Headlines
Public-private deals seen boosting road projects
More universities charging more tuition for harder majors
IL: Chicago City Council approves mayor’s public-private infrastructure plan
NM: City shuts off water, sewer for ticket nonpayment
PA: Phila. district outlines plan for drastic overhaul
LA: How Jindal reshaped Louisiana’s public education system based on ALEC’s blueprints
NC: Unwise outsourcing of prison health care – opinion
FL: Gov. Scott signs privatization of reclaimed water bill into law
NY:  NYC high-schoolers on strike

Public-private deals seen boosting road projects
Financing for roads and highways is likely to attract a growing number of public-private partnerships once Congress passes federal transportation funding, a panel of experts at a Federal Association of Municipal Analysts conference in Las Vegas said on Friday. Congress last month opted for a 90-day extension of transportation funding amid a standoff between Democrats and Republicans over competing long-term proposals, casting uncertainty over the eventual level of federal spending for building and repairing highways…However, the partnerships cannot replace public funding, experts at the conference said. “One point is funding, and another is financing,” said Joung Lee of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, which represents state transportation departments. Gasoline taxes, both federal and state, account for the bulk of funds for building and maintaining highways, and revenue from these is in decline in real terms. More fuel-efficient vehicles and a federal gasoline tax long set at a flat rate of 18.4 cents per gallon are pushing this primary source of road revenues down. “We presented the Congress with a wide variety of financing options,” said Lee, showing a wide matrix including endless possibilities, such as drivers’ license surcharges or other taxes and fees. “What is lacking is the political will to implement any of these options.” Chicago Tribune

More universities charging more tuition for harder majors
A growing number of public universities are charging higher tuition for math, science and business programs, which they argue cost more to teach — and can earn grads higher-paying jobs. More than 140 public universities now use “differential tuition” plans, up 19% since 2006, according to research from Cornell’s Higher Education Research Institute. That number is increasing as states cut higher-education spending and schools try to pay for expensive technical programs…Some worry that higher tuition will put off low-income students. “The fear in all of this is will it lead to people being rationed out of classes?” said Ronald Ehrenberg, the Cornell researcher behind the tuition study….In Florida, if Gov. Rick Scott signs a bill approved by the Legislature, certain universities will get to charge tuition at their own rates rather than what’s mandated by the state. USA Today

IL: Chicago City Council approves mayor’s public-private infrastructure plan
The Chicago City Council on Tuesday approved a plan to use public-private partnerships to finance an ambitious $7 billion program to overhaul the city’s aging infrastructure…Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced the multibillion-dollar plan in February, saying Chicago would go ahead with projects without waiting for federal assistance or raising taxes…Some urban planners and policy experts were skeptical that remaking a city on such a grand scale could be pulled off without either raising taxes or privatizing major pieces of infrastructure, as former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley did with the Chicago Skyway and the city’s parking meter system…The City Council on Tuesday rejected alternative proposals from aldermen who remain skeptical about the plan. One of those alternative plans would have required the council’s approval of all Trust-funded projects, set aside 1 percent of the nonprofit’s operating budget for oversight and empower Inspector General Joe Ferguson to investigate the Trust. “It’s not free money. It’s gonna come to us in user fees and taxes,” said Alderman Leslie Hairston. “Things that will add to the burden the city is already imposing, we’re gonna saddle them with.” The Republic

NM: City shuts off water, sewer for ticket nonpayment
With more and more vehicle owners simply deciding refuse to pay red light camera and speed camera tickets, private, for-profit companies and municipalities are growing increasingly desperate. America’s second-largest city shut down its photo ticketing program last year largely because residents who could not afford the $500 citations did not pay them. On Monday, Las Cruces, New Mexico announced it would shut off the utilities of city residents who refused to pay Redflex Traffic Systems, the Australian company that owns and operates the cameras…The city provides gas, water, sewer and trash services. Ordinarily, the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission prevents shutting off the utilities of low-income residents from November 15 to March 15. This is primarily a safety issue as lack of heating during a cold snap — Las Cruces recorded a -10 degree temperature in 1962 — could endanger the elderly. The commission also protects the seriously ill and customers on Medicaid or on assistance from a charitable organization. A spokesman for the commission, however, told TheNewspaper that no such protections apply to utilities run by a municipality. To have service restored, Las Cruces and its private vendor will charge a $48 re-connection fee on top of $125 per ticket. .Las Cruces gave Redflex approval to issue speeding and red light tickets three years ago. In January, a local university was unable to prove the program delivered a substantial safety benefit. Last year, a majority of voters in Albuquerque voted for the removal of red light cameras.  The Newspaper

