The question of ownership arises because the “parent trigger” idea enables 51% of parents to “seize control” of their public school and turn it over to a private corporation to manage.
But do the parents “own” the school? Is it theirs to give away?
My view is that it belongs to the public. The public created it. The public paid for it. It belongs to the public. It belongs to those who attended it in the past and to those who will attend it in the future. Next year’s parents and students have the same interest as this year’s. And so do those who will be parents and students in the school five years from now.
If the school is unsatisfactory, if the principal is incompetent, take your concerns to the superintendent and the school board. If most parents speak up, they will not be ignored (unless you happen to live in a city with mayoral control, like New York City or Chicago, where the mayor doesn’t care about parent opinion).
This reader has similar concerns.
What exactly does “taking back a school” mean? Are you suggesting that we allow a group of people (whether it’s 51% of parents or some other group) to take over a public school and “give” it to a private corporation or organization? If so, then I disagree completely.
On the other hand, if you mean, changing the publicly elected school board then I would agree completely. If you mean working with the teachers and parents to improve the educational program, then I agree. If you mean changing the legislature, governor, or other elected officials who are killing public education then I agree — completely.
As Diane has said many times, public schools belong to the public, not 51% of the current parents. You can prove that for yourself by going to a high school basketball or football game. The “alumni” are often there in great numbers. Public schools belong to the community. They are centers for community pride and memories. They are (and should be) a stable influence in a community.
If 51% of parents decide that a school is no longer meeting the needs of their children and give it away to a private company, what happens next year if 51% of the parents decide that they want to convert it back to a traditional public school? The parent trigger laws do not allow that. Once the public school is gone…it’s gone.
I’m a retired teacher…and I would LOVE to “take back” public schools from the “reformers.” That’s why I write to my legislators. That’s why I belong to a community group which works for public education (neifpe@blogspot.com). That’s why I blog. That’s why I try to inform as many people as I can about what’s happening to public education.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Can 51% of a community take over the local police force if there are too many burglaries? Can it take over the local hospital if too many patients are dying? Can it take over the local fire department if it couldn’t save a home from burning down? Can it take control of a local road and start charging a toll on it?
Just wondering, as these sound just as silly as taking control of a public school.
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Only if they can make money off of the takeover; that is what I have learned from the “reformers”.
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Parent Triggers are the most insidious attempt to undermine the fight for local control of charter school approvals that I know of – as well as bad policy. But it strikes me that if we were to entertain this absurd notion, the vote would go to all taxpayers, not parents. It scares me that the propaganda is designed to make parents feel empowered by ‘taking over a school’ only to relinquish all control of it moving forward. It is infuriating to watch the really stupendous grass roots efforts across the country to invest communities in social activism fighting for better schools (A Match on Dry Grass gives some great examples) manipulated into this ‘trigger’ which is antithetical to the efforts that have proven effective, albeit challenging, across the country. Once more we see that corporate education deform lacks the morality and the ethical base line to be trusted to educate our children and future generations. As if we needed further evidence….
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Good point in can we take it back from charters? Also parents aren’t the only people who pay for public school. Even public school teachers pay for public schools. Single residents, people with grown children, senior citizens what about them? Can they take back a school? And from whom are they taking it back?
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And what is the plan for taking back a charter who took your public school….reverse parent trigger.
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Good question! Handling something you’ve never handled can be pretty tricky business and dangerous.
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Diane, I would ask your readers on this blog to read their STATE Constitution. I suspect some of what you are fighting maybe Unconstitutional per their STATE Constitution. If people would demand their legislators follow the Constitution, that may have an impact. For instance they may have something in their about teachers and that their hiring/firing, etc. must be done by the local community. I wonder if the evaluations are unconstitutional.
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I know several parents who would love to get rid of a school board and the superintendent, however the public (non-parents) love them, and can’t get rid of the board. So, the parents are demanding and building charters at a rapid pace.
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The problem is that most of the public have only one perspective of public education. Reformers have heavily swayed the public, because they have money and connections to do so. My neighbors who come anywhere from lower to middle class households don’t know how their taxes dollars are being spent in education. And yet they I see many of them signing petitions for charter schools. This can be a detriment if a parent trigger is involved, let alone a “public trigger.”
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