Archives for category: Parent trigger
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Florida: Don’t Let a Charter Corporation Steal Your Neighborhood School

By dianeravitch
April 12, 2013 //
5

Bill Sublette is a former Florida state representative who is now chairman of the Orange County school board. He is a Republican.

In this excellent article, he explains how the parent trigger bill, which just passed in the Florida House, will allow charter corporations to grab neighborhood schools, public property paid for by local citizens. And once the corporation takes control, neighborhood children will have to enter a lottery to attend what was once their neighborhood school.

He asks the reader:

“Imagine you live in a neighborhood with a school your community has called its own for years. A school you and your neighbors take great pride in and in which you’ve invested substantial time and effort. A school you sent your own children to, and one which you hope your children will choose to send their children to.”

But then the political consultants arrive to collect signatures and sell your neighbors a bill of goods. Before you know it, the school is owned by a corporation, and you as a parent have no rights at ll.

Here is a true conservative, a man who loves his community and its history. He is standing up against the those in his party who flak for corporate interests.

Categories Charter Schools, Florida, For-Profit, Parent trigger

Florida: The “Parent Trigger” Scam

By dianeravitch
April 11, 2013 //
13

In this article columnist Daniel Shoer Roth explains how parents at the Desert Trails school in Adelanto, California, were hoodwinked into turning their public school over to a charter operator.

Under the Florida proposal, charters can set their own rules for eligibility, and many students will be excluded from the school that once was their neighborhood school.

Roth writes:

“Some local students will not meet the new strict admission rules. This includes students with learning disabilities and those in ESOL classes, as well as many racial and ethnic minority children. A number of surveys have demonstrated that there is a higher incidence of segregation in charters than in traditional schools. The excluded students will carry to their next school the same unsolved problems that contributed to the failure of the converted school, often related to poverty and a range of health and safety challenges.”

“The chain reaction from these student migrations subjects yet another school to low ranking and can put it on the conversion chopping block, too. It’s a vicious cycle.”

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/04/10/v-fullstory/3336512/the-dark-side-of-parent-trigger.html#storylink=cpy

Categories California, Florida, Parent trigger

The Big Money Behind Parent Revolution

By dianeravitch
April 11, 2013 //
15

You have no doubt heard the story of Parent Revolution. That is the group that wants to “empower” parents to seize control of their schools so they can turn it overto a charter operator.

The founder of Parent Revolution previously worked for Green Dot charters. Then he got funded by Walton, Gates, and Broad to start Parent Revolution.

A typical corporate reform sham since there are no parents involved, unless you count Ben Austin, the executive director.

An investigative reporter just did a story about Parent Revolution and was able to determine that the big funding comes from Walton, which has put more than $6 million into the endeavor. Walton is the most conservative of the big foundations. And clever too.

Walton has an agenda, and it can be summed up in one word: privatization.

Categories Education Reform, Parent trigger

Florida Parents Unite to Fight “Parent Trigger”

By dianeravitch
April 10, 2013 //
1

Florida parents are united in opposition to a “parent trigger” bill that would advance the interests of charter corporations. Florida already has hundreds of charter schools, many of them run by for-profit corporations. Thus far, the Florida legislature has heard testimony from the California organization Parent Revolution (heavily funded by the pro-privatization Walton Family Foundation), but not a single Florida parent organization supports the “parent trigger.” It would be fair to call the bill the “Corporate Charter Enrichment Law,” because it will create more economic growth for charter corporations.

Florida parents are wise to what the game is.

Para Espanol, oprima el “click”The Parent Trigger controversy continues.  This Thursday, SB 862 Parent Empowerment/Parent Trigger by Sen. Kelli Stargel is on the agenda in the Senate Ed Appropriations Committee.

Click here to take action against the Parent Trigger right now.

Thanks to you, oposition to Parent Trigger is growing.   No Florida parent group supports Parent Trigger.  The alliance of over 1 million parents who oppose this divisive scheme are more committed than ever. Florida parents are standing shoulder to shoulder in rock solid opposition to Parent Trigger.

We will not be used to blindly pull the trigger with no guaranteed outcome just to transfer a valuable public asset to for-profit charter chain investors.

Florida Politicians stand alone in their desire to pass the Parent Trigger. They have misjudged us.

Tell Florida politicians to drop the Parent Trigger.  Tell them to stop talking about getting us a seat at a table that we already own lock, stock and barrel. 

Our children and their schools need us to take a stand against the divisive Parent Trigger scheme.

Your voices spoke truth last year and defeated the Parent Trigger.  It’s time to do it again.
Categories Charter Schools, Florida, Parent Groups, Parent trigger

Parents Defeat Parent Trigger in 3 States

By dianeravitch
April 7, 2013 //
9

Parents mobilized to defeat the so-called “parent trigger” in three states.

They referred to it as the “corporate empowerment” bill.

It could also be called the Corporate Enrichment bill.

Categories Colorado, Georgia, Oklahoma, Parent trigger, Parents

Florida House Passes Corporation Enrichment Bill

By dianeravitch
April 5, 2013 //
2

The education industry won another battle in Florida, defeating solid opposition from every parent organization in the state.

The Florida House of Representatives passed a “parent trigger” bill, allowing unsuspecting parents to turn their public school over to one of the charter corporations that have–shall we say– undue influence in the legislature.

This is a big win for Jeb Bush, Michelle Rhee, and so-called Parent Revolution, funded by the Waltons, the Gates, the Broads. Parents like us. Regular folks.

