Spokeswoman for group pushing ‘parent trigger’ going to work for Obama campaign in California
by Dara Kam | April 20th, 2012The spokeswoman of the California-based Parent Revolution group that pushed a controversial “parent trigger” bill in Florida is going to work for President Obama’s reelection campaign as the state spokeswoman.
Linda Serrato sent an e-mail saying she’ll start for Obama’s California campaign next week.
Serrato’s going to work for the Democratic incumbent after Florida Democrats – and some moderate Senate Republicans – excoriated the measure, also backed by former Gov. Jeb Bush. The parent trigger measure quickly evolved into a contentious battle over letting parents take over failing schools, with Senate Democratic Leader Nan Rich taking the lead in fighting against it.
The measure died on a tie vote on the final day of the legislative session in March (not a single Senate Democrat voted in favor of the measure and just two Dems gave it a thumbs up in the House) but not before fiery messaging from Parent Revolution and opponents of the bill, including a coalition of Florida parent groups, the PTA among them.
“I feel honored to have worked with this dedicated, energetic and scrappy team. I have been proud to be a part of Parent Revolution’s work empowering parents to organize their communities,” Serrato wrote in an e-mail message announcing her departure.
Tags: 2012 campaigns, 2012 presidential race, Barack Obama, education, Florida Senate, Jeb Bush, Nan Rich, Parent Revolution, parent trigger
April 20th, 2012 at 6:38 pm
Obama favors MERIT PAY Romney needs to ask Obama and the democrats about MERIT PAY for teachers! It’s part of Obama’s RACE TO THE TOP program!
A parent trigger HELPED parents do SOMETHING about failing schools.
So Don’t complain parents about failing schools. An opportunity to do something past you by.
Parents need to demand VOUCHERS for ALL parents. That would quickly identify schools which are being ‘shunned’ by parents and their children.
April 22nd, 2012 at 2:54 pm
Good for this lady. Our children are not partisan issues.
April 23rd, 2012 at 5:08 pm
This isn’t that surprising. The Parent Trigger law in California was sponsored by a Democrat named Gloria Romero. It was championed by the Parent Revolution, which is led by a Democrat, Ben Austin, who served the Clinton Administration (and at which Linda Serrato served as spokeswoman). This wasn’t a Republican issue until it got to Florida. And it only became a Republican issue because the PTA and other “parent” groups made it so.