Calif. ed board OKs 'parent trigger' rules giving parents power to change poorly performing schools

Anne-Christine Poujoulat/AFP/Getty Images

File photo: Pupils listen to their teacher in a classroom on the first day of the school year.

The California State Board of Education unanimously approved a new set of "parent trigger" rules giving parents more power to force changes at poorly performing schools.

The regulations were approved Wednesday before a packed meeting room in Sacramento. Parents who had taken buses from across the state erupted in cheers.

The action isn't the final word, however. The proposed regulations will be put out for public comment for 15 days and could be challenged.

The so-called "parent trigger" rules have been controversial. A petition to convert a Compton Unified School District elementary school into a charter school has already wound up in court.

Parents there filed an ethics complaint against a school board member, saying she worked for a teachers union and should not vote on the issue.

© 2011 The Associated Press.