Parent trigger legislation empowers the parents of children that attend failing public schools to force a change in management at the school. Specifically, parents who can present signatures by at least 51% of other parents of children at a failing public school can require conversion of the school to a charter school or a change in operations at the school.
Passed by the California Senate in December 2009 with a promised signature into law by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, this reform is stalled in the heavily Democratic California Assembly, where teachers' unions are particularly powerful.