News summaries
IL: State wants private firm to run lottery
Frustrated with years of stagnant lottery sales, the state wants to
shake things up by letting a private company take over in the hope that
a fresh approach can bring in more money....The bottom line is the
state will still own the lottery," said Susan Hofer, an Illinois
Lottery spokeswoman. "The goal would be that a private manager would
provide more innovative ways of selling tickets and more creative
games. We want to take advantage of new technologies and best practices
from other states and countries." When the deal is done, the state is
likely to end up paying the company a management fee and a cut of
additional profits, but the finer points of how that will work are
still being hashed out.....Critics contend that the state could
increase sales on its own and pocket all the profits without having to
share them with the outside company."Other states run their lotteries
much better than we do. We are literally leaving hundreds of millions
of dollars on the table," said Rep. Jack Franks, a Woodstock Democrat
who oversaw hearings examining the potential sale of the lottery under
former Gov. Rod Blagojevich. "But if we just ran it better, we would be
able to realize the extra money. Why don't we keep it in-house, instead
of giving our profits to a private manager? What we did was give up our
upside for expedience because people weren't willing to do the work."
Chicago Tribune
NY: Nassau county exec looks to privatize bus
Faced with what he called the MTA's "threat" of pulling its funding
from Long Island Bus, Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano said
yesterday he is looking into privatizing the ailing county bus system
in the hope of cutting its costs....Long Island Bus is owned by Nassau
County but largely subsidized by the MTA, which has operated the system
since 1973. Without the $40 million that the MTA usually kicks in each
year, transit sources say the agency would likely fold altogether...Mangano's
plan entails forming a committee to explore the possibility of severing its
relationship with the MTA and privatizing LI Bus. Mangano said he expects
to put out bids for private bus operators over the next month....But Ryan Lynch,
spokesman for the nonprofit Tri-State Transportation Campaign, which supports
improved bus service in the region, was skeptical of a privatization plan, in
part because public transportation generally is not a profitable venture. For a
private company to break even, he said, it may have to increase fares significantly. "All
options deserve consideration, but we do not think this is a solution to Long
Island Bus' woes," Lynch said. "A better solution would be for Nassau County,
the state and the MTA to come together and figure out a long-term funding
agreement that would avoid these annual funding battles."
Newsday
VA: Senator: Figures on liquor store privatization 'wildly optimistic'
U.S. Sen. Mark Warner called Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell's $300
million to $800 million estimate for privatizing the state's 332 liquor
stores "wildly optimistic." "I think some of the numbers that I've
heard bandied around are wildly optimistic and would provide
unrealistic expectations, particularly for folks who are hoping this
might help deal with our transportation woes,'' Warner said on a
conference call with reporters Wednesday afternoon...Some Democratic
legislators are concerned that the proposals will cost the state the
$220 million in taxes and profits ABC stores contribute annually to the
general fund..."I also think that any plan has to include how we are
going to replace that $220 million the ABC stores now provide on a
consistent annual basis that goes to our schools, that goes to law
enforcement, that goes to the general operations of state government,
particularly public education,'' Warner said. "If you're going to sell
these stores how are you going to replace that revenue stream?"
Washington Post (blog)
Schooling DOE Sec. Arne Duncan
Our pre-assessment of Arne's skills was based on years of following
Arne's speeches, writings and public policies--all of which have
culminated in his "Race to the Top" initiative (RTTT) and his national
"turnaround plan." RTTT is tied to a $4.3 billion fund to make states
compete for desperately needed education money by using eligibility
requirements to push for charter schools--schools publicly funded by
taxpayers, yet run privately, outside the control of local school
boards...[A] massive study by Stanford University, looking at data
covering some 70 percent of all charter school students nationally,
found that bad charter schools outnumber good ones by a ratio of
roughly 2 to 1--and an astonishing 83 percent of charter schools were
either no better, or worse than, traditional public schools.
Common Dreams
