Submit Comments on Proposed Regulations:14 July :: The Proposed Regulations and Comment Period have not yet been noticed. | There are two ways in which a member of the public can submit public comments on a proposed regulation:
All comments must be made during the public comment period in order to be considered by the rulemaking agency [either the California Department of Education (CDE) or the State Board of Education (SBE)].The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (Notice) specifies when the public comment period ends. It commences the day the Notice is published in the California Regulatory Notice Register (Outside Source). CDE also places the publication date in two places: 1) at the top of the Notice, underneath the title of the regulation and 2) directly to the right of the Notice listed on the CDE’s Proposed Rulemaking & Regulations Web page. - from the California Dept of Ed. |
California: New Rules for Weak Schools
NY Times National Briefing | WEST By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS | http://nyti.ms/nWDlha
July 13, 2011 The California State Board of Education on Wednesday gave tentative approval to a new set of rules giving parents more power to force changes at poorly performing schools. Parents who had taken buses from across the state erupted in cheers at a packed meeting room in Sacramento as the nine-member board voted unanimously. The proposed regulations will be available for public comment for 15 days, and they could be challenged. The rules would supplement a new state “parent trigger” law, under which parents at a school can force one of four actions, including takeover by a charter school, if at least 51 percent of them sign a petition. The rules have been controversial. A petition to convert a Compton Unified School District elementary school into a charter school has already wound up in court.
Regulations approved for schools' 'Parent Trigger' law: The state Board of Education sets rules to clarify the law that gives parents the right to petition for new staff, management and programs.
McKinley Elementary School students play at the Compton campus. Last year, the school became the first test case of the "Parent Trigger" law, but disagreement over certain aspects of the law caused division and sparked lawsuits. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
By Teresa Watanabe, Los Angeles Times | http://lat.ms/pB0IWx
July 14, 2011 - After months of controversy, the state Board of Education set out a clear road map Wednesday to allow parents unparalleled rights to force major changes at low-performing schools.
The board approved regulations clarifying the "Parent Trigger" law — the first in the nation to give parents the right to petition for new staff, management and programs at their children's schools. Organizations representing parents, teachers, school districts and other parties overcame sharp differences to reach consensus on such contentious issues as how to draw up petitions, verify parent signatures and ensure public disclosure about the petition process.
Disagreement over those issues exploded last year in the law's first test case at McKinley Elementary School in Compton. There, parents sought to oust the school staff and convert the campus into an independently run, publicly financed charter operation. The petition campaign divided the campus, sparked lawsuits and fueled charges of harassment on both sides.
Controversies also inflamed efforts to draw up regulations at the state board, with various charges that board members were trying to ram through rules favoring charter schools, teachers or other interests.
So when the board unanimously voted to approve the regulations Wednesday, the room exploded in cheers and applause.
"It's like a dream come true to know that I have a voice in my community as well as my state, and my children will have a better future because parents like these took a stand for their children," said Daniel Jackson, a Los Angeles parent who took an overnight bus to Sacramento with other advocates to support the regulations.
Gabe Rose of Parent Revolution, the Los Angeles-based education reform group that helped lobby for the law, said the regulations will allow parents to move forward with confidence and organize petition campaigns across the state. He said six to eight parent empowerment groups have formally filed papers to affiliate with his organization.
Even the California Teachers Assn., which opposed the law last year, supported the regulations, and board member Patricia Rucker, a former CTA lobbyist, voted for them.
But CTA spokeswoman Sandra Jackson said the union believes that parent trigger petitions calling for a charter school conversion must obtain support from half of the school's teachers, as is currently required under existing charter school law.
Board President Michael Kirst, however, appeared to reject that view in comments Wednesday.
"It's called the parent empowerment act, not the teacher empowerment act, for a reason," he said.
If no issues are raised during a public comment period, the regulations will take effect with no further board action.
The regulations require the state to create a website with information about the petition process, including a sample petition so organizers will not inadvertently make errors in drawing it up, as occurred in Compton.
They also require the public disclosure of organizations providing financial or other support to petitioners. In addition, the regulations ban payment per signature and require disclosure of those who are paid to gather signatures.
