Florida Republican Senators Giveth Then Taketh Away Local Control in Parent Trigger Bill

Mush was celebrated in Sen. David Simmons amendment to Parent Trigger which carved out final say on the final choice to local school boards. It was somehow because Commissioner Tony Bennett suggested in a letter that local boards “shouldn’t be left off the hook.” Governor Rick Scott even mentioned Bennett’s involvement this weekend.

All that’s been torpedoed by Senator Lizbeth Benacquisto’s amendment that she quietly inserted yesterday just it time for today’s Senate Appropriations meeting. Here’s the wording.

Delete lines 255 – 263

4 and insert:

5 board. Pursuant to s. 1008.33, an implementation plan for the

6 adopted turnaround option must be submitted to the state board.

7 (a) If the district school board adopts a turnaround option

8 that is different from the turnaround option selected by

9 parents, it shall identify with its submission the turnaround

10 option selected by parents.

11 (b) If the state board determines that the turnaround

12 option selected by parents is more likely to improve the

13 academic performance of students at the school, the district

14 school board shall submit to the state board an implementation

15 plan for the turnaround option selected by parents.

16 (c) If the school improves by at

17

18 ================= T I T L E A M E N D M E N T ================

19 And the title is amended as follows:

20 Delete lines 37 – 44

21 and insert:

22 requiring the school district to submit an

23 implementation plan to the state board;

Banacquisto, who sponsored last year’s defeated senate bill is trumping Simmons amendment and has effectively dispatched any illusion that republicans are the least bit interested in local control. The charter school lobby badly wants the state board, which as already demonstrated its favoritism to have final say. Her amendment represents  the latest deceitful episode in the battle over this morally corrupt bill.