Please contact your local representative to request they reject House Bill 123! Read the bill below Contact: Verdaillia Turner Georgia Federation of Teachers 404-315-0222 HB 123 Would Silence the Voices of Parents, Local Boards and Taxpayers ATLANTA—Supporters of public education are urging state lawmakers to reject House Bill 123, another attempt at forcing the so-called “parent trigger” law on parents and taxpayers. The deceptively titled “Parent and Teacher Empowerment Act” empowers neither parents nor teachers, said Verdaillia Turner, president of the Georgia Federation of Teachers. In fact, the bill would actually silence the voices of parents, taxpayers and local schools boards by handing over control of local neighborhood schools—and their public dollars--to private charter school operators with little or no accountability, she said. “Teachers always support more voice for parents in schools,” Turner said. “The cruel irony of parent-trigger bills like this is that parents actually lose their say in how their schools are run, how their tax dollars are spent, and how their children are educated.” “This law would take the ‘public’ out of ‘public schools,’ ” Turner said. “Like so many corporate-backed ‘reforms,’ parent trigger is simply a money-grab by big-money interests. It has nothing to do with improving education, and it certainly does not benefit children.” Turner said House Bill 123 and other parent-trigger laws are flawed because they seek parent input only after a school has reached low-performing status. At that point, it’s too late to gain meaningful input that could have improved the school, she said. Often, parent-trigger petitions are circulated in an atmosphere of anger and politics rather than in the spirit of making sound educational choices. Research by the WestEd Turnaround Center and others clearly shows that schools that improve do so when there is strong collaboration among parents, teachers, school leaders and the community. “We all have a stake in public education,” Turner said. “Trying to divide us, as this bill aims to do, does a great disservice to our children.” Georgia Federation of Teachers (404) 315-0222
Posted on: Sat, 18 Jan 2014 10:22:17 +0000
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