The Flase Narrative Florida House Republicans Are Using to Defend Parent Trigger
by Bob Sikes
The phrase of the day was “give parents a seat at the table.”
Watching today’s meeting of the House Education Committee for HB 867 on The Florida Channel revealed the clear philosophical divide between the two sides on Parent Trigger. Under sharp questions from Democrats, bill sponsor Carlos Trujillo was forced to affirm that the concerns of opponents are justified.
1. An out-of-state group like Parent Revolution can come in can signatures because of “first amendment protections.”
2. No, a reverse trigger cannot be implemented as “parents can just choose to withdraw from the school created after Trigger.
3. No, the final decision is not up to local school boards as “disputes will be taken to the state board.”
Along with Trujillo, at least two other republican legislators – Janet Adkins of Fernandina Beach and Elizabeth Porter of Lake City – defended their support with a deceptively ambiguous “give parents a seat at the table.”
Watching today’s meeting of the House Education Committee for HB 867 on The Florida Channel revealed the clear philosophical divide between the two sides on Parent Trigger. Under sharp questions from Democrats, bill sponsor Carlos Trujillo was forced to affirm that the concerns of opponents are justified.
1. An out-of-state group like Parent Revolution can come in can signatures because of “first amendment protections.”
2. No, a reverse trigger cannot be implemented as “parents can just choose to withdraw from the school created after Trigger.
3. No, the final decision is not up to local school boards as “disputes will be taken to the state board.”
Along with Trujillo, at least two other republican legislators – Janet Adkins of Fernandina Beach and Elizabeth Porter of Lake City – defended their support with a deceptively ambiguous “give parents a seat at the table.”
How Parent Trigger Puts Florida’s Fine Arts Education at Risk
by Bob Sikes
Getting little play in this year’s Parent Trigger bill is the so-called parent notification clause. Parent advocacy group, Fund Education Now, sees the danger in Carlos Truillo’s bill for families and children who choose fine arts:
March 21, 2013, Orlando, Fl… Fund Education Now, a leading Florida public education advocacy group, issued a sharp warning today that HB 867 Parent Empowerment/Parent Trigger by Rep. Carlos Trujillo puts Florida public school music and fine arts programs at risk by banning students from the classroom of any teacher evaluated as “low performing” according to high-stakes test scores, averaged school-wide, of students they do not teach.
Florida public schools often only hire a single band, drama, chorus or art teacher. Despite these limited resources, Parent Trigger places a 1 year ban on students taking classes from a performing