Too good to be true. Parent trigger laws aim to improve failing schools, but they may have unintended consequences.
By Jenny Alpaugh – Print Managing Editor
More than half of the students are failing to meet the state standards in reading and math. Less than half of them will walk across the graduation stage. The textbooks haven’t been updated in 12 years, teachers are starting to lose hope. And that’s when parents decide to pull the trigger.
The concept of a parent trigger law gained national attention in 2010 when California passed the first one. Parent Revolution, a California-based organization founded in January 2009, publicized and fought to pass the parent trigger law in California.
According to parentrevolution.org, “the California parent trigger is a historic new law that gives parents in California the right to organize and demand a real change at their child’s failing school. Under the Parent Trigger, parents at persistently low-performing schools can organize and transform their school based on what’s good for children, not adults.”
Georgia almost became the eighth state in the nation to pass a parent trigger law. HB 123, also know as the Parent and Teacher Empowerment Act, was passed by the Georgia House of Representatives on March 5. But before it could gain approval from the senate, House majority whip Edward Lindsay pulled the bill from the session.
Although not every single school has a graduation rate less than 50 percent, not all textbooks are out of date and there are teachers who still have faith in their work, there are still problems with our education system. Schools across the nation are not meeting their main goal: educating students.
These schools are failing.
But a parent trigger law is not the way to fix our broken education system.
Most parent trigger laws follow a model similar to this: a petition must be drafted and signed by 51 percent of parents, if the signatures are legitimized, parents may choose from a number of “turnaround” options that are specified in their state’s respective law.
They have the option to fire the principal.
They could simply enroll their children in an alternate local school and transportation would have to be provided by the district.
They may choose to convert the school to a charter school.
Parent trigger laws fail to reach the root of the education problem. Oftentimes the schools that are failing are in impoverished communities. Fewer resources are available and parents may not have as much free time to become involved in their student’s learning journey.
Simply converting a school to a charter school or hiring new teachers may be a temporary fix. But what happens when the parents decide that they need a better solution?
In most states that have parent trigger laws, parents are able to once again pull the trigger and make major changes after only two years.
This could lead to the creation of a tumultuous and chaotic community. Parents are pitted against teachers and against each other.
What happens to the 49 percent who did not want to sign the petition?
The proposed bill would allow parents to enroll their child in another local school. But what if there is only one middle school or one high school in their community?
In theory, parent trigger laws can have a positive impact on public school systems. Ideally, parents want what’s best for their children’s education journey, but these petitions could be very divisive, creating a negative community and learning environment for students.
Parents can have a voice by talking to their board members, advocating for school improvements and fighting against further budget cuts to education.
They don’t need a trigger to pull.
