Opinion: Whose empowerment law?
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The Compton school board is stalling, the courts are slow and state officials are debating more than acting. The Times editorial board has its concerns about various details in the parent trigger, the law that allows parents to force a change at low-performing schools via petition, which parents at McKinley Elementary School in Compton are trying to do. But for all the tweaks the law needs, the board also believes parents shouldn’t be forced to settle for bad schools.
So it was disconcerting to hear that a proposal allowing teachers a voice in the process wasn’t thoroughly smacked down last week at the state Board of Education, which is in the drawn-own process of creating regulations for the trigger. Teachers’ representatives propose that if parents petition to turn their local school into a charter, that option would have to be ratified by a majority of the faculty.
The idea didn’t gain particular traction at the meeting, but neither was it utterly rejected, as it should have been. As with everything about parent trigger, the future is uncertain and dragged out. But the board must keep in mind the official name of the trigger: It’s the Parent Empowerment Law, not the Teacher Empowerment Law.
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--Karin Klein
