[WS:] It is a mixed bag. On the one hand, parents can blame teachers for the problems of their kids, but on the other - support teachers against administration. Oftentimes the same individuals can do both on different occasions. The DC case can be illustrative - there was a lot of blame put on DC teachers by parents, but when Rhee arbitrarily sacked 270 teachers, parents supported the teachers not Rhee.
I guess a critical factor here is organizing. Currently, the debate about education system is defined by the corporate media, the political class and neoliberal think tanks. That needs to be countered by grass root organizing. Maryland does relatively well in this respect, but other states probably not.
Wojtek