Headlines
The GOP Plan to Get Air Traffic Safety on the Cheap
Media Matters: WSJ Covers Up ALEC Link To Anti-Union School Privatization Law
FL: Court rejects Florida prison privatization appeal
AZ:  Documents Show Arizona Officials Knew Private Prisons Weren’t Saving Money
LA: Louisiana sets rules for landmark school voucher program
CA: LA Times Demands Records on Privatization of LA Memorial Coliseum
PA: Editorial: Halfway houses need repairs

The GOP Plan to Get Air Traffic Safety on the Cheap
Privatize the job. Republican Representative Tom Petri of Wisconsin, who chairs the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s aviation subcommittee, says private controllers handle about 28 percent of the nation’s aviation traffic, The Hill reports. The private contractors work mostly at low-activity airports near smaller cities that are served by commuter airlines rather than major carriers. If Petri has his way, the ranks of private contractors will grow.  Business Week

Media Matters: WSJ Covers Up ALEC Link To Anti-Union School Privatization Law
The Wall Street Journal this morning failed to report ties between the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and controversial “parent-trigger” legislation that would allow parents to take over and convert public schools to charter schools. They also failed to report that the Journal’s parent company, News Corp, is a member of ALEC. The Journal’s treatment of the legislation also cited no criticism of the proposal, which has been described as an effort “to manipulate parents into letting [the charter school lobby] privatize more public schools…In addition to not disclosing their conflict of interest, the Journal reported on the claims of “advocates” of the legislation, but made no mention of opposition by several parent organizations, including parents who wanted their initial petition signatures in favor of that legislation revoked, because “many parents said that they had been misled about what the petitions called for” as well as “harassment by some signature gatherers.” Media Matters

FL: Court rejects Florida prison privatization appeal
An appellate court has rejected Attorney General Pam Bondi’s appeal of ruling against the Legislature’s plan to privatize nearly 30 prison facilities in South Florida. A three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal rejected her plea to reverse a lower court’s ruling against privatization, saying Bondi couldn’t appeal on her own after her client, the Department of Corrections, declined to do so. The panel unanimously dismissed the case because Bondi was not a party…Leaders of the Republican-controlled Legislature had urged Bondi to appeal after Gov. Rick Scott decided the department, which is part of his administration, would not…Circuit Judge Jackie Fulford of Tallahassee last year blocked the privatization plan, saying it violated the Florida Constitution because it should have been authorized through passage of a stand-alone law instead of being tucked into the budget. Lawmakers subsequently considered such a bill, but it was defeated in the Florida Senate.  Miami Herald

AZ: Documents Show Arizona Officials Knew Private Prisons Weren’t Saving Money
Documents recently obtained by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) show that the state of Arizona deliberately circumvented and ultimately repealed a state law requiring private for-profit prison corporations to demonstrate cost savings in their bids on new prison contracts. These records reveal that the state was aware that existing private prison contracts were not saving the state money–despite state laws requiring private prison contractors to deliver such savings…For the past six years, these reports have consistently found that private prisons are not saving the state money, and in many cases, the private beds cost more than equivalent public beds. In fact, an AFSC analysis of ADC Per Capita Cost Reports revealed that between 2008-2010, Arizona overpaid for its private prison beds by $10 million. Therefore, it would be impossible for a for-profit prison corporation to claim that its proposed prison would save the state money using this data as the basis of the assessment.  But instead of holding the for-profit prison corporations accountable or changing course, the Arizona State Legislature simply began circumventing the law. Tuscon Citizen

LA: Louisiana sets rules for landmark school voucher program
State money will continue to flow to scores of private and religious schools participating in Louisiana’s new voucher program even if their students fail basic reading and math tests, according to new guidelines released by the state on Monday.  The voucher program, the most sweeping in the nation, is the linchpin of Louisiana’s bold push to reshape public education. The state plans to shift tens of millions of dollars from public schools to pay not only private schools but also private businesses and private tutors to educate children across the state…Critics, including teachers’ unions, argue that vouchers unfairly divert vital tax dollars from public schools.  The Louisiana vouchers cover the full cost of private school tuition for poor and middle-class children who would otherwise attend a low-performing public school. In pushing the plan, Jindal and State Superintendent of Education John White promised to hold the private schools accountable for student achievement. MSNBC

CA: LA Times Demands Records on Privatization of LA Memorial Coliseum
The Los Angeles Times claims in court that a deal to privatize Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum was negotiated behind closed doors, and that the Coliseum Commission blew off the newspaper’s requests for public records. Joining the Times as plaintiff in Superior Court is Californians Aware, a free speech advocacy group. They sued the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission for public records, and asked the court to reject a lease to the (nonparty) University of California, and let the public vote on the deal.  The commission negotiated the lease after it failed to deliver stadium upgrades as part of its agreement with USC, the Times reported one week ago. The Coliseum has projected losses of roughly $5 million for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2013: almost one-third of its operating budget. Courthouse News Service

PA: Editorial: Halfway houses need repairs
Hearings into the lax oversight of New Jersey’s prison halfway houses won’t do much good if they don’t dig into the fundamental question of whether the state should scrap the privatized program and assume direct control with its own employees. The separate Assembly and state Senate hearings this week come a month after a New York Times series reported that some halfway houses have become dens of violence, drug abuse, and sexual assault. They have become holding tanks for prisoners awaiting trial and include inmates with such violent histories they should have never been assigned to live in low-security settings. It’s no wonder some residents have begged to be returned to a regular prison…Halfway houses are cheaper to run than regular prisons — by about half. But you get what you pay for. The poorly paid halfway-house employees have little motivation to do their jobs well. There is a cost to their incompetence. One man sent to a halfway house for not paying traffic fines was killed. Another resident escaped and killed a former girlfriend. Philadelphia Inqirer