PARENTS ACROSS AMERICA PRESS RELEASE ON “PARENT TRIGGER” LEGISLATION
FROM LEONIE HAIMSON | PARENTS ACROSS AMERICA.ORG | HTTP://BIT.LY/GHLX2T
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 16, 2011
Parents Across America: We oppose Parent Trigger laws
Reform should rely on proven solutions that involve parents from the ground up and improve rather than privatize schools
With California’s so-called Parent Empowerment Act drawing national media attention as a school reform panacea, and similar laws being discussed in other states including New Jersey, Colorado, and elsewhere, the new national organization Parents Across America (PAA) warns that the law fails to promote positive solutions, is subject to abuse, and threatens to harm school communities.
“This law is likely to cause more problems than it solves,” PAA said in a position statement. (See attached pdf. )
The Parent Empowerment Act took effect in California in 2010, creating a process called the Parent Trigger, in which a majority of parents at a low-performing school can petition to demand one of a narrow set of options, including firing all or some of the staff, takeover by a charter operator, or closing the school.