\nProvides for improving student achievement and parental\ninvolvement through more public charter school options.\n<\/blockquote>\n\nWhere else is that wording found?\nCombinations of the three phrases “student achievement”, “parental involvement”,\nand “charter school” actually are not very common, according to google.\nBut the Parent Trigger wrote in\n\nEmpowering Parents,<\/a>\n<\/p>\n
\n\n\n
<\/a>\nPolicy initiatives that empower parents are likely to increase\nparental involvement and satisfaction and raise student achievement\nby inviting parents into the process.\n<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\nWhat process?\n<\/p>\n
\n\nThe designers of the California Parent Trigger made a grave mistake\nby leaving tepid reform modules in the bill and allowing districts\nto override the parents’ reform choice.\n<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\nThe Georgia constitutional amendment wouldn’t leave school districts\nany ability to decide anything.\n<\/p>\n
\nWhat would the parents’ reform choice be?\n<\/p>\n\n\n
\n\nIt is important to present parents with truly empowering choices\nthat will dramatically reshape schools. Tired, failed reforms such\nas those mandated at the federal level as \u201cturnarounds\u201d\nsimply increase bureaucracy and further burden taxpayers. Parent\nTrigger bills by their nature are mechanisms for flexibility and\nlocalized control, so lawmakers should include modules to remedy all\nsorts of school situations. For example, a rural school would\nbenefit far more from the option to convert to a charter school than\nfrom a provision for school closure or public school choice.\nConversely, voucher programs or leadership replacement might make\nthe most sense in other settings.\n<\/p>\n
\nWith that in mind, a parent trigger bill should include at least two\nmodules: (1) a school-specific voucher program and (2) conversion to\na charter school. Bills without at least one of these modules will\nnot truly empower parents.\n<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\nSo “choice” means two paths to privatized schools: charter schools,\nor vouchers to private schools.\nEither path would override\nthe local school board which is elected by the local people.\nInteresting definition of “choice”.\n<\/p>\n
\nBut what’s this got to do with ALEC?\nIn\nThe Heartland Institute’s Policty Documents,\nMarc Oestreich wrote 8 February 2011,\n\nResearch & Commentary: Indiana Parent Trigger<\/a>,\n<\/p>\n
\nALEC Model Bill: The Parent Trigger\n
\n\nhttp:\/\/www.alec.org\/AM\/Template.cfm?Section=Education&TEMPLATE=\/CM\/ContentDisplay.cfm&CONTENTID=15043<\/a>\n
\nWritten and introduced by The Heartland Institute, this American\nLegislative Exchange Council bill outlines a recommended Parent\nTrigger policy. This is a useful guide in developing Parent Trigger\nlegislation.\n<\/blockquote>\n\nThe included link no longer works, but the above quote spells out\nthe connection between the Parent Trigger and ALEC.\n<\/p>\n
\nIn ALEC Exposed’s \nlist of ALEC education model bills<\/a>,\nthe very first one is the\n\nParent Trigger Act,<\/a> which begins with this summary:\n<\/p>\n
\n\nThe Parent Trigger places democratic control into the hands of\nparents at school level. Parents can, with a simple majority, opt to\nusher in one of three choice-based options of reform: (1)\ntransforming their school into a charter school, (2) supplying\nstudents from that school with a 75 percent per pupil cost voucher,\nor (3) closing the school.\n<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\nThat’s clearly what the Parent Trigger website was recommending.\n<\/p>\n
\nMore about the connection between Parent Trigger and ALEC by\nMolly Redden yesterday in The New Republic,\n\nThree Things You Need to Know About Parent Trigger Laws<\/a>,\n<\/p>\n
\n\nWhere parents fit in varies wildly, but many veterans of the two\nCalifornian fights now testify to feeling like they were duped into\nsigning over their children’s school to a charter school\ncorporation, without understanding that there was no alternative\noption. And that, of course, is the worry attached to Won’t Back\nDown\u2014more duping, set to the rousing strains of Kelly\nClarkson’s \u201cStronger.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\nThe Georgia referendum goes farther than the Parent Trigger model\nbill, by doing away with any messy\npretence of democratic control, and instead putting school privatization\ndecisions in the hands of a state-wide appointed board.\n<\/p>\n