The parent trigger proposal survived many twists and turns this session only to die on the Senate floor this week in yet another down-to-the-wire 20-20 tie - just like last year. The measure would have let parents petition to offer a turnaround plan for a failing school.

https://storify.com/redefinEDonline/florida-senate-to-parent-trigger-bill-oops-we-did#publicize

It’s getting harder and harder for critics to torpedo education reform ideas like the “parent trigger” by distorting political affiliations. The evidence just keeps getting in the way.

The latest example is what happened at the U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting in Orlando last weekend. With prominent Democrats leading the charge, the mayors in a voice vote unanimously endorsed parent triggers, which aim to help fed-up, low-income parents turn around struggling schools.

“Too many districts,” their resolution said (go to page 169), “continue to turn a blind eye toward some of the worst performing schools … ”

Now, whatever you think of parent triggers as a school-improvement tool – and there’s plenty of room for fair-minded debate here - it’s undeniable that critics have gotten considerable traction by portraying the notion as conservative, corporate, far-right and Republican. This was especially true in Florida. Parent trigger legislation was narrowly defeated in March after weeks of being caricatured as another sinister device for Jeb Bush, the Koch brothers and the American Legislative Exchange Council to mine billions of dollars from the privatization of public schools. (If you think my description is over the top, please watch this video.)

It’s true a lot of “conservative” ed reformers like the idea of a parent trigger. But it’s true, too, that the idea of giving low-income parents leverage and options, including the possibility of converting their schools into charter schools, has roots in “liberal/progressive” circles. (My apologies for the air quotes; after covering education in Florida for eight years, the labels just no longer make sense to me.) The sponsor of the original parent trigger bill in California, former state Sen. Gloria Romero, is a Democrat. Ben Austin, who heads the Parent Revolution group that is pushing the idea from state to state, is a former staffer in the Clinton White House. Rahm Emanuel, the former chief of staff to Barack Obama and now mayor of Chicago, is a fan, too.

All that wasn’t enough to scrub the perceived partisan funk off the Florida bill. But all indications are that it will resurface next spring. And maybe last weekend’s vote will help it be judged on its merits rather than its alleged lineage. (more…)

As is routine with school choice proposals, the parent trigger bill in Florida - defeated in March after a dramatic 20-20 vote in the state Senate - was portrayed by critics as another front in a systematic campaign to privatize public schools. So it was fascinating today to hear more detail about the history and motivations behind the bill from Gloria Romero, the former California state senator - and Democrat - who sponsored the original trigger bill in that state.

“This is a law that’s so simple, it’s revolutionary," Romero told participants at the American Federation for Children summit in Newark. "This law has the power to really shift paradigms, to give true power – not just lip service, no longer window dressing – to parents who are sick and tired of failing schools.”

“I wanted to have a law for parents based on the most basic foundations of our democracy," she also said. "Think back. Petitioning our government. We the people. And if we could change that from we the people to we the parents, with the power of our signatures, our Johnny Hancocks, to collectively sign a petition, present it those of us who are supposed to be looking out for our interests, and basically saying, 'If you won’t do it, then basically, get the hell out of the way and we will.' "

We've attached a recording of Romero's remarks below. They followed a passionate speech about vouchers by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, which you can read about here and here and here. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is the keynote speaker tonight. Stay tuned and follow us on Twitter at @redefinEDonline.

Families who benefit from expanded school choice options – charter schools, virtual schools, vouchers, tax credit scholarships – are increasingly being portrayed as pawns in a coordinated campaign to privatize public schools. That’s especially troubling given that the voices of those families are so rarely included in the conversation.

The latest example: Statements from a movement to end high-stakes, standardized testing.

United Opt Out National, which led an effort over the weekend to “occupy” the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, D.C., says it wants to “end Wall Street Occupation of Education.” Among its goals: An end to "the use of public education funds to enact school 'choice' measures influenced and supported by the corporate agenda."

This story in The Florida Independent about the group’s efforts (a Miami-Dade teacher/parent is among the group’s leaders) focused most specifically on its concerns about for-profit charter schools. But by referencing vouchers and tax credit scholarships, the story suggested those options were also part of a plot to undermine public schools.

That kind of characterization about school choice is happening more and more as newspapers and TV stations echo the emotional story line that gets repeated the most. (more…)

Two weeks ago, Gloria Romero, the former California state senator who wrote the original parent trigger law, wrote in this redefinED piece that the "status quo" killed the parent trigger bill in Florida. Today in this op-ed for the Los Angeles Times, Romero uses much tougher language - and singles out a specific foe - to describe the parent trigger battle in two California locales. Some excerpts:

In both Adelanto and Compton, parents trying to exercise their rights felt the full onslaught of a "sweep and destroy" mission launched by the California Teachers Assn. and its affiliates. What had taken weeks to build was destroyed in a few days of heavy-handed lobbying. Parents have reported being told outright lies about charter law and about their rights. Some parents reported that they were even threatened with deportation if they didn't rescind their signatures ...

A recent survey by California Common Cause revealed that the top lobbying force in the state in 2011 was the 300,000-plus membership of the California Teachers Assn. In other words, the massive teachers union is the top political force in the eighth-largest economy in the world. The union has made it clear that it wants to take the trigger out of the hands of mothers and fathers. Parents who attempt to lobby for their children now find themselves on a collision course with this powerful organization ...

So what can we do to help parents actually see things clearly without biased interference? We need to direct attention to failing schools, so that parents understand the situation and understand that they are not alone. And when they send out cries for help, we should defend their right to occupy a political arena previously dominated by vested interests.

Amidst all the inflated rhetoric that defined the debate over Florida's parent trigger bill, one persistent claim stood out as particularly jarring: the notion that low-income parents don't know how to act in the best interests of their children.

That much of this language came from white, suburban parent activists makes it all the more disconcerting.

The parent trigger is "just a method for uninformed, inactive parents to be used to shut schools down," said Rita Solnet, a Palm Beach County parent who co-founded Parents Across America.

"It uses a parent's love to pull the trigger and pass all that they hold dear into the hands of for-profit corporations eager to peel off a chunk of every child's per pupil funding for themselves," said Linda Kobert, a co-founder of Fund Education Now.

After the parent trigger went down in flames Friday, the Orlando Sentinel continued with the same theme.

"This bad bill would have cued the stampede of for-profit charter school companies looking to sweet talk frustrated parents and turn a fast buck," its editorial board wrote.

There's no doubt that if one of the biggest newspapers in Florida suggested that the savvy, passionate, well-meaning parents behind the Florida PTA, Parents Across America and Fund Education Now had been "sweet talked" into their opposition by the teachers unions and the Democratic Party -- and let's face it, the links between those groups are obvious -- they'd be ripped to shreds. (more…)