Legislative Momentum Stalls for 'Parent Trigger' Proposals

Ben Austin, the executive director of Parent Revolution, which supported a controversial charter petition in Compton, Calif., hugs parent Patricia Quintero, last year.

—Al Seib/Los Angeles Times/AP-File

Concept intrigues many, but logistics, opposition lead states to go slow

By Sean Cavanagh

The momentum behind “parent-trigger” proposals, one of the hottest ideas for overhauling struggling schools, has slowed in statehouses amid political opposition and vexing questions about how those bold plans should be implemented at the local level.

Numerous states this year have introduced parent-trigger proposals, which would allow parents the opportunity to restructure or close academically struggling traditional public schools or convert them to charters.

Most of those proposals, which have drawn varying levels of bipartisan support, have stalled or died, while others have been scaled back significantly. And an effort by parents in California to use the state’s landmark parent-trigger law to convert their school to a charter has met with legal and political obstacles. ( "Parent 'Trigger' Law Draws Attention, Controversy" ...