A judge in Los Angeles issued a temporary injunction last week blocking California’s Compton Unified School District from implementing a complicated process to verify signatures on a petition submitted by parents who want to convert a failing school to an independent charter school.
Sixty-one percent of parents at McKinley Elementary School signed the petition in December, stating they wanted the school to be turned over to an independent charter operator. The lawsuit was sparked by the district’s move to verify those signatures.
The conversion effort in Compton is the first use of the states new parent trigger law, which allows parents at schools that fail to make adequate yearly progress for three consecutive years to force radical change if more than half sign a petition.
