Parent trigger

A parent trigger is a legal maneuver through which parents can change the administration of a poorly performing public school—most notably by transforming it into a charter school.

The first parent trigger law was passed by the California legislature in January 2010. Subsequently, similar laws were considered in at least 25 states in the US, while they have been adopted by six states: Louisiana, Mississippi, Connecticut, Texas, Indiana and Ohio.[1][2] The law has been invoked by parents in the Compton, Adelanto, Anaheim, and LAUSD school districts of California.[citation needed]

In California, parents of children enrolled in 20th Street Elementary School[3] and Palm Lane Elementary School[4] attempted to use the parent trigger law. After the parent trigger campaign, the 20th Street Elementary School was one of the most improved schools[5] in all of LAUSD. Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa wrote about the success of the 20th Street parent trigger in the Wall Street Journal.[6]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference NCSL 2012 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Tyre 2011 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "'Parent trigger' may be pulled at 20th Street Elementary - LA School Report". laschoolreport.com. Archived from the original on August 30, 2019.
  4. ^ Prothero, Arianna (April 8, 2015). "Latest California Parent-Trigger Effort Marks 10th Time Law Has Been Invoked". Education Week.
  5. ^ Stokes, Kyle. "How A Parent Revolt Sparked A Turnaround At This LAUSD School". LAist. Archived from the original on August 30, 2019. Retrieved August 30, 2019.
  6. ^ Villaraigosa, Antonio (October 13, 2019). "How Parents Helped Transform a Los Angeles School". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved March 3, 2022.