'Parent trigger' law is a step forward

The California legislature recently passed a law that enables parents to vote on major changes in schools that are chronically failing to serve their students' needs, the details of which are described in this recent SF Gate article. According to this law, parents are authorized to organize and petition for changes to their students' education, and a mere 75 out of California's 9,000 schools qualify as under-performing enough to merit use of this legislature.

And, as detailed in the article, sometimes an attempt to use this law results in a major letdown. McKinley Elementary School in Compton, Los Angeles, is currently embroiled in a lawsuit between parent groups and the school administration, which denies legitimate cause for change. Yet, this is an important precursor to what will hopefully be an increase in parent involvement to get further funding for student education. With the proposed state budget cuts in hand, we know that all efforts to salvage funds are necessary.

Want to make education possible for a student who can't afford it? Remember to join us at the Tutorpeida Foundation's 2nd Annual Benefit this Wednesday, February 23rd, at Minna Gallery in downtown San Francisco. Apart from an awesome silent auction, raffle, and supreme catered food, we will be hosting distinguished speakers Vicki Abeles, director of Race to Nowhere, Dennis Littky, co-founder of the charter school network Big Picture Learning, and Farb Nivi, founder of the revolutionary education tech company Grockit. All proceeds will fund free one-on-one tutoring for the Bay Area's under-served students! Don't miss out on this chance to make a difference for Bay Area students today!