Florida Parent Trigger Bills Would Allow Parents To Fire Teachers, Turn Schools To Charters

Two bills in the Florida legislature would give parents overarching power to demand sweeping changes at low-performing schools.

Under the first parent trigger proposal -- House Bill 1191, or the Parent Empowerment Act -- parents would have the power to fire school staff. A majority of parents could also petition to have the principal replaced or have a charter school operator take over the school. The second proposal, HB 543, or the Parental Involvement and Accountability in the Public Schools Bill, would conversely require elementary school teachers to grade parents on their involvement -- on issues like communication and student rates of absence and tardiness.

Republican state Sen. Lizbeth Benacquisto told WINK-TV that HB 1191 would force school improvement.

"The full intent of the bill is to get parents engaged and involved in the turnaround process," Benaquisto said.

But while supporters aim to give power to dissatisfied parents, critics -- including the Florida Parent Teacher Association -- says HB 543 would simply promote charter schools.

"This isn't about empowering parents," Mindy Gould, legislative chair for the Florida PTA told The Miami Herald. "This is about handing over the neighborhood school to a private, for-profit corporation."

Parent trigger laws exist in California, Texas and Mississippi. California's was the first of its kind in the country, inspiring some 20 other states to draft similar legislation. Two states have rejected parent trigger bills.

A piece of parent trigger legislation proposed in New York last summer would give parents of a failing school the ability to either fire half the school's teachers, dismiss the principal, close the school or turn it over to a charter management company.

Comments

[LightShadow62]

07:33 PM on 02/06/2012

So much for any chance at a good education in Florida.

[Writer128]

03:11 PM on 02/05/2012

I have been a school volunteer for years. Let me tell you, parents Re the problem these days. They lie for their kids, or they take no interest in their kids or they think theirs shouldn't have to do so much work. When a school is failing, take a long look at the community it serves and you will often see why, because the parents want everyone but them to be responsible for their kids.

[f0rTyLeGz]

04:06 PM on 02/05/2012

Exactly! It is the school's fault, or THAT teacher's fault. Who can I sue?

[Sara Power]

06:47 PM on 02/05/2012

Of course they are. That why test scores fall almost exclusively on income/education levels of the community.

[stopnlisten]

12:35 PM on 02/04/2012

I smell money and it stinks.

[LightShadow62]

07:35 PM on 02/06/2012

You can bet that the majority of Florida Republican lawmakers, including Medicare Fraud Scott, have shares in charter school companies.

[J R M]

02:32 AM on 02/03/2012

Bad idea. Bad idea. In the vast majority of cases, if the kid isn't learning, the problem is with the kid or the parent(s), not the teacher. Of course the parents don't see it that way, particularly the worst parents. The parents of the best kids are worried about how they can be getting their kid to learn more and what they have to do. For the worst parents, it is all the teacher's fault - they have no responsibility for the education of their kid(s). It doesn't work that way.

[DeuxExMachina]

06:22 PM on 02/02/2012

In the USA, there is no Constitutional right to a great public education. There are Federal and State laws that only say that an adequate education be given (whatever that is?). Politicians who are in charge of public education, by and large, send their children to private schools. There are also some public school teachers who quietly send their children to private or parochial schools. That should tell parents a lot.

[DeuxExMachina]

05:33 PM on 02/02/2012

Wow! The attorneys are going to love this with lawsuits flying in both directions.

[ProfessorLiz]

02:48 PM on 02/02/2012

Well, this is one way to ensure students "earn" passing grades! Note to teachers: pass all students with outstanding grades to ensure job security. This is an absolute nightmare!

[Kurtis Ricard]

10:34 AM on 02/02/2012

Sure...Parents should be allowed to fire teachers. And to make things fair, Teachers SHOULD then have the power to GRADE and FIRE parents. Everyone is so quick to judge/grade/badmouth teachers, but no one steps back and asks what the parents are doing. If all parents stepped up to the plate and WORKED WITH teachers and not against them, we'd have a much more successful system.

[vicla1942]

05:54 AM on 02/02/2012

If you can get a job in another State or Profession do it.The real reason you
will not have collective bargaining , no union , no protection from the nut cases
is they do not want state workers to have pensions.They soon will go to a 4 day
week and your meager pay will be cut.The kids you teach will be of low ability
unmotivated or suffering from some unknown leearning disability Those who
have money will send their chilldren to private school.Florida is a public education disaster. .

