"Parent Trigger" Could Restructure or Shut Down SchoolsNew legislation now being pulled together would give a simple majority of parents the ability to effect major changes in their kids' schools
New Jersey parents with children in low-performing schools could see vast new powers to overhaul those schools, under legislation now being prepared by the Senate Republican leader, Sen. Joseph Kyrillos.
Kyrillos (R-Monmouth) said yesterday that he planned to file within the month a “parent trigger” bill that would allow parents by 51 percent vote or petition to demand major changes to their school, be it new leadership, a charter school operator, school vouchers or closure altogether.
Modeled after a similar measure recently enacted in California as part of its federal Race to the Top application, the bill would extend rules already in place that would permit conversion of a public school to a charter school with approval of a majority of teachers and parents.
But that has yet to happen in New Jersey, and Kyrillos said it was time to put the powers in parents’ hands.
‘There is no question there are a lot of schools that are failing, and we need to shake things up, not