By Chris Hooks
(From Texas Tribune, March 26th, 2013)
A contentious Senate committee hearing on Tuesday pitted advocates of education reform against those who worry changes will weaken public education in the state as they discussed a measure that would make it easier for Texas parents to ask school boards to take action against failing schools.
State Sen. Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, said his Senate Bill 1263 would simplify the “parent trigger” law, which is modeled after a similar measure that passed in California in 2011. Under Taylor’s proposal, parents could petition to request specific action — closure, new management or conversion to a charter school — for any school rated academically unacceptable in two consecutive years.
Currently, schools whose performances have been deemed “unacceptable” for three consecutive years must be either reorganized or reconstituted as a charter school. If the school is reorganized but continues to perform unacceptably for two more years, a majority of parents can petition the school board to take specific action — which can include closure, changing the school’s management or conversion to a charter school. In 2011, the last year that TEA issued ratings, the performance of 496 out of 8,526 Texas schools was deemed unacceptable.
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