And, school districts will be required to verify signatures through written documents already on hand, such as emergency contact cards. That issue sparked a lawsuit in Compton when officials required people who had signed the petition to come in person with photo identification.
Not all contentious issues were addressed. The regulations do not require public meetings at the schools, nor specify which parents can trigger change with a successful petition. The law allows parents of half the students at the targeted school or those campuses that feed into them to force school districts to convert to a charter campus, replace staff, transform the curriculum or close the school. But the California School Boards Assn. and other advocates argue that the majority of petitioners should be from the targeted school.
The public meeting and petitioner issues are being addressed in legislation by Assemblywoman Julia Brownley (D-Santa Monica), who heads the Assembly education committee.
Despite such continuing concerns, Sherry Griffith, the school board organization's legislative advocate, hailed the consensus.
"When you decide to roll up your sleeves and decide to work together, you can get pretty far," she said.
And Lydia Grant, a San Fernando Valley parent who also rode the bus to Sacramento, said the regulations would give children in failing schools a new start.
"Every parent like myself has had the door slammed in their face when they have tried to improve the education of their child," she said. "This legislation finally gives us that army behind us to stand up and demand that our children get a better life."
Los Angeles Times staff writer Michael Mishak contributed to this report.
State school board approves 'parent trigger' rules
By Paresh Dave – Sacramento Bee | http://bit.ly/qiFNjO
Thursday, Jul. 14, 2011 (Modified: 8:48 am) - The State Board of Education tentatively approved rules Wednesday to help parents of students at low-performing schools to fire principals and teachers or transform the schools into charters.
The regulations would fill in the gaps of the controversial "parent trigger" law signed last year by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger after barely passing the Legislature. The law allows parents to demand one of four school overhaul options if a majority of parents at the school or from feeder schools petition for the change.
"It's a huge victory for parents in California," said the law's author, former state Sen. Gloria Romero of Los Angeles. "The board realized we would not be denied."
The main parent advocacy group, Parent Revolution, had concerns that Gov. Jerry Brown's recent appointees to the board might side with the powerful California Teachers Association. During negotiations over the rules, the union wanted a petition seeking a charter conversion to earn approval from a majority of teachers.
That change was not included in the rules approved Wednesday.
Drawing loud cheers Wednesday from an overflowing crowd of Los Angeles-area parents, Romero insisted that parents shouldn't need "permission slips" from teachers.
The nine-member board ultimately voted unanimously to provide a final 15-day comment period. If substantial comments are received, the board will have to reaffirm its vote in September. But board President Michael Kirst said it was unlikely that any additional changes would be made.
Parents at McKinley Elementary School in the Compton Unified School District were the first to test the law last year. But they failed to record the date of some signatures on the petition, giving the district legal means to deny the request.
The new rules would require the state Department of Education to post on its website a sample petition to help prevent issues such as the one in Compton. Strict rules would explain what information parents must include on petitions and how districts should verify signatures. Scare tactics and intimidation would be barred.
The parent trigger law applies to schools with an Academic Performance Index ranking of less than 800 that haven't made significant improvements. These would not include schools whose performance is so poor that they earn the federal "persistently low-achieving" label and are already subject to overhaul.
Reform options under the law include replacing the principal and adding teacher performance incentives; replacing the principal and firing half of the teachers; shutting down the school and moving students to other, higher-performing schools; or converting the school to a charter.
additional coverage from google news posted 14 July
State Board of Education conditionally approves parent triggers, some grants
San Jose Mercury News - Theresa Harrington
The State Board of Education on Wednesday unanimously approved new "Parent Trigger" rules and a second year of School Improvement Grants, both aimed at reforming failing campuses. The board also unanimously agreed to withhold up ...
Regulations approved for schools' 'Parent Trigger' law
Los Angeles Times - Teresa Watanabe, Michael Mishak
The state Board of Education sets rules to clarify the law that gives parents the right to petition for new staff, management and programs. McKinley Elementary School students play at the Compton campus. Last year, the school became the first test case ...
Mercury News editorial: Board of education should approve parent trigger ...
