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Survey: parents want more change, power in schools

LA School Report | January 10, 2014



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parent empowermentA new poll commissioned by Parent Revolution finds that two-thirds of California voters believe that the state education system needs either a “major” change or a “complete overhaul,” and by the same 2-1 margin they believe schools are currently focusing on the needs of adults rather than children.

The results were included in a poll of 807 likely November 2014 voters, conducted in English and Spanish by Goodwin Simon Strategic Research between Dec. 8 and 15. Parent Revolution is a group that works with parents to make changes in their children’s schools, in accordance with California’s Parent Empowerment Act, the state’s so-called ”parent trigger” law.

The overarching message from the poll is that most Californians want the state public school system reworked and that parents must be included in the process. Latinos polled consistently higher in support of the need for real parent empowerment and decision-making in their children’s community schools.

These were among the poll’s other findings:

  • 91 percent of California voters believe every decision about schools should be based on what’s best for the children in the classroom, not what is best for adults who work for the school. And 72 percent of Californians “strongly” agree with this statement.
  • 82 percent of all voters and 88 percent of Latinos believe that parents should have the ability to force school districts to re-organize a school that has been failing for four years in a row or more.
  • 76 percent of all voters and 82 percent of Latinos oppose weakening or repealing the Parent Empowerment Act.

Previous Posts: Parents using the ‘Trigger‘ law help get a pre-k for 24th streetUTLA voted to find a state lawmaker to change the parent trigger lawMorning Read: Parent Trigger School Opens a New Era.

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