America's Legislators Back to School Week.

• Position: Statestats - Brief Article

The official 2002 numbers are in for America's Legislators Back to School Week, the time when lawmakers marched off to schools in their districts to meet personally with young constituents.

At least some legislators in every state supported the program, but in the top 10 the turnout was remarkable, hitting 92 percent to 38 percent of the body. In 22 states, 30 or more legislators participated.

Some 1,600 legislators altogether went to classrooms and auditoriums to answer questions, share ideas, listen to concerns and impart a greater understanding of the legislative process. They reached 200,000 students.

"Our kids need this program," says Saundra Morales, a teacher at Fox Tech High School in Texas.

America's Legislators Back to School Week, part of NCSL's Trust for Representative Democracy, is held annually the third week of September and is implemented in each state by legislative coordinators.

Nevada Senator Valerie Wiener has a passion for reaching out to students and has participated in Back to School Week since its inception in 1999. She alone visited 12 schools this year and met with 1,718 students.

Citing a survey that says less than 9 percent of...