Parent trigger bill fails in Florida, killed by Senate's tie vote
Source: Sun Sentinel
The contentious "parent trigger" bill failed again in the Florida Senate, dying Tuesday on a tie vote just as it did in 2012.
The bill aimed to give parents more say in the fate of a struggling school, allowing them, by petition, to select a "turnaround" plan from the options already listed in state law.
Those options include allowing the school to remain "district managed" but with changes, turning it into a charter school, closing the campus or allowing a private-management firm to run the school.
...The vote ended in a 20-to-20 tie, with six Republicans joining the 14 Democrats in opposition.
Read more: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/os-parent-trigger-fails-florida-20130430,0,3121697.story
I believe some legislators were a little more wary of this bill since they started hearing of the false names on the petition turned in by Michelle Rhee's group, Students First. I know many of us publicized this and made many calls about it.
Rhee submits Parent Trigger petition with names who did not sign it?
On Sunday, The Herald/Times sent an email to each person who had allegedly signed the online petition. Of the 241 who responded, 212 confirmed their signatures.
"I signed it electronically," wrote Woodie H. Thomas, III, a Palm Beach Gardens attorney. "I'm for any catalyst that brings meaningful change to the public school system."
But 29 people said they had not signed the petition.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Rhee came in at the last minute and embarrassed herself and the parent trigger supporters. Turns out she can't collect 240 signatures without committing fraud. 
Perhaps the stench of apparent corruption was too much for even some Republicans as six voted against their leadership.
While the Republicans may try to pass the parent trigger again next session, they failed by the same margin as last year even after watering down the bill. The parent trigger is only a means to an end. The impetus behind the bill was not to give parents better choices for their kid's education, it was to create a pretext for the formation of more charter schools. I would not be surprised to see parent trigger legislation abandoned in favor of some other kind of legislation that also would just happen to present the option of converting public schools to charters.
