Leading Education Reformer Joins California Policy Center
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sacramento, California, February 11, 2015
Contact: press@calpolicycenter.org.
Former State Senate Majority Leader Gloria Romero has joined the California Policy Center as its Director of Education Reform.
Romero, founder of the California Center for Parent Empowerment, is one of the strongest Democratic voices in the country advocating for expanding educational opportunities for all children, particularly those who are trapped in chronically under-performing public schools. In 2010, she co-authored and led the charge to pass the historic Parent Empowerment Act (also known as Parent Trigger), which gives parents greater control over their children’s educational futures.
Mark Bucher, California Policy Center president, said, “Gloria is a tireless fighter trying to fix one of the biggest injustices of our time – that tens of thousands of children are getting sub-standard schooling simply because the educational establishment cares more about preserving their own power than they do about improving children’s futures. We’re excited she’ll be leading our education policy efforts at the state and local levels.”
Romero has collaborated with the California Policy Center on several issues of importance to Californians, including education reform, pension reform, and development of a nonpartisan approach to electoral politics. When the parents at Palm Lane Elementary School in Anaheim began their efforts to demand change at their school, Romero collaborated with the California Policy Center, community leaders, and other grassroots organizations to assist the parents in the launching of a Parent Trigger petition drive, which resulted last month in the first-ever Parent Trigger transformation campaign in Orange County. Nearly 70% of parents at Palm Lane Elementary school, a chronically under-performing school in Anaheim, signed petitions to convert the school into an independently operated, publicly funded charter school as soon as fall 2015.
“I’m pleased to continue fighting for children and parents through the California Policy Center,” Romero said. “Better schools for our children should never be about partisan politics or special interests — it should always be giving parents more control and choices in deciding how best to educate their children.”
The California Policy Center is a non-partisan ‘activist’ think tank focused securing a freer, more prosperous California through education and fiscal reform: www.calpolicycenter.org.
Read Gloria Romero’s full bio here.
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Contact: press@calpolicycenter.org.
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The California Policy Center is a non-partisan public policy think tank that aspires to provide information that will elevate and enlighten the public dialogue on vital issues facing Californians, with the goal of helping to foster constructive progress towards more equitable and sustainable management of California’s public institutions.
Learn more at www.CaliforniaPolicyCenter.org.