San Jose Mercury News - Jul 13, 2011
The contentious debate over California's parent trigger law is finally nearing an end that ought to satisfy most everyone -- if the state board of education, at its meeting Wednesday in Sacramento, can muster the six votes needed to approve draft ...
EduJax: In California, parents will decide what to do with struggling schools
Florida Times-Union (blog) - Jeff Reece
As Florida's State Board of Education prepares to force Duval County Public Schools to turnover control of the district's four intervene schools to an outside management organization despite the palpable fear and distrust of the communities those ...
California 'Parent Trigger' rules: Tentatively OK'd by state board of education
eSchool News (registration)
The California State Board of Education unanimously voted today to tentatively approve a set of rules that outlines and gives parents more power to drive change in low-performing schools. The vote isn't final–the “parent trigger” regulations will be ...
State Board approves Parent Empowerment regulations
Redlands Daily Facts - Canan Tasci
Parents of students who attend low-performing schools could soon have the ability to replace a principal or half the school's staff. The California State Board of Education on Wednesday unanimously signed off on the Parent Empowerment Law, which allows ...
California's Smart Parent Trigger Decision
Dropout Nation - RiShawn Biddle -
One wouldn't have expected California's Board of Education to essentially sustain the state's Parent Trigger law and actually make it easier for families to overhaul failure factories. After all, Gov. Jerry Brown moved immediately upon taking office to ...
Calif. board tentatively give parents more control of low-performing schools
The Republic - Paresh Dave McClatchy -
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The State Board of Education tentatively approved rules on Wednesday to help parents of students at low-performing schools to fire principals and teachers or transform the schools into charters. ...
State board of education approves 'parent empowerment law'
Bakersfield Californian (blog) -
The California State Board of Education this morning approved a revised set of regulations for the Parent Empowerment law by unanimous vote. The law, in effect since April 12, 2010, allows parents of students in certain persistently low-achieving ...
Daily News Editorial. State's education board should vote for school reform
Los Angeles Daily News -
It has been a long, hard year for the supporters of California's new Parent Empowerment Act. Adopted a year and a half ago by state lawmakers in a rare moment of legislative vision, the new law's future is still not assured. Opponents of the so-called ...
Parent Trigger Regulations Approved by California State Board of Education ...
LA Weekly (blog) - Simone Wilson -
At about 10:20 this morning, after not even an hour-and-a-half of deliberations, California Governor Jerry Brown's new State Board of Education unanimously approved a set of rules that will regulate the ...
Voices of the Dropout Nation: Gwen Samuel on the Need for Parents to Take Power
Dropout Nation - Jul 13, 2011
Even as states such as California, Connecticut and Indiana have given parents the ability to force the overhauls of existing traditional public schools or escape them altogether through school choice, education traditionalists haven't stopped fighting. ...
Welcome news on 'Parent Trigger' law
SignOnSanDiego.com -
By Union-Tribune Editorial Board Jerry Brown's return to the governor's office in January spurred anxiety among education reformers, who noted his skepticism about reform proposals touted by President Barack Obama. This concern grew sharply after Brown ...
Calif. board OKs rules giving parents school power
Fox News -
| AP SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The California State Board of Education has unanimously approved a new set of rules giving parents more power to force changes at poorly performing schools. The regulations were approved Wednesday before a packed meeting room ...
Calif board OKs rules giving parents school power
San Francisco Chronicle - Adam Weintraub -
The California Board of Education on Wednesday unanimously approved a new set of rules known as a "parent trigger" law, giving parents more power to force changes at poorly performing public schools. The regulations were approved ...
Calif board OKs rules giving parents school power
San Jose Mercury News - Adam Weintraub -
SACRAMENTO, Calif.—The California Board of Education on Wednesday unanimously approved a new set of rules giving parents more power to force changes at poorly performing public schools. The regulations were approved during a packed ...
Calif. board OKs rules giving parents school power
Winona Daily News -
AP | Posted: Wednesday, July 13, 2011 2:20 pm | Loading… The California State Board of Education has unanimously approved a new set of rules giving parents more power to force changes at poorly performing schools. The regulations were approved ...
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