After Divisive Start, Use of 'Parent Trigger' Law Matures
Strategies Aim to Broaden Influence of Contentious Statute
Los Angeles
Five years after California parents gained the power to initiate major changes at failing schools, advocates of the state's controversial parent-trigger law are expanding their strategies to broaden its influence.
Former State Sen. Gloria Romero, the law's author, founded a nonprofit last year to educate parents about the California Parent Empowerment Act. Even as Ms. Romero launched her initiative, another group of parent-trigger-campaign veterans had already started working to develop a more collaborative approach to turning around troubled schools.
The two startups point to disparate directions California's maturing parent-trigger law may take. They could include more contentious parent-led efforts, like the one currently underway with Ms. Romero's guidance at Palm Lane Elementary School in Anaheim. The law may also continue to become part of a multi-layered strategy to empower poor, minority communities in their pursuit of educational justice.
At the same time, California's experience so far has motivated only a few states to follow its lead in adopting a parent-trigger law as a model for school overhauls: Six states have adopted parent-trigger inspired laws since 2010. This year lawmakers in six more states are considering parent-trigger legislation, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Amendments proposed to laws in California andTexas this year would increase the number eligible schools.
The California Parent Empowerment Act allows parents whose children attend chronically low-performing schools to force districts to enact sweeping education reforms that range from hiring a new principal and replacing staff to transforming the school into a charter. Parents must garner support by petition from 50 percent of students' parents, plus one, to set the law in motion.
Most of the handful of schools where parents have used the law serve predominantly Hispanic and African-American students from low-income families, explained Alfonso Flores, the chief executive officer of the Excellent Educational Solutions, a private consulting firm founded by former parent-trigger community organizers. However, he said education reformers' egos, in some cases, can muddy debates and lose sight of those critical societal pressures.
"Parents just want to feel like their child has a shot at the American Dream," Mr. Flores said. "They don't give a hoot about the politics."
Meanwhile, Parent Revolution, a nonprofit created to support parents choosing to use the parent-trigger law, is seeking new leadership after longtime executive director Ben Austin resigned late last year. Parent Revolution, which has drawn the ire of critics who see it as divisive, self-promoting, and yielding few tangible results, rebuffs detractors' assessments of the group, and remains undeterred that the parent-trigger law is a viable education reform tool.
"We've always said that we're trying to spread a movement, not an organization," Gabe Rose, Parent Revolution's chief strategy officer, said during an interview at the group's downtown Los Angeles office, where the décor is inspired by Silicon Valley technology firms. "We desperately want more parent organizations and other allies to pick up this work."
'Wild West'
But parents living outside of California haven't shown much appetite to take the parent-trigger plunge.
In fact, a spokeswoman for the National PTA, the nation's largest parent-advocacy organization, said the Alexandria, Va.-based group does not have an official position on the law.
So far, nationally, only one school, Desert Trails Elementary School in Adelanto, Calif., has been transformed into a charter while another six schools in the state have used the parent-trigger law in some way to secure changes on their campuses.
Ms. Romero said lawmakers often overlook the importance of monitoring how a law is implemented. "If you don't know the law, you can't use the law," she added.
Ohio's parent-trigger pilot program in Columbus may have fallen victim to After Divisive Start, Use of 'Parent Trigger' Law Matures - Education Week: