Parent trigger

A parent trigger is a legal maneuver through which parents can change the administration of a poorly performing public school—most notably, by transforming it into a charter school.

The first parent trigger law was passed by the California legislature in January 2010. Subsequently, similar laws were considered in at least 25 states in the U.S., while they have been adopted by six states: Louisiana, Mississippi, Connecticut, Texas, Indiana and Ohio.[1][2] The law has been invoked by parents in the Compton, Adelanto, Anaheim, and LAUSD school districts of California.

In California, parents of children enrolled in 20th Street Elementary School[3] and Palm Lane Elementary School[4] attempted to use the parent trigger law. After the parent trigger campaign, the 20th Street Elementary School was one of the most improved schools[5] in all of LAUSD. Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa wrote about the success of the 20th Street parent trigger in the Wall Street Journal.[6]

History

Parent trigger laws were first introduced by the Los Angeles Parents Union (LAPU), founded in 2006 by Green Dot Public Schools, a charter school organization.[7][8][9] Green Dot, led by Steve Barr, also conducted campaigns in Watts—using a pre-existing law for school transformation based on petitions from teachers—to transform public schools into charter schools.[10]

In May 2009, Green Dot formed Parent Revolution, led by Ben Austin[11] who was a former Clinton White House Staffer and Los Angeles Deputy Mayor. Austin formulated the idea for the parent trigger law and worked with Parent Revolutions staffer Shirley Ford[12] to lobby for its passage. The laws envisioned would allow 51% of parents to form a Parent Union with control over their school and the ability to transform it using one of President Obama's four school turnaround options.[13] Speaking at a meeting organized by Green Dot, LA mayor Antonio Villaraigosa expressed support for the proposed laws, arguing that if teachers can have a union parents should also be able to organize and unionize.[14] United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) criticized Green Dot and the mayor for attempted union busting,[15][16] and the state teachers union president referred to parent trigger as a "Lynch mob"[17] provision.

In November 2009, the Los Angeles Unified School District passed parent trigger rules stating that a majority of parents or future parents could transfer a school to outside management. The decision won praise from Parents Revolution and criticism from UTLA. However, some charter operators objected to rules that required charter schools to include neighborhood students and to employ custodial services from the district.[18] Parent Revolution, Mayor Villaraigosa, and others urged the state to pass similar laws.[19]

In January 2010, the California legislature passed by one vote in both houses a "Parent Empowerment" law (Article 3 of SBX54, introduced by Senator Gloria J. Romero and Senator Bob Huff and signed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger), becoming the first state in the nation with a parent trigger law. The law's passage, just before a federal deadline on January 19,[20] allowed California to compete for $700 million in President Obama's Race to the Top initiative (which it did not ultimately receive) by complying with a Race to the Top requirement that test scores be used to evaluate teachers.[21][22] SBX54 also includes an "open enrollment" provision, allowing students in underperforming schools to apply for admission at any other school.[23]

After the law's passage, Parent Revolution—with a $1 million annual budget funded by the Gates Foundation, the Walton Family Foundation, the Wasserman Foundation, the Broad Foundation, and the Hewlett Foundation—announced intentions to seek parent trigger actions across California.[24][25][26]

In 2012, the film Won't Back Down was released and shown at the 2012 Democratic National Convention. The film is a fictionalized account of the passage of the parent trigger law in L.A., and was shown at the DNC by Democrats for Education Reform, a pro-charter school political action committee.[27]

Similar parent trigger laws have been proposed in more than 20 states, and been enacted in Mississippi, Texas, Indiana, and Louisiana.[1][2] A variation on the law, which uses parents' councils, was passed in Connecticut.[2] Ohio has established a pilot version of the law which applies only to the Columbus City Schools.[1]

Public advocates for parent trigger laws, besides Parent Revolution, include The US Conference of Mayors,[28] Stand for Children,[29] and Michelle Rhee.[30] The New York Times reported in 2010 that Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel support parent trigger laws.[31] Mitt Romney supports it.[32]

Provisions

California's trigger law applies to schools with an Academic Performance Index score of below 800. Parents of children attending these schools may petition for one or more of four options:[24]

  • Convert the school into a charter
  • Replace the old staff and make budget decisions
  • Dismiss the principal
  • Dissolve the school and relocate the students to other schools.

If at least half of the school's parents sign a petition, the school district must implement the policy they choose. The aggregate group of parents whose children are likely to attend a school in the future have, independently, the same power.

Implementation

As of May 2013, at least three school districts have been petitioned to implement a trigger: Compton Unified School District, Adelanto School District,[33] and the Los Angeles Unified School District.[34]

McKinley Elementary School, Compton, California

In Compton, Parent Revolution collected parent signatures to transfer administration of McKinley Elementary School to Celerity Education Group, a charter operator.[24] Paid staffers were joined by 15 parent volunteers who formed a group called McKinley Parents for Change.[25] The drive yielded signatures representing 61% of McKinley families.[35]

Compton Unified School District, along with some unsatisfied parents, challenged the petition, arguing that Parent Revolution had given parents no choice in how to change the school (deciding beforehand on a charter school managed by Celerity) and questioning the validity of the signatures produced by the group.[22][25] Parents criticized Parents Revolution, McKinley Elementary, and teachers for harassing them and pushing their own agendas during the conflict.[22][35] Between 50 and 60 parents revoked their signatures after discovering what the petition was for, stating that Parent Revolution had misled them about its effects.[36] Even though the parent trigger law allowed undocumented parents to sign the petition, the school district demanded photographic identification to back up the parent signatures on the petition; Parent Revolution sued claiming Compton was attempting to intimidate undocumented parents and won[37] an injunction preventing them from requiring official identification to verify a parent trigger petition.[38]

Ultimately, the parent trigger at McKinley was not enacted. Celerity opened a charter school at the Church of the Redeemer two blocks away.[8] Predictions that the new charter school would undermine McKinley were disproven when most of the new school's students came from elsewhere.[39]

Desert Trails Elementary, Adelanto, California

Parent Revolution's second attempt at a parent trigger occurred in Adelanto, California, at Desert Trails Elementary, then of the Adelanto Elementary School District. With the assistance of twelve parent volunteers, the group collected signatures for a petition to transform their failing school, Desert Trails Elementary.[40] Similar disputes arose, with blame assigned to both sides—the core issue being the validity of the signatures on the petition.[26] These signatures represented 70% of the school's 666 students.[41]

However, support for the parent trigger action dropped below the required 50% when the district claimed that 90 parents rescinded their signatures.[41] The Adelanto school board initially rejected the petition, calling too many of the signatures invalid.[42]

In July 2012, California Superior Court Judge Steve Malone's decision overruled the board in favor of the petition, stating that the state law did not allow parents to revoke their signatures.[41] The school board rejected this plan also, saying there was not time to create a new school before September 2012, and instead creating an advisory committee called the Alternative Governance Board.[41] This body would consist of three parents, three teachers, two representatives of the superintendent, and a community member.[43] According to many, this action constituted open defiance of the court's decision.[44]

The parents challenged the decision again in court,[45] raising the legal question of whether the law gives the school or the parents the final authority over implementing reforms.[46] As litigation continued into the 2012 school year, the pro-trigger parents (who formed a group called the Desert Trails Parents Union) had solicited proposals for new schools from several charter operators.[26] In July 2013, the courts ordered Desert Trails Elementary School to be replaced with Desert Trails Preparatory Academy, operated by the same Charter School administration that runs the LaVerne Preparatory Academy in Hesperia, California.

Adelanto Elementary School District continued to maintain some control over the school, as the courts ordered a provisional charter agreement at the school's beginning due to the Parent Trigger Law. In December 2015, AESD revoked the school's charter for failing to address the concerns that the Board of Trustees had for the campus. DTPA denied the allegations and responded to the decision that the District is making retaliatory inquiries and accusations[47] that have nothing to do with student progress.[48]

In March 2016 the San Bernardino County Board of Education voted to hand authority over the charter school to the county government in a 3-2 vote.[49] Although continuing litigation concerning ownership of the property is unresolved, this decision ended AESD's involvement with the campus beginning with the 2016-17 School Year.

Beau Yarbrough of the San Bernardino Sun wrote that it became "difficult to compare apples to apples between Desert Trails Elementary and how Desert Trails Prep is doing today" because around the time Desert Trails was converted, the State of California changed its standardized testing to meet the Common Core requirements.[48]

West Athens Elementary School, Los Angeles, California

Unhappy about the school’s culture of low expectations, student safety, and low academic outputs, parents at West Athens Elementary School formed their own parent chapter and began to organize around the Parent Empowerment Act. Leveraging the law, the parents eventually suspended their parent petition process when the District agreed to hold negotiations with the parent chapter. Eventually, the parents and the LA Unified School District struck a deal to spend an additional $300,000 on personnel at the school, including hiring a full-time school psychiatrist and several aides. The agreement calls on the district to do a better job including parents in the school’s day-to-day operations, make the school safer and cleaner, create better lines of communication between teachers and parents and provide additional training for teachers and staff, all to create a school culture of high expectations for the campus.[50]

Lennox Middle School, Los Angeles, California

Parents organized to discuss ways to improve the school for their students, and held stakeholder meetings with teachers and district leaders. Because of the threat of the Parent Empowerment Act, parents were able to transform their campus without gathering a petition. The District agreed to conduct a comprehensive needs assessment process. As a result of the needs assessment, the District implemented a turnaround plan that has community support, to include a new principal, more electives for ELL students, more freedom for teachers to teach creatively, and a strong college-going culture. Parents maintained support of the Superintendent and the school leadership and work in partnership with the school.[51]

Padres Revolucionarios de Haddon

Parents organized because students did not feel safe, motivated or inspired at the school. Despite their efforts to solicit change before forming a parent union, they were met with resistance by the District. After obtaining a majority of parent signatures, the parents began to see progress within the school and district toward reform, which led the parent union to pause their effort and await the results of a new teacher-led effort. The parent union eventually ended their petition campaign after the teachers formally adopted a school transformation plan that allows teachers to have more control over their school and allows them to better meet the needs of their students. The parents continue to collaborate with school officials and teachers to make the reform plan a success.[52]

Weigand Parents United

Following 15 years of low-performing academic results, and one unsuccessful effort to collaborate with teachers to gather petitions calling for key improvements for the school and for the principal to be replaced before the enactment of the Parent Empowerment Act, parents organized under the new law. The parents actively supported the teachers, but wanted to see a new leader to lead the students to academic success. The strong majority of parents successfully brought in a new principal. The parents and the community now work collaboratively with the District.[53]

24th Street Elementary

Parents had tried for years to organize change with the District. They eventually organized into a Parent Union and gathered signatures from 69% of parents, empowering them to solicit proposals from both District and charter applications to transform the school. The parents union negotiated a historic partnership between the district and a charter school where they would run the campus collaboratively, with the district running the K-4 program (with a reform union contract) and a charter school that was co-located on the campus operates the new 5-8 program.[54] The parents also negotiated a new pre-K program, run by the District, as well as a presence on the principal and teacher hiring committees. A strong District-charter collaboration now shapes the school and new leadership has created a new culture.[55]

Criticism

Groups such as the Center for Teacher Quality and Fund Education Now have described the campaign for parent trigger laws as astroturfing. Other groups also focused on reforming public school education, such as the Center for Education Reform, point out that teachers' unions regularly spend substantial sums of money defeating Parental Choice, charter schools, tuition vouchers and other education reforms—and that "astroturfing" is not limited to any one side in education debates.

In the case of Parent Revolution, critics point to sponsorship by the Green Dot charter company. Related arguments have been directed at the 2012 film Won't Back Down, which promotes parent trigger laws. Won't Back Down was created by Philip Anschutz's Walden Media and supported by Walmart and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). The documentary We the Parents is a non-fiction version for comparison. Critics have echoed union claims that a primary goal of the campaign is to circumvent union protections for public school teachers.[56]

Some parents and community leaders in Compton criticized Parent Revolution for misleading petitioners about the nature of parent trigger laws. They also cited Parent Revolution's lack of transparency and apparently top-down organization.[25] A speech from Mayor Villaraigosa in favor of a parent trigger for McKinley Elementary triggered demonstrations, with signs reading "Our Kids Are Not for Sale" and chants of "No charter school!".[36] Others noted that McKinley's test scores were already improving and suggested that Parent Revolution chose the school cynically in order to capture its positive results.[25] Caroline Grannan of Parents Across America argues that the petitions have been divisive among parents in the districts where they were attempted.[57]

Notes
  1. "Parent Trigger Laws in the States". National Conference of State Legislatures. October 15, 2013. Archived from the original on June 29, 2022. Retrieved May 22, 2023.
  2. Tyre, Peg (September 18, 2011). "Putting Parents in Charge". New York Times. Retrieved September 25, 2012.
  3. "'Parent trigger' may be pulled at 20th Street Elementary - LA School Report". laschoolreport.com. Archived from the original on August 30, 2019.
  4. Prothero, Arianna (April 8, 2015). "Latest California Parent-Trigger Effort Marks 10th Time Law Has Been Invoked". Education Week.
  5. Stokes, Kyle. "How A Parent Revolt Sparked A Turnaround At This LAUSD School". LAist. Archived from the original on August 30, 2019. Retrieved August 30, 2019.
  6. Villaraigosa, Antonio (October 13, 2019). "How Parents Helped Transform a Los Angeles School". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved March 3, 2022.
  7. Hewitt, Alison (July 6, 2006). "'Parents Union' calling for school changes in L.A. schools". Copley News Service.
  8. Bacon, David (Fall 2011). "Trigger Laws • Does Signing a Petition Give Parents a Voice?". Rethinking Schools. 26 (1). Retrieved September 25, 2012.
  9. "'Parents Union' calling for school changes in L.A. schools".
  10. McGray, Douglas (May 11, 2009). "The Instigator: A crusader's plan to remake failing schools". The New Yorker. Retrieved September 25, 2012.
  11. "User Profile". AGLN - Aspen Global Leadership Network. Retrieved August 30, 2019.
  12. "Shirley Ford, passionate Los Angeles education advocate and co-founder of Parent Revolution, dies | LA School Report". laschoolreport.com. Retrieved August 30, 2019.
  13. Ramirez, Eddy (May 12, 2009). "A Plan for Parents to Shut Down Schools". USNews.
  14. Llanos, Connie (August 12, 2009). "Mayor backs controversial schools plan". Daily News of Los Angeles.
  15. Maxwell, Lesli A. (August 21, 2009). "L.A. to Weigh School-Management Plan". Education Week. Retrieved September 25, 2012.
  16. Llanos, Connie (August 25, 2009). "LAUSD choice plan set for vote; CHANGE: Proposal would give parents, communities more control of schools". Los Angeles Daily News. Retrieved September 25, 2012.
  17. S, Larry (December 14, 2010). "Have Trigger Law - Will Organize". California Policy Center. Retrieved August 30, 2019.
  18. Maxwell, Lesli A. (October 28, 2009). "L.A. Gives Parents 'Trigger' to Restructure Schools: New rules will give parents of children in struggling schools the power to make changes". Education Week. 29 (10). Retrieved September 25, 2012.
  19. Villaraigosa, Antonio (December 8, 2009). "MAYOR VILLARAIGOSA CALLS ON STATE TO PASS EDUCATION REFORMS NEEDED TO BECOME COMPETITIVE FOR FEDERAL FUNDING". Office of the Mayor. Archived from the original on April 15, 2013. Retrieved September 25, 2012.
  20. Paulson, Amanda (January 5, 2010). "Education reform: California to join Race to the Top rush". Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved September 25, 2012.
  21. Wood, Daniel B. (January 7, 2010). "California's education reforms hand more power to parents". Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved September 25, 2012.
  22. Dwyer, Liz (February 6, 2011). "Why the Compton Parent Trigger Lawsuit Is a Good Thing". Good.Is. Retrieved September 25, 2012.
  23. Miranda, Nannette (January 5, 2010). "California Assembly passes education reform". ABC Local. Retrieved September 25, 2012.
  24. Patrick Range McDonald, "California's Parent Trigger: How McKinley in Compton became the first school taken over by parents under a radical new law Archived 2012-07-06 at the Wayback Machine," L.A. Weekly, December 9, 2010.
  25. Rizga, Kristina (April 7, 2011). "The Battle Over Charter Schools". Mother Jones. Retrieved September 25, 2012.
  26. Winter, Caroline (September 13, 2012). "In California, Public School Parents Stage a Coup". Bloomberg Businessweek. Archived from the original on September 15, 2012. Retrieved September 25, 2012.
  27. Moran, Theresa (September 7, 2012). "As Chicago Teachers Head Toward Strike, Democrats Turn on Their Union". Labor Notes. Retrieved September 25, 2012.
  28. "Mayors back parents seizing control of schools". Reuters. June 18, 2012. Retrieved August 30, 2019.
  29. LoBianco, Tom (January 21, 2012). "'Parent trigger' would convert public schools". Indiana Post-Tribune. Associated press. Retrieved September 25, 2012.
