Calif. movement harnesses parent power to push for educational reform through ‘unions’

“We know what the problem is — we’re about fixing it,” said Cassandra Perry, the Woodcrest Elementary School parent hosting the meeting. “We’re not against the administrators or the teachers union. We’re honestly about the kids.”

School parent groups are no longer just about holding the next bake-sale fundraiser. They’re about education reform.

The Woodcrest mothers and fathers, all wearing buttons saying “parent power,” are one of the newly formed “parents unions” that are springing up from San Diego to Buffalo, N.Y., with the same goal — to push schools to improve academic achievement.

Behind the parent empowerment movement is a feisty Los Angeles-based nonprofit, Parent Revolution, which in 2010 pushed through a landmark law giving parents authority to force turnarounds at failing schools through a petition.

Known as the “parent trigger,” the California law was the first of its kind in the nation. It inspired Texas and Mississippi to adopt similar laws and legislation is under consideration in 20 other states. Two states have voted down parent trigger bills.