Let me tell you about my recent trip to Sacramento, Calif. It is a story about why we need a revolution.
Earlier this month, Senate leaders introduced a “parent trigger” into California’s “Race to the Top”education reform legislation.
Under the policy, parents at a systemically failing school could circulate a petition calling for change. If 51 percent of the parents signed it, the school would be converted to a charter school or reconstituted by the school district, with a new staff and new ways of operating. The concept recognized a truth that school officials often discount: Parents are in the best position to make decisions about what’s right for their kids.
Last week, the parent trigger legislation moved to the Assembly Education Committee, chaired by Assemblywoman Julia Brownley. Thousands of parents sent letters, made calls, staged protests and showed up to testify before her committee about the importance of parents taking back power over our schools.
We told the committee about how 50 percent of kids in Los Angeles’ public schools aren’t graduating and 90 percent aren’t going to college. We talked about innovative models — at both charter and traditional public schools — that apply the same amount of money to the same kind of kids and send them to college instead of prison. We explained that we can’t wait any longer for half-measures and pilot programs because our kids need great schools now.