PA: Phila. district outlines plan for drastic overhaul
The plan – subject to public comment and SRC approval – would close 40 schools next year and 64 by 2017, move thousands more students to charters, and dismantle the central office in favor of “achievement networks” that would compete to run groups of 25 schools and would sign performance-based contracts. Knudsen, in a news conference, avoided references to the “Philadelphia School District.”..Teachers union president Jerry Jordan decried the radical restructuring as the SRC divesting itself of many of the core responsibilities of public education. He called it a “cynical, right-wing, market-driven” blueprint. “This is totally dismantling the system,” Jordan said. “It’s a business plan crafted to privatize the services within the School District.”  Philly.com

LA: How Jindal reshaped Louisiana’s public education system based on ALEC’s blueprints
Last week, he signed into law a suite of landmark reform bills that will likely change the direction of public education in Louisiana forever. But not all change is good, and critics say both Jindal’s agenda and the strategy to move it come right from the playbook of conservative advocacy group ALEC, in an effort to revive Jindal’s national political profile. Louisiana is now home to the nation’s most expansive school voucher program. Charter school authorization powers have been broadened. And teacher tenure policies have been radically transformed. Louisiana already had something of a reputation as a radical-reform state, thanks to the post-Katrina educational climate in New Orleans. But not all change is good, and education advocates have deep concerns about the efficacy of Jindal’s overhaul, and the interests that have pushed it. “With these laws Gov. Bobby Jindal has sold our kids out for his political aspirations,” said Karran Royal Harper, a Louisiana parent activist and education advocate. The bills all sprinted through the state legislature. Committee hearings were conducted at a breakneck speed, Democratic lawmakers complained, and members were asked to vote on amendments they didn’t actually understand. When the House took up a bill changing teacher-tenure rules, it ran the session past midnight, refusing to break until they called for a vote…ALEC’s 2010 “Report Card on American Education” (PDF) suggested that lawmakers overwhelm their opposition in exactly this manner. “Do not simply just introduce one reform in the legislature—build a consensus for reform and introduce a lot,” the report authors told ALEC members. Salon

NC: Unwise outsourcing of prison health care – opinion
Hiring private contractors to take over the state’s prison health care system is a bad move for North Carolina and for all of us in the state who pay taxes. Privatization won’t save money, and if other states are a guide, initial low-ball bids and multiple malpractice suits will push the state’s costs even higher. Deliberate understaffing at Central Prison has led to many negative outcomes. But it looks like the Perdue administration would rather scapegoat 2,500 prison medical professionals than acknowledge its own culpability and fix the problems. Let’s call this privatization proposal what it is – either a leadership failure or a sweetheart deal for a private prison contractor with job promises to high-ranking lame-duck politicians and political appointees looking for a parachute because the boss decided to forgo another term…Despite the lack of evidence in other states that outsourcing saves money, the Department of Public Safety decided to look at privatization as a way to cut costs. But significant cost saving from privatized prison medical care is illusory, according to Alex Friedman, an editor at Prison Legal News. States that have turned medical care over to for-profit companies find themselves in the middle of negligent care lawsuits. It’s happened in Florida, New York and New Jersey. News Observer

FL: Gov. Scott signs privatization of reclaimed water bill into law
Another measure (HB 639) originally created a firestorm among environmentalists concerned that it would have allowed the privatization of “reclaimed” water, or water treated by sewage facilities. The final version of the bill will make it easier for counties and cities to use the treated water for irrigation without getting a permit. Palm Beach Post

NY:  NYC high-schoolers on strike
Occupy has caught young students’ attention — and some are planning to join the May 1 general strike. In a short video released last week, a group of students from New York’s Paul Robeson High School stand in an unremarkable classroom: school bags slung over wooden chairs and busy pinboards in the background. Their message, however, is a radical one: at front and center of the shot, a young man holding a white sheet of paper announces a mass high school student walkout on May 1, the day of the Occupy-planned general strike.  “Dear New York City. We the students of public education are here to inform you of the injustice that is taking place in our school system,” he begins, surrounded by members of the school’s student leadership, some staring defiantly into the camera with arms crossed. After listing student grievances including the privatization of the public school system, budget cuts, school closures against community wishes and over-policing in schools, the young man announces the May Day walkout to nearby Fort Greene park in Brooklyn. Salon