The only consolation in this sordid affair is that parents are not stupid. The parent trigger was passed in California more than two years ago, and to date, only one school has swallowed the Kool-Aid. Desert Trails Elementary School was targeted by Parent Revolution, which sent in its paid organizers, gathered parent signatures, and after a series of court battles, won the right to hand their school over to a charter operator. But by the time the dust settled, only 53 parents out of a school with more than 600 children voted to choose a charter.

We will await to see the results of that famous victory. Walton, Gates, and Broad pumped millions into this effort to privatize public schools, and so far they have won only Desert Trails.

Wish someone had told them that a charter operator in that town lost his charter only a year earlier because of financial self-dealing.

Categories Education Industry, Florida, For-Profit, Parent trigger

A Subtle Smear on a Public School Advocate

By dianeravitch
April 4, 2013 //
100

Gotham Schools ran a story that questioned why the city’s leading advocate for public schools had enrolled her son in a private high school after many years as a public school parent. The story subtly implied that she may have lost her right to advocate for public schools because she was no longer a parent of a public school student.

Leonie Haimson founded Class Size Matters and is a co-founder of Parents Across America. She is a fearless critic of high-stakes testing and of the Bloomberg administration. She has been the most articulate and persistent supporter of class size reduction. She currently is waging war against the titans who are invading student privacy. She works out of her home with no pay and a shoestring budget.

You can see why powerful people would want to discredit her. She is a force, she has a large following, and she threatens them.

Consider the premise of the article: only public school parents may advocate for public schools.

This is classic corporate reform ideology. Corporate reformers use this specious ideology to argue for the parent trigger, claiming that the school belongs to the parents and they should be “empowered” to seize control and give it to a charter corporation.

This is as wrong as the attack on Haimson.

The public schools belong to the public. They are a public responsibility. Everyone has the right to advocate for them as well as to criticize them.

You don’t have to be a public school parent to care about our public schools. You don’t even have to be a parent. You just need to care about children and the future of our society.

Full disclosure: I am on the board of Class Size Matters. I know Leonie as a woman of intellect, principle, and integrity. Her courage inspires me and many others in the struggle for better schools.

Also, FYI, I am a product of the Houston public schools, K-12. My two grown sons went to private schools in NYC. I have three grandsons. The older two attended religious schools. The youngest is a public school student in Brooklyn. I support public education. That is my right as a citizen, regardless of where my offspring went to school.

Categories Bloomberg, Michael, Class Size Matters Org, Corporate Reformers, Parent trigger, Parents, Support for public schools

Bad Bill Alert in Texas!

By dianeravitch
March 27, 2013 //
16

Raise Your Hand Texas ACTION ALERT
Bad Bill Alert!

Your Action Is Needed TODAY!

March 27, 2013

Let the Senate Education Committee Know You Oppose SB 1263!

SB 1263 by Senator Larry Taylor is the “Parent Trigger” bill.

The “Parent Trigger” Is About Destroying Public Schools, Not Saving Them

SB 1263 radically undermines efforts to turn around a struggling school and may be voted out of committee Thursday (tomorrow) if we don’t act now.

We already have a parent trigger.

Texas’ current parent trigger law operates only after the Commissioner has reconstituted the campus, developed an intervention plan, and the campus has remained academically unacceptable for three years. SB 1263 blows up a campus for two years of academically unacceptable performance before any of the proven methods of intervention have been tried.

Historically, interests outside our school districts and even our state are the ones pushing for parent triggers. This is no exception.

SB 1263 undermines the authority of elected school boards: SB 1263 undermines the authority of locally elected school boards. While the statute allows the school board to petition the Commissioner to take a different action, it only he says he “may” order the action requested by the elected school board.

SB 1263 is brought by well-heeled national advocacy organizations, not parents. Many of the same groups pushing for school vouchers and other means of privatization are pushing this legislation.

Let the Senate Education Committee know you oppose SB 1263 by Taylor today.

Contact these legislators:

Dan Patrick, Chairman
(512) 463-0107
Dan.patrick@senate.state.tx.us

Eddie Lucio, Jr, Vice-Chair
(512) 463-0127
Eddie.lucio@senate.state.tx.us

Donna Campbell
(512) 463-0125
Donna.campbell@senate.state.tx.us

Robert Duncan
(512) 463-0128
Robert.duncan@senate.state.tx.us

Ken Paxton
(512) 463-0108
Ken.paxton@senate.state.tx.us

Kel Seliger
(512) 463-0131
Kel.seliger@senate.state.tx.us

Larry Taylor
(512) 463-0111
Larry.taylor@senate.state.tx.us

Leticia Van de Putte
(512) 463-0126
Leticia.vandeputte@senate.state.tx.us

Royce West
(512) 463-0123
Royce.west@senate.state.tx.us

To learn more, please visit our website

David Anthony, CEO

RAISE YOUR HAND TEXAS

http://www.RaiseYourHandTexas.org

Categories Parent trigger, Privatization, Support for public schools, Texas

Why the Parent Trigger is an Empty Promise

By dianeravitch
February 23, 2013 //
13

The Annenberg Institute for School Reform has published an informative review of the controversy over the so-called parent trigger law.

It explains the genesis of the idea, how it evolved, who is behind it, where it has been adopted, and why it offers meager prospects for either parent empowerment or school improvement. The brief includes a good summary of how parents can help improve their schools.

Categories Parent trigger, Privatization

Renewed Battle Over Parent Trigger In Florida

By dianeravitch
February 19, 2013 //
10

“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.

Categories Bush, Jeb, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Florida, For-Profit, Parent trigger, Privatization, Rhee, Michelle
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