The Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University in partnership with NJ Spotlight News, is offering an arsenal of resources to journalists across the state who want to elevate the coverage of school board elections in their area.

This toolkit is part of NJ Decides, a multi-faceted initiative to keep New Jersey voters informed about this year’s elections.

⚒️ Here’s how it works

This kit is designed with a form you can send to your school board candidates. It also includes access to clean Google Docs with their answers so you can seamlessly copy and paste that content into your CMS to create your voter guide.

1️⃣ Find out who is running and locate their contact info

2️⃣ Write your outreach email

3️⃣ Send the email

4️⃣ Watch for responses

5️⃣ Nudge candidates

6️⃣ Build and publish your guide

7️⃣ Send us a link!

⚙️ Essential reporting resources

The resources and links in the following sections make up the essential elements of this collaborative initiative.

One you finish reading the “Here’s how it works” section above, you can use the links below to access the candidate questionnaire, view the responses, and download supplemental materials.