Headlines
IL: How about outsourcing a university prof? – opinion
IN: Purdue struggles with reduced state funding
MI: Push to privatize DHS services
MI: Muskegon considers privatizing alternative education
VA: Richmond schools advised to cut and privatize services
ME: State historical site to be managed by person linked to Koch Bros
Privatizing prisons is not the financial answer – opinion
Petition: USDA – Keep chicken safe by rejecting privatized poultry inspection
IL: How about outsourcing a university prof? – opinion
..After decades of expansion, the U.S. university growth curve is flattening. However, “Least expensive and, more or less good enough,” is not a philosophy that builds world-class universities. It’s the hilosophy of Target and is crystallized by the hook “Expect More. Pay Less.” I like Target for retail, but try as we might to “commoditize,” education is not retail. Yet…Good teaching cannot be approached as piecework. A good teacher has to be constantly aware of how students integrate what they are learning into the rest of their lives. The cashier at Target just wants you to “Expect More. Pay Less,” and get out of the way of the next customer. The outsourcing of secondary functions may allow a university to focus more strongly on its core teaching mission. However, when universities rely on teachers that they treat as labor-for-hire, they can affect the priorities of the entire faculty. Rather than stewards, they become supplicants. They learn they must not challenge students or administrators or give any offense because they are little valued and easily replaced.Inoffensive educators stop looking to the horizon and start looking at their feet. From that posture, though, how can they prepare students to cross that next ocean or climb that next mountain? Chicago Tribune
IN: Purdue struggles with reduced state funding
…Purdue’s president has spent the past five years considering many options to counteract the decreasing amount of state funding that has been given to the University, even looking into the idea of privatization. President France Córdova, during her time in office, has been making up for a loss of almost 20 percent of state appropriations that are normally given to Purdue..Lack of state funding creates a possible option of privatization for a public university. Purdue has considered privatization in the past, but provost Tim Sands said he believes the state is already too intertwined in the University for this to be a feasible option anytime in the near future. “I don’t think that privatization is a short-term assumption about where we are headed, but we could creep in that direction,” Sands said…The changes Córdova has wrought to increase Purdue’s budget are similar to how private institutions acquire funds. Private universities are continually trying to increase the budget by innovating new programs and finding private options of revenue gain. “What we will continue to do is try to diversify our revenue so that if the state continues to decrease appropriations, because they need the money elsewhere, we will find other sources of revenue,” Sands said. “We are going to try and avoid relying on tuition and fees for that.” Purdue Exponent
MI: Push to privatize DHS services
When it comes to child welfare, Sen. Bruce Caswell, R-Hillsdale, thinks Kent county should privatize everything but child protective services, much like Wayne county…A senate budget bill calls for just that in Kent county, where the private sector is already involved. But state worker spokesperson Ray Holman worries it’s the wrong move for everyone. “Farming out the state’s responsibility is going to come back to haunt us all,” said Holman, spokesperson for UAW Local 6000. Holman also opposes a house budget bill that would move 90 youth from three state juvenille justice facilities to private centers. Rep. Dave Agema says it’d save taxpayers more than $11 million. “You’re talking about people that may have mental health issues. You could be talking about sex offenders. These individuals and these children need to be treated in these state facilities,” said Holman Finally, a senate workgroup is studying privatizing medicaid eligibility determination. If President Obama’s Affordable Care Act is upheld, an estimated 500,000 more Michiganders will become eligible for medicaid in 2014. “Turn it over to private companies. Take the burden off our state workers,” said Caswell. But Holman says it’s not a burden, but their job – a job state workers do best. WILX
MI: Muskegon considers privatizing alternative education
Muskegon Public Schools is considering changes to its alternative education program, including having a private firm operate it as an online program…Craig students are considered to have significant special education needs. Muskegon Chronicle
VA: Richmond schools advised to cut and privatize services
Consultants hired to help bridge the Richmond school system’s $23.8 million budget gap recommend cutting dozens of teachers, aides, custodians and other staff members, as well as privatizing transportation and facilities services. Consultants hired to help bridge the Richmond school system’s $23.8 million budget gap recommend cutting dozens of teachers, aides, custodians and other staff members, as well as privatizing transportation and facilities services, among other cost-savings measures…The group is also reviewing other areas, including employee contributions to health care premiums, eliminating health insurance contributions for retired employees and a proposed staff-reduction plan. Richmond Times Dispatch
ME: State historical site to be managed by person linked to Koch Bros
While some in Maine — including the governor — are in favor of outsourcing management of the popular Fort Knox State Historic Site, others worry that the move would be the first step down a slippery slope to privatize all state parks. “Do you really want to privatize state parks?” MaryAnne Turowski, the director of politics and legislation for the Maine State Employees Association, said Tuesday. “I think it’s a precursor to more. I think it opens the door for future considerations of privatization.”… The state will continue to own the 19th century fort that overlooks the Penobscot Narrows, but the day-to-day management of the seasonal site would be taken over by the Friends group. In exchange, they would receive 85 percent of the admission fees…But not everyone is convinced. Turowski brought up the fact that the president of the board of directors of the Friends of Fort Knox is Carol Weston, a six-term state senator who now is working as the state director for the Maine branch of Americans for Prosperity. The conservative advocacy group was founded with support from billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, and lobbies for lower taxes and less government regulation and spending. Turowski suggested that privatizing the operations of a state historic site fits into the goals of Americans for Prosperity. “This may be a unique situation. The Friends do great work. They’ve done a lot for the park over the years,” she said. “But what’s the next step? Is it some group that’s not a ‘friend,’ but is a management corporation? Does this open the door to possibilities we’re not even thinking about right now?”..But McCabe said that the mission of Maine’s state parks isn’t exactly to operate as a business would “Our state park system relies on some parks doing better than others,” he said. “Each of our parks is a different experience.” Bangor Daily News
Privatizing prisons is not the financial answer – opinion
…When their private prisons, a $3 billion dollar industry, doesn’t turn a profit, the owners’ close down the facility. According to a 2011 National Public Radio report, Littlefield, Texas, built a prison for GEO to run. Then Idaho and Wyoming, who were sending their prisoners to Texas, had financial problems and stopped sending them. Now the building stands idle and Littlefield’s residents have more unemployment and a tax increase. To make money in prisons, one needs to have a full house. What happens if alternative sentencing or educational and legal changes lower the crime rate? What does the owner of a prison do if authorities do not send them more bodies to lock up? Littlefield, Texas, knows. Data also suggest that private prisons tend to have fewer of the more dangerous and volatile inmates and ship in prisoners from distant areas. To save money, private prisons can pay lower wages, provide less training and hire fewer employees. Applying the private industry model of manufacturing trucks and banking doesn’t necessarily work locking up people with anti-social behaviors. In recent years prison populations and associated costs have mushroomed. There are many ways to improve this, but privatizing prisons is not a good option. Herald-Dispatch
Petition: USDA – Keep chicken safe by rejecting privatized poultry inspection
There’s only about two weeks left to tell the USDA why privatizing poultry inspection is a big mistake! GAP’s Food Integrity Campaign has launched a petition telling Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to reject the program – known as HIMP – that hands government oversight duties to the poultry industry. Click here to sign the petition!