"Won't Back Down," the new movie financed by billionaire Philip Anschutz, is cited by reformers as an example of the power of teachers unions to obstruct efforts to improve failing schools. When reminded that the film is fiction even though it claims to be "inspired by true events," they are quick to point to Desert Trails Elementary School in Adelanto, California to make their case. It was there that parents petitioned the school board to convert the school into a charter under the state's parent trigger law.

But events that followed are not what reformers maintain about teachers unions. Despite a Superior Court judge's order in July that the district had 30 days to begin the process of allowing a charter school to start this September, the school board stalled until the last minute before arguing that there wasn't enough time (" 'Parent trigger' obstructionism," Los Angeles Times, Sep. 10). The board then compounded its judicial defiance by refusing to approve plans for a charter school to open in September 2013.

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