Legislative
*Conducting Forums
How to Conduct a Candidate or Issue Forum
If your PTA wishes to hold a forum on a ballot issue, such as an override or a proposition that affects education, you can modify this suggested format. To host a forum for a ballot issue, you would need to have a panel of about five people knowledgeable on the subject, preferably some pro and some con, who can answer questions on the ballot issue. Your PTA might want to consider having one person from your school board, one administrator, one community member, and two others to be identified by your PTA. You might want to consider inviting one of your local state legislators to be on the panel.
For a ballot issue forum, your PTA might want to skip the gathering of questions ahead of time and go strictly with questions from the audience. If your PTA does use that approach, it is recommended that you have a couple of people to screen the questions as they are passed forward so that the same question is not asked again and again. Screeners can also screen out inflammatory questions. Each panelist might be given five minutes or less to introduce themselves and speak on the ballot issue so the audience knows who they are ahead of time.
Quick Guidelines for Conducting Forums 
The following pages are to help give your PTA the tools necessary to hold a candidate forum for your local school board:
