Knowledge and Skills for Policy Making: Stories from Local Public Managers in Florida

Local public managers regularly participate in the legislative policy-making process and even play a leadership role in policy preparation and deliberation. This phenomenon challenges the dichotomy model of the politicsadministration relationship and raises some rarely studied questions: How do managers work with their elected officials to shape legislative policy making? What knowledge and skills do they need to participate effectively in policy making? And how can MPA programs help prepare students who are interested in a local government career for this role? To answer these questions, we conducted interviews with city and county managers in Florida. The opinions from local public managers help us better understand their role in policy making and provide us with valuable insights about the development of MPA education.