Parent-trigger laws pushed in Ga., other states

ATLANTA (AP) — Education advocates in Georgia and around the country are pushing proposals that would give parents a more direct say in the governance of their children's public schools.

The idea is to allow parents — and in some cases, teachers — at poorly performing schools to vote on whether to fire principals, convert a traditional public school to a charter school or, in some cases, close a school altogether. Typically, a local school board has final say over changes, but the concept is dubbed the "parent-trigger" law.

It's the latest front in the school choice movement. Yet whether the policy — some form of which is already on the books in seven states — actually improves education outcomes remains unknown. Parents have used the new power just three times, all in California — with the most recent action occurring this week. So that leaves legislative debates, certain to play out in at least a half-dozen more states this year, to fall along the same familiar lines as battles over...