It doesn’t take a genius to figure out the more parental involvement you have, the better for children.
Sen. Bill Montford, Florida
Parent trigger laws introduce a way for parents to circumvent local school districts unwilling or unable to improve failing schools and directly initiate reforms… If carefully crafted, a parent trigger law in New York will empower citizens themselves design the overhaul of the hundreds of schools serving thousands of students, reform that has been avoided by an often immobile and unresponsive education system.
Foundation for Education Reform & Accountability
The left cannot compete with an attractive educational reform like this.
Morton Blackwell, Chairman, The Weyrich Lunch; President, The Leadership Institute
Why would anyone resist giving parents information about their child’s education, or giving them the power to say ‘Enough is enough?’
Tim Melton, Vice President, StudentsFirst
The parent trigger empowers parents with the ability to demand reform of their public schools. It is long overdue to put parents and kids first and provide opportunity for real change. I served as the first White House Liaison for the U.S. Department of Education under President Reagan. It was in the early 1980’s that “A Nation At Risk” came out. That report served as a wake-up call for parents, taxpayers, policymakers and educators that our education system was falling behind other developed countries. The time for reform is now and the parent trigger gives parents the power to shape the education system to better serve their kids.
Peggy Venable, Texas Director, Americans for Prosperity
I’m really excited about the parent-trigger movement…where parents that have no power and have been cast aside for way too long now have been given the power to say, ‘If my school is not working I want a say on how to change it.
Gov. Jeb Bush, Florida
The U.S. Conference of Mayors supports the creation of ‘parent trigger’ policy initiatives that include: Empowering parents with information about their child’s school’s performance so they can make informed decisions about their educational options; Empowering a majority of parents whose children attend one of the state’s persistently lowest-achieving schools to sign a petition to turnaround that school; Allowing parents to choose from one of at least four intervention options to improve their child’s school: turnaround, restart, school closure, or transformation; Establishing clear guidelines for the petition process and format, and ensuring parents’ privacy and protection…
United States Conference of Mayors
It just makes sense for families to take charge of neighborhood schools from central bureaucracies and teachers’ union affiliates distant from their concerns for their children, or at the very least, use Parent Trigger laws to become lead decision-makers in the school with the district paying heed.
RiShawn Biddle, Editor, Dropout Nation
The parent trigger law has attracted attention from legislators across the nation who are looking to put the “public” back into fractured public education systems…The law itself is sound. What we need to change is the political environment on the ground so that parents don’t feel intimidated when they exercise their rights…The law has already inspired great passion on all sides. Now we need to ensure that its intention is realized and that parents aren’t thwarted when they demand better schools for their children.
Gloria Romero, Director, CA Democrats for Education Reform, CA Parent Trigger Law Author
Parent trigger empowers parents by giving them the opportunity to hold teachers and administrators accountable for outcomes in education. Many families do not have the resources to move their child to another school or send their child to private school, but parent trigger gives those parents a voice to improve education outcomes for their child.
John McCollister, Executive Director, Platte Institute for Economic Research
Giving families the power to turn around systemically failing schools that are not meeting the needs of our children.
Gwen Samuel, Founder, Connecticut Parents Union
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.
Parent Revolution
Giving parents a more meaningful voice in school reform.
Rep. Michael Bileca, Florida
An integral part of improving education in Georgia is greater parent buy-in to their children’s education. The parent trigger proposal will assist parents with this in both well-established and struggling low performance schools. A quality education for all of our state’s children is critical to their future and ours. All parents should be given a greater voice in achieving this.
Rep. Edward Lindsey, Georgia
The ultimate example of parent empowerment.
Jeanne Allen, President, Center for Education Reform
While still new in education policy, parent trigger programs put the power of overhauling poor performing schools in the hands of parents…Parents know what’s best for their children and deserve to have options when choosing the educational model that best fits the needs of their family
American Federation for Children
I’m a firm supporter of the Parent Trigger. Who knows a child better than his or her parent? No one. That is why parents should be able to have a stronger voice in determining what type of an education their children receive and deserve.
Sen. Michael Watson, Mississippi
The Rio Grande Foundation supports the parent trigger and other efforts to reform New Mexico’s troubled education system. The parent trigger in particular empowers parents to act on behalf of their children’s best educational interests.
Paul Gessing, President, The Rio Grande Foundation
The majority of parents across America are stuck with public schools assigned to them by ZIP code as their only option. While many public schools do a fine job educating our children, some are failing to reach even the most basic academic standards. For our kids, the results of this failure could not be more disastrous. But children stuck at failing schools need not wait in vain. The parent trigger allows parents to take greater control over a public school that consistently fails to educate their children and transform it into one which actually meets the needs of students and families.”
Matthew Brouillette, President, The Commonwealth Foundation
In a polarized political climate, this is an issue that Democrats and Republicans should agree on. It’s an issue we must build consensus around because it empowers our parents in the name of lifting up our kids. It allows a concerned community to work with educators, have their voices heard, and ultimately fix under-performing schools. The parent trigger gives us yet another tool to build that brighter future for our students that we all seek.
Antonio R. Villaraigosa, Mayor of Los Angeles
Lawmakers should seize the moment we are in to allow parents to take ownership of their child’s school. No matter which side of the aisle you are sitting on, we can all agree on the need to serve students, not protect a system.
Jonathan Butcher, Education Director, Goldwater Institute
No child should be sentenced to a poor education because of their ZIP Code. The Parent Trigger puts parents back in charge of their children’s future.
Leo Knepper, Executive Director, Citizens Alliance of Pennsylvania
The parent trigger’s power is that it enables impassioned parents to break the grip of school boards that placidly preside over educational malpractice year after year.
Frederick M. Hess, Director of Educational Policy Studies, American Enterprise Institute
We are fortunate that Louisiana is one of the states that has adopted a Parent Trigger. This reform helps to make schools more accountable and it empowers parents. The public sector should not be immune to the consequences of failure. I hope more states will make the Parent Trigger available.
Kevin Kane, President, Pelican Institute for Public Policy
Empowering parental choice is a vital component to reforming education. Keeping the focus on what is best for kids will allow both of us to improve education.
Rep. Paul Scott, Michigan
