The controversial parent trigger bill died for the second year in a row, after six Republicans voted with 14 Senate Democrats leading to a 20-20 tie vote.
House Bill 867, voted down on Tuesday, would have allowed parents of students in failing schools to have a greater say in turning schools around. If a majority of parents were to sign a petition, the district would either have to adopt the plan or submit its own choice along with the parents’ plan to the State Board of Education, which would then make the selection.
Yesterday, the Senate amended the measure, giving the school board the final say in the turnaround options.
Sen. Bill Montford, a Tallahassee Democrat and former school superintendent, said the issue is how to get parents more meaningfully involved and interested in the options already available to them, postonpolitics.com reported. The measure as is, would not have helped with that, he added.
The bill which failed on Tuesday, was a scaled-down version of a similar measure that also died on a tie vote in the Senate last year, postonpolitics.com also reported.
