On Top of the News
U. S. Mayors Back Parents Seizing Control of Schools
Reuters| June 18, 2012
Behind the Headline
Not Your Mother’s PTA
Education Next | Winter 2012
Hundred of mayors attending the U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting in Orlando this weekend unanimously endorsed “parent trigger” laws that are aimed at giving parents the opportunity to force immediate changes to failing schools, reports Stephanie Simon of Reuters.
Parent trigger laws are fiercely opposed by teachers’ unions, Simon notes, “But in a sign of the unions’ diminishing clout, their traditional political allies, the Democrats, abandoned them in droves during the Orlando vote.” She quotes political scientist Ken Wong, who explains, “”Mayors are moving in a new direction on education, one that’s more consumer oriented… and focused on serving parents and giving them choices.”
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In the Winter 2012 issue of Ed Next, Bruno Manno wrote about the growing number of advocacy groups that empower parents to take active roles in promoting school improvement in their communities, including Parent Revolution, which has helped California parents organize to pull the “parent trigger.”
