when they're coming to this state. And that's really how we can help them understand that side of the business because we can be on the ground interacting with decision-makers to understand what's happening.?

Do you ever have to turn down education industry clients because you're representing a competitor??

Yes, especially because of the portfolio-style business we run.?

Does it seem like more education firms today are hiring lobbyists in Florida than would have been a few years ago??

The stimulus money that came out of COVID-19 pandemic put billions of dollars in the hands of districts and state education departments. I know a lot of companies hired lobbyists to help them access that money. Long term, I don't know if all those contracts are still in place for everybody, but I will say for us it absolutely brought new clients to the door, and we were able to facilitate those conversations across the country.?

How much of your work is representing companies at the legislature versus the state board of education, or figuring out what's happening in the state curriculum adoption process??

It's very dependent on the client's need, and sometimes even the time of year, but the primary focus is on the legislative and executive level, and then the agency level.?

To what extent are your clients looking to be heard, when it comes to influencing the state budget??

Quite a bit of time is spent on budget issues. We have a few clients who are nonprofit clients who pursue line items directly out of the budget. But for the most part, the for-profit companies, the ed-tech companies and curriculum companies, what they are looking for are larger pots of money and a hunting license so that they can go to the district and pursue contracts at that level.?

So if there's a pot of money at the DOE [the Florida Department of Education] that's going to be distributed to the districts, the goal for the curriculum companies or the ed-tech companies is to fit into the requirements so that the districts can purchase them with those funds.?

Many Education companies don't seem sure how to respond to the recent wave of policies in Florida restricting lessons on race and gender. What advice would you give them??

This is something that I would say pops up a lot these days. My guidance is to stay true to your mission, but at the end of the day if you're focused on serving kids and making money, you have to tailor your product and your pitch depending on the state or the district. What works in California probably won't work in Florida, so make sure your company is prepared to customize a solution that meets each state's needs and objectives. You either do that, or [only] focus on the states with aligned political views. But if you do that, you've alienated a huge part of the market.?

Why should education companies want to work in Florida??

Florida's too valuable for companies to ignore. And I also think Florida is a guiding light for a lot of other conservative states. At the end of the day, whether the politics are different or not, the objective is still to serve kids.?

Is there any example of your work you did for an education client that ended up shaping policy in a significant manner??

One of the clients we've worked with for a number of years is Project Lead the Way, and a couple of years ago we passed a computer science law in the state. Since then, the governor has approved $10 million in the budget over the past few years that goes to computer science, professional development, and also bonuses for teachers who pursue that. Working with PLTW, we built a computer science coalition that included members like code.org , Apple, Microsoft, these technology stakeholders. We worked to advocate for computer science policy that would increase access to these classes.?

Are state legislators in Florida open to hearing from or meeting with education companies? If so, what do lawmakers usually want to discuss??

Legislators and state officials are always happy to meet because they're always looking for high-quality solutions and open to the conversation about what is working in the field. But I would say in ed tech, a huge concern right now is data privacy, especially when we're talking about kids. And so ensuring that when you come into these conversations, you're prepared to answer how do you protect student data. That is probably the first question that most of these ed-tech companies will have to answer.?

Do education company issues tend to be viewed as ideological or partisan at the Florida legislature??

In my view, it tends to be fairly bipartisan because if the goal is to find a high-quality solution there should be no party lines on that. What's keeping kids safe, what's keeping kids engaged, what's making sure that kids are prepared for the jobs of the future. To me, those are not political questions.?

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About Tara Reid-Cherry:

Tara Reid-Cherry is a partner at Strategos Group, which she joined in 2015 to focus on state education advocacy in Florida. In her tenure with the firm, she has successfully helped pass legislation relating to computer science, social-emotional learning, virtual education, and early learning. In 2016, she was recognized by Florida Politics as a "30 under 30" rising Rising Star. Reid-Cherry is also a board member of the National Coalition for Infant Health.?