“Parent trigger” is a zombie policy. It has never transformed a single school. It has no evidence. It is a slogan pretending to be a policy. It is the quintessence of a corporate power grab.
In the wake of the Newtown massacre, no decent person should utter the words “parent trigger.”
But in Florida, Coach Bob Sikes alerts his readers to the return of the “parent trigger” legislation that failed to pass last year. It failed because–no matter how hard Jeb Bush and Michelle Rhee promoted it–every parent group in Florida opposed it. Somehow the PTAs understood that “parent empowerment” would benefit the corporations running charter schools, not their children.
Jeb Bush vowed to bring it back, and here it comes. Only here is an interesting turn of events. One of the sponsors is a Republican legislator who was not friendly to charters last year. Coach Bob wonders if her change of heart has anything to do with the campaign contributions doled out by the for-profit charter corporations.
By the way, he doesn’t mention it here, but Frank Biden is an executive with the for-profit Mavericks charter chain cited in his post. Frank is the brother of Joe Biden.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Can we trust no one?
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Unfortunately, no. Both political parties are bought and paid for by the elites, and our elected officials are destroying this country on purpose. It’s all about ideology with them–sell the public good for private profit.
Anytime people who defend public education–actually our representative democracy–score a battle, another challenge continues. It’s like a leaky boat: once a leak is plugged up, another one shows up in its place.
I honestly wonder if it is truly too late.
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This brings me back to what I stated is the real problem in this country: The ever increasing concentration of income and wealth and the political power that comes with it. Relatively few but incredibly wealthy people/foundations are having a profound affect on our educational policies and not for the better in my opinion.
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When even conservatives, true old school conservatives are disgusted by the situation, you know there’s a BIG problem. http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/revolt-of-the-rich/
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Wow – excellent article. Should be required reading. This sums it up about as accurately and succintly as anything I’ve seen yet:
“The objective of the predatory super-rich and their political handmaidens is to discredit and destroy the traditional nation state and auction its resources to themselves. Those super-rich, in turn, aim to create a “tollbooth” economy, whereby more and more of our highways, bridges, libraries, parks, and beaches are possessed by private oligarchs who will extract a toll from the rest of us.”
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I agree, very interesting article.
Thank you for the post.
To ALL…please read!
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This is a case of an attempt to market an intuitively attractive free-market conservative “quick fix” to a complex problem that saves taxpayers money (the parent trigger) by contrasting it with a shopworn “liberal” solution that takes time and costs money (investing in public education starting from birth). The by-product of this spiffy new idea is you can do away with unions, the nasty benefits unions won for teachers, and those pesky retirement packages. The downside— the erosion of grassroots democracy— is collateral damage.
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This is a bit off topic but I had to post it.
I’ve just watched Charlie Rose debase himself with a psuedo interview of Michelle Rhee on his show. My expectations were lowered given the propaganda piece promoted by Merrow on FRONTLINE but it seems that Rose was determined to outperform them in the realm of fraud.
Rose threw softball after softball at Rhee who seemed to be testing out a repackaged model of her blatant lies and sophistry. While smiling a lot more than usual, nothing substantively changed about her attack on public schools in America on behalf of millionaires/billionaires. Not ONCE did Rose ask Rhee about allegations of test fraud during her tenure as chancellor. There wasn’t a single question about fraudulent test scores being attached to her career as a Baltimore teacher, despite undeniable evidence provided by GF Brandenburg. The financial relationship between Rhee and Eli Broad also slipped the mind of “Noted” journalist, Charlie Rose. The plight of Adell Corthorne wasn’t referenced as well.
It has been made abundantly clear to me that PBS is no longer in need of public funding and has all the money they need from Gates and others who seek to privatize public education in America.
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Charlie Rose is the worst interviewer on TV. He did the same thing with Kopp. He is so bad I don’t take him seriously.
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We have been watching Jeb Bush in action for many years, Tearing down public education and rerouting public monies to fill his and his corporate donors’ coffers has been his singular focus since 1999.
The Parent Trigger bill was defeated last year in Florida by one vote, which sent Jeb Bush into a rage, unsuccessfully intimidating a Republican legislator to change his ‘nay’ vote to ‘aye’.
These links are from 2012:
Palm Beach Post: Jeb Bush foundation using ‘parent trigger’ to trigger donations
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/seafan/5212
Parent trigger bill sparks fierce debate as vote nears in Florida legislature
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/seafan/5213
Florida Senate kills parent trigger bill
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/seafan/5217
Jeb Bush harassing Republican legislator to change his ‘no’ vote on failed “Parent Trigger” bill
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/seafan/5219
Jeb Bush has vowed to resurrect the Parent Trigger bill again for the 2013 legislative session, which begins in March. He has already held closed-door meetings with the FL GOP legislators (no press allowed) to give them the rules of the road to pass his parent trigger legislation. As per usual, it’s his way or the highway.
Jeb Bush visits with Weatherford and House Republicans
http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/the-buzz-florida-politics/jeb-bush-visits-with-weatherford-and-house-republicans/2105898
He has been out of office since early 2007, yet still permeates Florida’s government. He never left. And now, he’s bigfooting all over the country with this snake oil to issue a death blow to public education.
His apprentice Marco Rubio is also part of the education privatization cabal.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/02/12/3231212/marco-rubios-school-voucher-plan.html
That sound we hear is parents, teachers, students and education associations gearing up for Tallahassee for the coming legislative session.
This is going to be a pitched battle.
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