The state has since brought in charter operators to run two low-performing schools, and parents told him, "we'd be out of here" had that not happened, Mr. Finegold said.
Mr. Finegold, the bill's sponsor and the son of public-school teachers, said his motivation sprung from conversations with parents in Lawrence, part of his district northwest of Boston, where the struggling school district was taken over by the state in 2011.