School Reform Now Possible
By Hilbert Morales
EL OBSERVADOR                
Last week, Governor Schwarzenegger signed two bills which were designed to improve California's education system's ability to attract federal funds being offered in the most recent "Race to the Top" program being promoted by the Obama Administration.
While getting as much funding as possible may be a good thing, another feature of this legislation is very important and must be understood by all parents who have children attending schools.
In an editorial published by the San Jose Mercury News on January 10, 2010 entitled "Parent Trigger:" A Turning Point in School Reform," credit was given to Senator Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles).  Romero authored the legislation that provides parents with the power and authority to petition for changes in a school, and now, the school district officials must respond. Of course petitions must represent the majority of the parents. This means that parents are now being involved in the guidance and management of their children's education and schools. Heretofore, that was the authority and power of teachers, school administrators, and the unions. Not any more. Parents now have full partnership authority. Parent & Teachers Association (PTA) meetings may now be used to collect, discuss, and prepare such petitions which must be accepted and responded to by school officials. School administrators have been required to meet and communicate with parents, however this was not uniformly implemented.
The Office of Senator Gloria Romero collaborated with Parents Revolution, a group in the Los Angeles School District. These two devised and implemented an effective strategy which successfully thwarted the special interests who desired to remove this "Parent's Trigger" from the proposed legislation. Ben Austin, Executive Director, Parent's Revolt, simply argued that school boards, administrators, union officials, and state legislators must provide as much weight to parents' concerns as to those of the powerful special interests of unions and teacher's professional associations. The choice framed was simply "Unions or Kids" and of course, "kids" won, as well they should. But parents also won because now parents have the responsibility of monitoring what goes on at school, and if there is not an effective teaching effort that benefits their child, they may form a majority opinion which is now a "trigger' to which the school district must respond. 
Parents Revolution desires that public schools fix themselves. This "Parent Trigger" makes them stakeholders with a responsibility and an obligation to become engaged and involved. Many studies have established that students do best when their parents are involved and interested in their social and scholastic development. Much discussion of teaching methods, resources available, and the efficient use thereof must now involve the parents. All this represents a welcome change in the balance of power that may involve parents as fully engaged partners. This will be very good especially in those schools that are not meeting the expectations required.
All parents must know this new "Parent Trigger" as soon as possible. It is a feature that can be used locally by all stakeholders, especially parents.  It must be applied locally as soon as possible because reports indicate that 30 schools in the County of Santa Clara are not meeting the educational needs of their students. All of these schools are located in low-income communities. It is imperative that all educational interests become fully informed in order to work together to enable the award of the maximum funding possible under the "Race to the Top" federal program. Many feel helpless when dealing with the impact of the deficits at all levels of local, state and federal governments. However, here is something that can be initiated locally and which addresses our future: the educational development of our youth who must learn to successfully compete in a global economy.
The good news is that parents, acting collectively, now have a meaningful tool called "Parent Trigger" to express their concerns which initiate meaningful improvements in the current education system. Meaningful parent influence and involvement in school reform is now possible.