How Parent Trigger Opponents Claimed #ParentEmpowerment As Their Own

@GatorBonBC / Twitter

Just over 24 hours ago, the Tallahassee-based Foundation for Florida’s Future sent out an email asking parent trigger backers to tweet their support.

The bill died in the Florida Senate earlier this week on a 20-20 tie vote — for the second year in a row.

The bill would allow parents at schools earning a failing grade to choose how to restructure the school, including firing staff and administrators, closing the school or converting to a charter.

It’s the last option that drew criticism. Opponents argued Florida was passing the bill just prior to new standards kicking in which would ensure more Florida school earned a failing grade. The Florida PTA, the NAACP and other advocacy groups fought the bill.

The Foundation, started by former Gov. Jeb Bush, backed the bill along with national advocacy groups StudentsFirst and Parent Revolution.

The Foundation for Florida’s Future email included pre-written tweets to cut and paste into Twitter posts. So how did the campaign turn out? We’ve put together a Storify, after the jump.

This week the controversial parent trigger bill died in the Florida Senate on a tie vote — for the second year in a row. Supporters quickly announced they wouldn’t give up on the bill, but their attempts to fire up an online campaign didn’t quite work out the way they planned.

This week the controversial parent trigger bill died in the Florida Senate on a tie vote — for the second year in a row. Supporters quickly announced they wouldn’t give up on the bill, but their attempts to fire up an online campaign didn’t quite work out the way they planned.

http://storify.com/johnroconnor/how-opponents-claimed-a-parent-trigger-campaign-as