The Lesson of Florida
Dear Deborah,
Let us now praise the public school parents of Florida.
They organized to oppose a bill known as the "Parent Trigger" or "Parent Empowerment." Under this proposed law, if 51 percent of the parents in a public school signed a petition, they could take over the school and decide whether to close it or turn it over to a charter management organization. The bill was wrapped in a deceptive and alluring packaging. Who could resist the bold idea of giving parents the power to take control of their public school?
Well, it turned out that Florida parents had become savvy after watching their elected officials endorse one bill after another to advance the interests of charter schools and for-profit entrepreneurs. They figured out that the real beneficiaries of this legislation would be charter management corporations, not parents or children.
Florida is a state with almost 500 charter schools, including many for-profit charters and for-profit cyber charters. Like the charter sector as a whole, charters in Florida vary widely in quality. By now, parent organizations know
Let us now praise the public school parents of Florida.
They organized to oppose a bill known as the "Parent Trigger" or "Parent Empowerment." Under this proposed law, if 51 percent of the parents in a public school signed a petition, they could take over the school and decide whether to close it or turn it over to a charter management organization. The bill was wrapped in a deceptive and alluring packaging. Who could resist the bold idea of giving parents the power to take control of their public school?
Well, it turned out that Florida parents had become savvy after watching their elected officials endorse one bill after another to advance the interests of charter schools and for-profit entrepreneurs. They figured out that the real beneficiaries of this legislation would be charter management corporations, not parents or children.
Florida is a state with almost 500 charter schools, including many for-profit charters and for-profit cyber charters. Like the charter sector as a whole, charters in Florida vary widely in quality. By now, parent organizations know
