OH: ODOT wants $2.85M for study on privatizing turnpike
FL: Editorial: No evidence to support privatizing state prisons
FL: Savings tough to calculate in Florida prison privatization plan
MA: Duncan, Kerry call for action on college tuition
PA: Study on selling Philly Gas Works to be made public
LA: State should be shown proof that school vouchers are worth it
Senate Dems divided over deep cuts to U.S. Postal Services
News summaries
OH: ODOT wants $2.85M for study on privatizing turnpike
According to a state request for funding, ODOT has asked for the money to be paid to KPMG Corporate FInance LLC to help it evaluable its options in leveraging assets of the turnpike, as well as rest areas along the 251-mile toll road. The Controlling Board is scheduled to meet on February 13 and will consider the request at that time. Governor John Kasich has lobbied for the leasing of the turnpike as a way to generate money. Statehouse Democrats, however, strongly opposed the idea. The Cleveland Leader
FL: Editorial: No evidence to support privatizing state prisons
This plan, believed to be the largest prison privatization in U.S. history, is being rushed through without nearly the amount of study an overhaul of this magnitude merits. State law requires that any effort to privatize a state function be backed by a rigorous cost-benefit analysis, but Department of Corrections officials have yet to complete one. A Senate bill would waive that requirement, a noxious end-run around a common-sense measure to ensure proposals like this actually cut costs. How much would this plan save state taxpayers? At this point, it’s anyone’s guess…As critics have pointed out, the amount of savings that this plan’s proponents claim that it would generate – between $16 million and $30 million a year – is relatively small as a share of the state’s operating budget and contrasts with the upheaval it would create. True, the state could see savings under this plan that might be redirected to education or health care, but given the tactics of the plan’s supporters there is no reason to believe any of their claims.
Palm Beach Post
FL: Savings tough to calculate in Florida prison privatization plan
As state lawmakers consider a massive expansion of prison privatization, one number dominates the debate: 7 percent. That’s how much savings the legislation requires of private prison operators compared to state-run prisons…But that number is subjective, and the state’s own analysts warn against comparing prison costs because no two prisons are alike and it’s difficult to make precise cost comparisons between public and private prisons. Tampa Bay Times
MA: Duncan, Kerry call for action on college tuition
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Senator John F. Kerry joined 13 college presidents and some 100 students from across the area for a wide-ranging discussion yesterday that emphasized the need to keep higher education affordable for the middle class…Instead, much of the conversation focused on a major factor driving tuition up at public institutions, the fact that many states have stripped them of their historical funding base. “We are seeing a weakening of the public higher education system nationwide,” Aoun said. “There are enormous cuts year after year. So we have the privatization of the system, where they are forced to raise tuition in order to compensate.” Today, UMass receives $30 million less in state funding than it did a decade ago, UMass officials say. Boston Globe
PA: Study on selling Philly Gas Works to be made public
A long-awaited study about the possibility of privatizing the Philadelphia Gas Works will be made public next week, Mayor Nutter said…In 2010, the city entered into a $200,000 contract with Lazard Freres & Co. L.L.C. for a feasibility study of selling PGW compared with retaining ownership. It’s not clear what the Lazard report will recommend, and Nutter declined to offer details. PGW has about 500,000 customers, many low-income whose bills are subsidized by other customers, leading to the highest rates in the state. Clarke said that he favored selling assets in concept, but that PGW would be a complicated deal. He said that he did not want to see any jobs lost, and that the city would have to find a way to protect the customers who now get financial assistance. Philadelphia Inquirer
LA: State should be shown proof that school vouchers are worth it
I attended public schools. Therefore, my support for them comes naturally. I believe it is in everybody’s best interest, up to and including the government itself, to have a well educated citizenry… Consequently, if you can show me that a child has a better chance of acquiring a good education via vouchers at a private or parochial school, I won’t let my personal history blind me to your facts.
But there’s the rub. You need to show me those facts. Heretofore, proponents of vouchers, Gov. Bobby Jindal among them, have made faith-based arguments for faith-based schools. We are asked to accept it as truth that schools that are privately funded are by their very nature better than publicly funded campuses…For years, though, some private and parochial school leaders have resisted the idea of testing, even as they’ve lobbied for vouchers. Will they consent to testing this year, or will our governor insist that their schools be granted public funds without ever having to prove that they’re worthy of them? The Times-Picayune
Senate Dems divided over deep cuts to U.S. Postal Services
Senate Democratic lawmakers from rural states are balking at legislation from the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee that would let the U.S. Postal Service close thousands of offices.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has convened meetings of Senate colleagues and staffs to overhaul the bill, which he believes could lead to the eventual privatization of the postal service. The postal reform bill crafted by Homeland Security Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) was expected to reach the Senate floor as soon as next week. Now Senate Democratic aides say it is not likely to come up until after the Presidents Day recess, as senators engage in last-minute shuttle diplomacy to avert a nasty and potentially embarrassing floor fight. “It’s a massively complex series of issues, both short-term and long-term, in terms of solvency and sustaining postal service. That’s coupled with 535 members paying close attention to postal service in their backyards,” said a senior Democratic aide. The Hill