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Education

Inter-Parent Trigger Warfare

The Tampa Bay Times printed a flattering story of how “parent groups” stopped the Parent Trigger legislation in Florida recently. Unfortunately, the reporter completely bought the labels of this “grassroots” “coalition of disparate, but determined parent groups.” Indeed, it’s reflected in her lead: 

It was one of the hardest-fought battles of the legislative session.

On one side: a coalition of disparate, but determined parent groups.

On the other: former Gov. Jeb Bush and the powerful school choice lobby.

I did have to laugh that she considers the school choice lobby powerful, but makes no mention or comparison of their power compared to teacher unions, their most consistent and much better (publicly) financed foe. 
A simple set of Facebook and Google searches reveals that the parents and groups she cites have obvious ties to teacher unions (some are members, nearly all are public school teachers, some of the groups get union funding).  This, of course, raises questions about the groups’ grassroots nature and their honesty in opposing the Trigger. One of them, Parents Across America,is a subgroup of another that receives union funding, for example, and uses it to oppose the Parent Trigger everywhere in the name of parents everywhere. 

The problem with their advocacy is not that these are parents–who would dispute or want to dispute that?–but that they also are individuals with a vested financial and philosophical interest in combatting mechanisms that give parents of kids in failing schools some options. That’s something the public deserves to know in articles about them, especially when Trigger advocates get tarred as “big money” “lobbyist” organizations. 

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— Joy Pullmann

Joy Pullmann is the managing editor of School Reform News and a research fellow in education policy at The Heartland Institute. Before that, she was the assistant editor for the American Magazine at the American Enterprise Institute. She has published several books, including high school curriculum, and spoken at venues nationwide. Pullmann has been published in the New York Times, Washington Examiner, Weekly Standard, National Review Online, American Magazine, Toledo Free Press, Jackson Citizen-Patriot, and various other newspapers and outlets across the country. Joy graduated from the Hillsdale College honors program with an English major and journalism concentration. She, her husband, and two children live in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

  • Caroline Grannan

    Actually, I’m a founding member of Parents Across America and the one who does most of the commentary on the Parent Trigger, including a commentary in the New York Times a few days ago — and all my work on that issue has been as a volunteer, on my own unpaid time. I work as an administrative assistant for a nonprofit that works with children with disabilities, so I have to do my research and advocacy in my off hours. In Florida, Parents Across America founding member Rita Solnet, a businesswoman, was the PAA member on the ground working doggedly to fight the Parent Trigger in that state, and she covered all her own expenses and did all the work as a volunteer.

    So no, we have no financial interest in fighting the Parent Trigger. We are fighting to keep public schools from being dismantled and handed over to the private sector because we believe that would do harm to children and to education.

    • Joy Pullmann

      Caroline,
      Thanks for commenting. Nowhere am I interested in attacking your motives, but in mentioning that groups with the “parent” label opposing the Parent Trigger do in fact have union ties and incentives. I’ve got a 990 showing that Parents Across America creator Class Size Matters receives union funding. 

      I also notice you’re not disputing my primary argument about union ties and money. 
      Joy