L.A. Schools Claim Immunity to Parent-Triggered Charter Movements This Year

In California, a law allowing
parents to force significant management changes on failing
schools—from replacing principals all the way up to transforming
them into charter programs—has been used a couple of times in the
Los Angeles area, and the threat of possible use has brought about
additional reforms.

But never underestimate the magic of bureaucracy. There are
rules in the state law to determine when parents may vote for
changes. One of them is that the feds have to declare the school
failing. So what does the Los Angeles Unified School District
(LAUSD) do? It gets a waiver from the federal government restarting
the clock that determines whether a school’s performance is
substandard. As a result, LAUSD claims it is immune from
parent-triggered efforts for a year. It’s not that schools have
gotten any better. It’s because of a piece of paper giving Los
Angeles schools permission to suck. From the
Los Angeles Times:

In a letter from a district lawyer to former state Sen. Gloria
Romero obtained by The Times on Thursday, officials said the school
system is not subject to the “parent trigger” law because it
obtained a waiver last year from federal educational requirements
that are linked to it. Instead, L.A. Unified has joined with eight
other California school districts to create their own changes and
systems to monitor progress, the letter said.

Romero, who authored the 2010 law, said she was stunned by the
district’s position, which was laid out in a letter Wednesday from
Kathleen Collins, L.A. Unified’s chief administrative law and
litigation counsel.

“I am livid about this,” Romero said. “I believe it violates the
spirit and intent of parent empowerment.”

But Supt. John Deasy said the district still supports the law,
and that low-performing schools would once more be subject to
parent petitions for change at the end of the year. The federal
waiver obtained, he said, simply restarted the two-year time period
schools need to be academically substandard before they are
eligible for a trigger overhaul.

“I wholeheartedly support the legislation and look forward to
working again with eligible schools,” Deasy said.

Collins wrote that the district “remains committed to addressing
any issues and concerns from parents and community.”

Until they get another waiver next year!

Read my interview with Romero from 2013
here.