School Choice & Charters

Parent Revolution Picks Former Principal, TFA Alumnus to Lead Group

By Arianna Prothero — August 27, 2015 1 min read
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The California-based Parent Revolution has selected a new leader.

Seth Litt will take over the organization after its founder, Ben Austin, left late last year.

The group focuses on organizing parents who want to turn around failing schools, most notably through California’s parent-trigger law.

Litt, a Teach for America alumnus, has been a principal in both district and charter schools in New York. He has also served as a union chapter leader, according to a press release from Parent Revolution.

“I am excited to join Parent Revolution and lead the organization through its next chapter of impact for students and families,” Litt said in a statement. “Families in every community deserve more than hope or a roll of the dice—they deserve information, access to the system, and real power to make changes for their kids and their communities. For too long parents in communities like the South Bronx, South Los Angeles, and elsewhere have been on their own. They deserve the power to take action and effect change in their children’s education and lives.”

After leaving Parent Revolution, Austin became the policy development and advocacy director for another California-based education nonprofit called Students Matter in January. The organization sponsored the Vergara v. California lawsuit, which struck down state laws on teacher tenure and dismissal.

In addition to founding Parent Revolution in 2009, Austin also helped lobby for passing California’s Parent Empowerment Act, known as the parent-trigger law. The law allows parents whose children attend persistently failing schools to petition their district to make major changes to the school including firing staff or converting it to a charter school.

Photo: Parent Revolution

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A version of this news article first appeared in the K-12 Parents and the Public blog.