Parents Across America on HR2218, the “Empowering Parents Through Quality Charter Schools Act”
Why Public School Parents Oppose H.R. 2218 and Our Recommendations for Improving the Charter School Bill A Parents Across America Position Paper on the “Empowering Parents Through Quality Charter Schools Act” July 5, 2011 Parents Across America (PAA), a grassroots organization representing public school parents from across the United States, opposes the current version of H.R. 2218, the Empowering Parents Through Quality Charter Schools Act, which was recently reported from the House Education and Workforce Committee. PAA is committed to … →
PAA on Reforming ESEA
What Public School Parents Want in a New Federal Education Law A Parents Across America Position Paper on the Reauthorization of the Federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) – No Child Left Behind April, 2011 Introduction “What the best and wisest parent wants for his own child, that must the community want for all its children. Any other ideal for our schools is narrow and unlovely; acted upon, it destroys our democracy.” John Dewey, The School and … →
The Empowerment Parents Want: The LSC Model for School Reform
The Empowerment Parents Want: A Real, Effective Voice in our Children’s Education As corporate efforts to privatize and capitalize on public education are increasingly being exposed as ineffective and damaging, the wealthy sponsors of these controversial strategies – e.g. school closings, turnarounds, charter school expansion – have been attempting to re-brand them as “parent empowerment.” The problem is that the privateers are not paying attention to what parents actually want, or what works for children and schools. For example, last … →
PAA on the parent trigger
Why PAA opposes California’s Parent Trigger law: It represents neither real parent choice nor empowerment California’s Parent Empowerment Act passed in early 2010 and has been supported by backers of corporate education reform nationwide. It is now being used as a model for legislation in other states, including New Jersey, Colorado and elsewhere. The law creates a process known as the Parent Trigger, which allows a majority of parents at a low-performing school to sign a petition to trigger one … →