Headlines
CA: Demise of redevelopment ends privatization of local governments, critic says
PA: Auditor general says charter school illegally funneled money to church
TX: New bill boosts public-private projects
AZ: Gov wants to revamp public education funding, expand private school options
ME: Lack of interest kills bill to allow private prisons
NJ: Senate approves bill to allow private companies to manage schools in poor cities
NJ: Editorial: NJEA support for private management of public schools displays weakness, cynicism
NJ: Montville library board to hear from privatization company
National Weather Service in dispute over privatization of mobile app development

News summaries
CA: Demise of redevelopment ends privatization of local governments, critic says
With redevelopment agencies possibly going the way of prohibition, city officials from around the state are saying the change will rip away their main tool to fix blighted areas. But to foes of redevelopment – who range from libertarians to left-leaning academics – the decision means something different. To them, the decision last week by the California Supreme Court to abolish redevelopment agencies turns off a spigot of power and money they say has polluted the spirit of civic duty and altruism that should guide public service. Under redevelopment, billion-dollar corporations courted the favor of small-time suburban politicians, said Victor M. Valle, a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University who formerly worked as a reporter at the Los Angeles Times. “There’s such a strong incentive for a City Council to play along,” he said. “It’s just power and money, not really ideology. These council members get to be the arbiter of how money is spent, lots of money. That in itself is seductive. All of a sudden, just think about who surrounds you. You enter a whole different society.” The California Supreme Court last week ruled that the state government had the authority to end redevelopment agencies and reclaim the taxes that were being captured by cities. The agencies are to be dissolved by Feb. 1. Whittier Daily News

PA: Auditor general says charter school funneled money to church
A Monroe County charter school has violated the state charter school law by having “improper entanglements” with a church run by the school’s founder, according to a preliminary report issued by the state auditor general’s office. The report, obtained by The Morning Call, says the Pocono Mountain Charter School in Tobyhanna also may have illegally diverted taxpayer money to adjacent Shawnee Tabernacle Church. It also may have improperly received $87,101 from the state in rental reimbursements for its building lease agreement with the church. The Morning Call

TX:New bill boosts public-private projects
The Texas Legislature passed the Public and Private Facilities and Infrastructure Act last May, and it became law in September, but few know about it. The act encourages and provides more oversight for public-private partnerships in Texas – an arrangement where private entities share the costs, risks and profits of public projects…Possibly the best-known public-private partnership, or P3, in Texas is Cowboys Stadium. The behemoth is owned by the City of Arlington and leased by the Dallas Cowboys, owned by Jerry Jones…Generally, the new code applies to the construction of buildings, and does not apply to the state highway system. “The bill adds transparency and a framework to enable these kinds of projects,” Wood said. “You could do them before, but, because it wasn’t black and white on the books, there was a real reluctance to do that.”..One reason the legislation remains mostly unknown is that it met virtually no opposition. El Paso Inc.

AZ: Gov wants to revamp public education funding, expand private school options
Gov. Jan Brewer will propose a major revamp of how the state funds schools, a move that could make more cash available for private and parochial schools…Brewer told the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the current funding system has not kept pace, with public schools getting a fixed amount of money for each student enrolled. A similar system exists for state aid to universities and community colleges. “Whether it’s K-12, community college or university classrooms, we can no longer afford to reward institutions for merely finding students to occupy desks for part of the day or part of the year,” she said. “Instead, we must invest our resources to fund the schools and support the teachers who deliver the results for our children, no matter the educational setting.”…In fact, there actually could be less money available for public schools if lawmakers approve an expansion of existing programs that allow individuals to divert some of what they would otherwise pay in income taxes to instead help students attend private and parochial schools. East Valley Tribune

ME: Lack of interest kills bill to allow private prisons
A bill to allow a privately run prison in Maine, carried over from last year’s session in hopes of addressing the needs of aging inmates with more medical concerns, was killed Monday after lawmakers were told no one is interested in running such a facility.  Bangor Daily News

NJ: Senate approves bill to allow private companies to manage schools in poor cities
A bill backed by Gov. Chris Christie that allows private companies to build and manage up to a dozen public schools in three of the state’s poorest cities was approved by the state Senate 34-3 today.  The Star-Ledger

NJ: Editorial: NJEA support for private management of public schools displays weakness, cynicism
New Jersey is about to take a giant step toward opening public schools to profit-making management companies, and the effort has a most unlikely supporter — the New Jersey Education Association. In a move that displays either its weakness or cynicism — or both — the state’s largest teachers’ union has joined forces with archenemy Gov. Chris Christie and the powerful Camden County Democratic machine of George Norcross to endorse the “Urban Hope Act,” which would allow private companies to build and manage public schools using taxpayer money. “We have always supported public school choice,’’ said Ginger Gold Schnitzer, the NJEA’s chief lobbyist…The union’s reversal of position came after the bill was amended to guarantee bargaining and tenure rights for teachers in privately managed schools — as many as 12 so-called “renaissance schools” slated for Newark, Camden and Trenton. But the NJEA endorsed the proposed law while it still contained a provision that would require direct public financing of the construction of schools managed by private firms along with an exemption from competitive bidding laws. That part of the law was excised — the companies will have to find private financing for constructing their schools, but they will be able to pay back those loans with school aid, public money. They still will not have to comply with bidding laws and the private firms will have access to publicly-purchased land, including an $11 million tract in Camden that George Norcross has sought in the past for a charter school. The Star-Ledger

NJ: Montville library board to hear from privatization company
The Montville Township Public Library Board of Trustees is expected to hear a presentation in the coming months by a company that provides library outsourcing for communities as a possible way of lowering expenses. ay of lowering expenses. Library Systems & Services LLC, or LSSI, a Germantown, Md.-based company that was founded in 1981, was scheduled to give a presentation at the board’s Monday meeting, but had to reschedule to March or April, said library board member and Township Committeeman Don Kostka. The presentation would address how the library would change if LSSI was hired, including what would happen to existing staff, what interaction would exist between LSSI and the Board of Trustees, what would happen to union employees and benefits, how LSSI would develop programs and work with different age groups, and how working with LSSI would affect the library’s collection, interaction with the community and accounting systems, Kostka said. Patch.com

National Weather Service in dispute over privatization of mobile app development
The National Weather Service is in a dispute with its own employees over whether the service has gone too far in promoting the privatization of weather-related applications using federal data. NWS leadership put out a memo in December suspending staff development of mobile applications because the private sector development of such apps has been robust and many of the offerings have been available to the public at little or no charge, according to a Jan. 9 article by Andrew Freedman in the Washington Post. However, Dan Sobien, director of the National Weather Service Employees Union, said that the agency should not be quick to give up development of mobile applications because distributing weather data to the public is one of its core missions. That mission eventually could be hampered if the public needs to sign into, and pay for, access to critical weather data through private mobile apps, the argument goes. FCW.com