News

PA: Charter operator owed its schools millions, but no one’s checking its books. The Philadelphia School District will spend a projected $729 million on charter schools in the coming fiscal year. But, if the past year at one charter operator is any indication, not all of those funds will actually go toward serving students. Philadelphia City Paper

FL: Interest rises in east-west toll road for Pasco. The DOT and Florida Turnpike Authority have partnered with the private sector to build toll roads in Orlando and Miami, but this would be the “first of its kind, privately funded, designed, built, operated and maintained elevated expressway” in the state. Tbo.com

LA: Privatization … we’re selling our souls – opinion. It could be argued that privatization increases the efficiency of an organization. But there’s no evidence for this. State-run healthcare systems in Germany and Australia provide some of the best public healthcare for the lowest cost. The for-profit charter school model is based on hiring teachers at the lowest possible wages, refusing to accept special needs children, and dumping kids with behavioral problems. In public schools, paying and advancing teachers in relation to how their students perform on standardized tests encourages cheating just as this type of pay scheme does on Wall Street. When did children, the sick and the elderly become profit centers? What kind of society allows the cost of an illness or caring for a disabled child to bankrupt a family, just so a profit can be made? Through privatization of the public good, what price have we put on our souls?  Shreveport Times

CA: Protesters leave Berkeley post office camp. Police dispersed a group of campers and cleared out their tents, tables, posters and a tree house at the Berkeley main post office Thursday morning, according to police and organizers of the month long protest against the sale of the building. San Jose Mercury News