Won't Back Down (2012)

Won't Back Down (previously titled Still I Rise, Learning To Fly and Steel Town) is a drama film directed by Daniel Barnz starring Maggie Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis and Holly Hunter. It was released on September 28, 2012.

Synopsis: Two determined mothers, a bartender (Gyllenhaal) and a teacher (Davis), look to transform their children's failing inner city school. Facing a powerful and entrenched bureaucracy and corruption from the teacher's union president (Hunter) and the school's principal (Rhames), they risk everything to make a difference in the education and future of their children.

Background: The film is loosely based on the events surrounding the use of the parent trigger law in Sunland-Tujunga, Los Angeles, California in 2010, where several groups of parents attempted to take over several failing public schools. The Parent Trigger law, which was passed in California and other states in 2010, allowed parents to enforce administrative overhaul and overrule administrators in under-performing public schools if petitioned. If successful, petitions allow parents to direct changes such as dismissal of staff and potential conversion of a school to a charter school.