  30. Wilson, Simone (May 15, 2012). "Michelle Rhee, 'Parent Trigger' Supporters Are Behind Huge L.A. Lawsuit to Strip Teachers of Job Protection". LA Weekly. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
  31. Medina, Jennifer (December 7, 2010). "At California School, Parents Force an Overhaul". New York Times. Retrieved September 25, 2012.
  32. Cheney, Casey (June 20, 2012). "Romney Supports Parent Trigger, Obama Says No Comment". Heartlander. Retrieved September 25, 2012.
  33. "Backers of parent trigger law score victory in court". Los Angeles Times. July 23, 2012. Archived from the original on February 16, 2022. Retrieved September 25, 2012.
  34. Teresa Watanabe (May 24, 2013). "Popular principal's dismissal leaves a South L.A. school divided". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on June 29, 2013. Retrieved May 25, 2013.
  35. Wilson, Simone (December 14, 2010). "Compton School Takeover Supporters Pull Out YouTube 'Evidence' Of Teacher's Intimidation Tactics; Hundreds Of Angry, Confused Parents Show Up To District Board Meeting". LA Weekly. Retrieved September 25, 2012.
  36. Howard Blume; Teresa Watanabe (December 11, 2010). "Effort to convert Compton school to charter draws fire". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 25, 2012.
  37. "Compton parents win a round in bid for charter school". Los Angeles Times. February 4, 2011. Retrieved August 30, 2019.
  38. Newton, Jim (February 15, 2011). "Compton parents trigger reform". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 25, 2012.
  39. "Lessons of 'parent trigger': The mistakes made at a Compton school led reformers to rethink how to get parents involved". Los Angeles Times. November 14, 2011. Retrieved September 25, 2012.
  40. Wilson, Simone (January 12, 2012). "Parent Trigger's Second Try: Minority parents target failing Adelanto school". LA Weekly. Retrieved September 25, 2012.
  41. Watanabe, Teresa (August 28, 2012). "Mojave Desert parents go back to court over charter school issue". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 25, 2012.
  42. Anderson, Troy (March 29, 2012). "California school board blocks parent takeover bid". Chicago Tribune. Reuters. Retrieved September 25, 2012.
  43. Lombardo, Lynnea (September 15, 2012). "Battle over Desert Trails continues". Victorville Daily Press. Archived from the original on September 20, 2012. Retrieved September 25, 2012.
  44. "The Parent-Trigger War Escalates". Wall Street Journal. August 28, 2012. Retrieved September 25, 2012.
  45. California 'Parent-Trigger' Effort Thrown Back Into Turmoil, Education Week.
  46. As school starts, new questions in Adelanto charter fight, LA Times.
  47. Lindstrom, Natasha (February 6, 2014). "What Happens After Fed-Up Parents Take Over A School?". The Atlantic. Atlantic Monthly Group. Retrieved November 24, 2016.
  48. Yarbrough, Beau. "Adelanto will not renew charter for Desert Trails parent trigger school." San Bernardino Sun. December 1, 2015. Retrieved on May 8, 2016.
  49. Yarbrough, Beau. "Parent Trigger charter school switches from Adelanto to county school." San Bernardino Sun. March 7, 2016. Retrieved on May 8, 2016.
  50. "LAUSD avoids parent-trigger threat, agrees to $300,000 in improvements at West Athens school". Los Angeles Daily News. May 23, 2014.
  51. Los Angeles Times
  52. "Haddon Parents Abandon Trigger, Still Get Changes - LA School Report". laschoolreport.com.
  53. Sun, San Bernardino County; Sun, Calif San Bernardino County; Calif. (May 14, 2013). "A Surprising New Twist On Latest Parent-Trigger Effort". HuffPost.
  54. "At a South LA school, change without a battle over 'parent trigger' law". The Hechinger Report. May 23, 2014. Retrieved August 30, 2019.
  55. "'Trigger' Parents Help Return Pre-K to 24th St. Elementary - LA School Report". laschoolreport.com.
  56. Eidelson, Josh (August 15, 2012). "The Walmart Model for Education: Walmart, Right-Wing Media Company Hold Star-Studded Benefit Promoting Education Reform Film". In These Times. Retrieved September 25, 2012.
  57. Grannan, Caroline (March 20, 2012). "Triggers Create Nothing but Chaos and Division". New York Times. Retrieved September 25, 2012.
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