Inform Article

What Can Parents Do to Influence Schools More?

07.18.2012
Posted by Leon Fooksman of yourPBC.org

Earlier this month, Palm Beach County School District lost its coveted "A" mark on its annual report card for the first time in eight years.

The district's drop to a "B" rating was mainly blamed on the state making the scoring system much tougher.

Still, we wonder: What could parents have done to prevent this drop in the rating?

The answer may not be so clear-cut.

But what is clear is that more and more frustrated parents across our nation are gaining new powers to improve their children's education.

"Parent trigger laws," passed in some form in at least four states including California and Texas, give dissatisfied parents the ability to fire teachers, convert a public school to a charter, or even shut down the school altogether.

More specifically: A parent trigger enables 51percent of parents in any school to close the school or hand it over to private management.

Florida legislators came close to passing a parent trigger law this spring that would have enabled local parents to demand sweeping changes at their schools.

So how do parents get more power over what goes on in the administrative offices of their children's schools? How do they have more control over their district's rating performance?

Share your thoughts below.

You can also post your ideas on Twitter using the hashtag #ParentalInvolvement and on our Facebook page.