Hundreds of Mayors Call for 'Parent Triggers' to Seize Failing Schools

On Saturday, the U.S. Conference of Mayors metin Orlando, Florida, and unanimously backed “parent trigger” lawsthat would empower parents of children trapped in failing publicschools to sidestep elected school boards, fire bad teachers and administrators, and even turn schools over to private management.

Parenttriggers are also creating a strong wedge between Democrats who favorthem and the big teachers unions who vehemently oppose them.

From Reuters:



In a sign of the unions’ diminishing clout,their traditional political allies, the Democrats, abandoned them indroves during the Orlando vote.

DemocraticMayors Michael Nutter of Philadelphia, Antonio Villaraigosa of LosAngeles and Kevin Johnson of Sacramento led the charge for parenttrigger – and were backed by scores of other Democrats as well asRepublicans from coast to coast.

“Mayorsunderstand at a local level that most parents lack the tools they needto turn their schools around,” Villaraigosa said.

Groupsseeking to infuse more free-market competition into U.S. publicschools, such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the WaltonFamily Foundation, also support parent triggers.

However, even in states like California where parent triggers exist, the big money teacher unions have been successful in stymieing poor, minority parents:

Parents in two impoverished, heavily minorityCalifornia cities, Compton and Adelanto, gathered enough signatures toseize control of their neighborhood schools but the process stalled inthe face of ferocious opposition from teachers’ unions. Both cases arenow tied up in court.

Other states, like Connecticut, Mississippi, and Texas already have similar pro-parentprovisions. Parent triggers are currently being considered inMichigan, Pennsylvania, New York, and elsewhere.