[Jose Lopez15]

04:28 AM on 02/02/2012

For those who think so highly of their teachers, here is reality in your face. Parents should of had the right from the beginning. It's their children going to these schools. Without parents there are no need for teachers. Esp those who are useless. Since parents get fined for their children missing class or ditching, teachers should be fined and fired for being incompetent and incapable of teaching the graduation standards. This link is a perfect example of why parents should be able to get teachers and the administration removed or fired. The groupie mentality needs outsider balance that has a direct connection to the system. Stopping abuse and stupidity only works when everyone's feet is near the fire.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/01/excalif-teacher-in-court-_n_1246675.html?icid=maing-grid7|main5|dl3|sec3_lnk2%26pLid%3D131845

[vicla1942]

05:55 AM on 02/02/2012

Correlate the students iq to their performance. Most are as dumb as their parent's

[sobrien]

10:49 AM on 02/02/2012

But teachers can have a huge influence on schools. Everywhere, local school boards are elected to manage the schools. They hold public meetings; they expect success from their employees (teachers, and administrators). What this teacher trigger misses is the essential separation that has to happen so that a few, radical, trigger happy parents don't become drunk on their own power. It is not bad to have checks and balances in a system and the local boards do that. If you are not happy with your school, ELECT A BOARD THAT WILL FIX IT. Otherwise petty differences muddy already difficult waters.

[Teacher563]

08:23 PM on 02/01/2012

I'm a teacher, and thank you, so much, most of you, who see the entire picture. Today, I got to school an hour ahead of time. I put the refining touches on a vigorous lesson which took me two weeks of research and ten hours of my own time to prepare. I was on my feet all day and my students LOVED the lesson. I ran the newpaper after school for a whopping $2.50 an hour and then spent two hours grading papers. It's 8:13PM. I have been home for an hour. In a few hours, I will go to bed and get up and do it again.

I sent out 37 emails to parents who insist on being kept apprised of student progress. Five wrote back. Three insisted that I was wrong, that little darling had turned in the work. When approached by me, the students admitted they lied to the parent-do I get an apology? I have students who are ignored at home, who get away with murder, who talk to their parents like crap, who are pawns in a nasty divorce, who do nothing and the parents blame us. How about we get to grade the parents who have never met me, who could care less, who teach their kid nothing about work ethic, responsibility, or discipline. If they can grade us, we should get to grade them.

[f0rTyLeGz]

04:16 PM on 02/05/2012

I am an old man now, but I think you have a hard and miserable job. Teachers used to get respect at least.

Failing students should be FLUNKED OUT OF SCHOOL if they fail two years in a row. After school sports, football, basketball, baseball, track, and all the coaches and money they waste should be eliminated from public school.

[Teacher563]

05:59 PM on 02/09/2012

Ah, my job is hard, but I am not miserable. I love what I do. I was born to do it. I just wish people knew how hard it is and appreciated at least that much of what I do. I ask for nothing else from anyone. I don't even need respect. I just need the kindness I show them, and believe it or not, my kids are amazingly kind.

[Jose Lopez15]

09:52 AM on 02/22/2012

wow you're an adult first, teacher second and you've got an endless list of excuses. Why not think of a better way to get your work done. Get those kids interested into the subject you teach. wow 37 emails...what you don't know about BCC,CC, it's not hard...teacher learn by exploration. Technology has evolved to aid, and people learn in variety of ways, obviously you've not learn that..go find your teacher and get some classes. Real teachers don't make excuses. They find solutions to kids with learning disabilities or ignorance. those are the teachers that will be hired. You might be looking at a pink slip...very soon.courtesy of the parents.

[Teacher563]

08:49 PM on 02/23/2012

Learn the difference, sir, between someone who is stating the facts of a profession and someone who is lamenting the profession. I have never done the latter. To all of you who have been kind, thank you, but I'm done. I'm a teacher who isn't allowed to talk about my profession, or have an opinion, or suggest anything but the status quo, or I get labeled a bad teacher. I wanted spirited debate on ANY topic and I get, "You're a bad teacher. Pink Slip," and the like. Other non-teachers can express and opinion on any subject and not get that stupid, tired, worthless remark. No one even has the imagination to assume I'm a person, too. In that, I'm tired of the unkind remarks. It's beating me down and I didn't sign up for that. Hindsight 20/20, I wish I wouldn't have signed myself Teacher563. Oh, and to the person above, I've been teacher of the year four times and I work at a school that is completely technologically integrated. I had to audition for the job with a technologically based lesson, I beat 50 others out for the job, and I own, design, and upgrade a VBulletin based website. Peace out.

