African-American Leaders Join Push for Parent Trigger Bill

Increasing the isolation of the Florida Education Association and its Democratic Party handmaidens, two African-American leaders announced their support for Parent Trigger legislation this week.

T. Willard Fair, president and CEO of the Urban League of Greater Miami, said the reform measure would put power back in the hands of parents.

"The Parent Trigger forces our failing schools to answer to the families they serve. For these parents, the current system has not only failed their child, but oftentimes it has failed generations of children," Fair said Wednesday.

"It is time that our civic leaders stand for our communities and empower parents with the same rights district officials have had. For our parents in our communities, this opportunity cannot wait.

Gene Franklin, president of the Florida Black Chamber, applauded the trigger, which empowers parents to demand and effect substantive changes at failing schools.

Every child deserves the opportunity to reach their potential and every community deserves a great school. The Parent Empowerment legislation gives our parents -- in some of our most underserved communities -- the power to change their child's future and to help their community succeed," Franklin said.

"No parent should ever have to ask for permission to improve their child's future and the Parent Empowerment bill ensures that no parent ever has to again.

The FEA and nearly all Florida Democratic lawmakers remain opposed to the reform legislation. But their claim that it would harm public schools is increasingly out of step with big-name Democrats and minorities who were instrumental in enacting the trigger in California.