[liberalpolicysucks]

03:15 PM on 02/01/2012

That's great. The teachers aren't doing a good job, they need to be fired.

Or maybe "let go" would be a better way to put it...

[kid icarus]

10:38 PM on 02/01/2012

Maybe your brat kid isn't as smart or charming as you might think and blaming the teacher isn't going to change that fact.

See how made up scenarios are fun and constructive?

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

[vicla1942]

06:06 AM on 02/02/2012

If you trained a mule with the best food and trainer
no matter how hard you work , that mule will not win
the Kentucky Derby.They will not correlate iq to performance.
They know we have a lot of lazy unmotivated kids from
poor home environments.The politicans want to blame the teachers, then they can fire you and save on your pension.Do not be married to that job,
better job take it.

[diomedes23]

06:55 AM on 02/01/2012

It's always a good thing to turn control of a company or corporation over to amateurs with an emotional investment in the success of that company or corporation.

[Karissa36]

02:57 PM on 02/01/2012

F & F. Particularly when those amateurs have minimal education, and an entrenched refusal to acknowledge they might be a big part of the problem.

[sobrien]

10:54 AM on 02/02/2012

Worse yet, not with an emotional investment in the company as a whole - only in their very limited, self-serving scope of concern.

[diomedes23]

01:56 PM on 02/02/2012

Exactly. Who wants to send their children to a school whose primary purpose is to make a profit from their education?

[Alan626]

06:23 AM on 02/01/2012

Great. Let's give parents the opportunity to give some legal teeth to their blame-the-teachers-for-poor-parenting mantra.
I saw it as a student. I saw it as a parent who was involved in the education of my children. There is no personal accountability among large numbers of parents these days. Since garbage rolls downhill, their kids haven't learned any, either. So, they band together and blame the school system, starting with the teachers, for their own failings as parents and students.
You can't force anyone to learn anything if they just flatly refuse to be bothered. That isn't on the teachers. That's on the parents who teach their kids how "special" they are and how "entitled" they should feel.
NEWSFLASH: If your child is 12 years of age or older and every single one of their teachers has been "mean and sucked at their job," the problem isn't the teachers. It's that brat you call your child. Might as well go out and buy little Johnny a gross of paper hats and teach him to say, "Do you want to Supersize those fries?", because that is the future your lousy parenting is setting him up for.
Then you can teach him to blame all his bosses for the fact that he can never hold a job long enough to get a full paycheck, just like you taught him to blame his teachers because he never did his homework and you never made sure he did it.

[vicla1942]

06:08 AM on 02/02/2012

all true

[Andrew McKenzie]

12:36 AM on 02/03/2012

Or just wait 'til he flunks out of college because the professor doesn't give two craps about little Johnny's parents.

[4thepeopleandme]

07:47 PM on 01/31/2012

Hear is another dumb idea.

Let give the parents vouchers so that they can go to a charter school. Wow, brilliance, NOT.

1st - the schools does not have to accept your, 'hopefully not' sub-par child.

Lets take at any low performing state, say Louisiana. In the national news a few years ago, there were a bout 10-12 public schools in Baton Rouge, Louisiana that were taken over and given to charter schools as punishment for the public schools failure to raise test scores, and lower drop out rates.

Problem is: The charter schools only changed names and administrations of those schools.

The teachers were the same, the kids were the same, the sorry parents were (let me guess) THE SAME.

The standardized test scores actually got worse. Way to go school boards across America. You are doing a bang up, job.

Texas: home of governors: Bush, and currently Rick Perry. You should be ashamed for even voting for these guys.

Home efforts = Educational progress = Schools success = increase property values. I mean that is really what most of these people really care about.

[diomedes23]

06:58 AM on 02/01/2012

Charter schools can succeed where public schools succeed, no surprise there. They cannot succeed, however, where public schools cannot. Charter schools succeed, in part, because they can refuse a child admittance, or get rid of the problem ones. Public schools cannot. You cannot refuse a child an education. Where charter schools completely replace public schools, they then have to play by the same rules, and guess what?

[f0rTyLeGz]

04:20 PM on 02/05/2012

When I was in public school back in the 40's and 50's kids that couldn't keep up, or who were troublemakers, flunked out. They were GONE.