News

MI: Michigan Kills Emergency Manager Law

Voters repeal a unique, controversial law that gave state-appointed officials broad powers in struggling cities and school districts. Voters repealed Public Act 4, the law enacted by the state legislature last year, which allowed the state’s “emergency managers” to take over powers held by mayors and other locally elected officials. Emergency managers could pass ordinances, sell property, and make changes to labor contracts in struggling cities and school districts.  Governing

OH: Privatized prison in Ohio gets 2nd chance at audit

State prison officials in Ohio began a two-day inspection Wednesday of the lakeshore prison that became the nation’s first privately owned state prison last year, checking on whether dozens of safety, health and security issues uncovered in a recent audit have been fixed. Nashville, Tenn.-based Corrections Corporation of America was rebuked by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction for conditions identified in a September audit of Lake Erie Correctional Facility, in Conneaut in northern Ohio. The audit report said cells were dirty, inmates lacked clean laundry and blankets and sometimes beds and pots and pans weren’t clean. It said doors were standing open and some keys can’t be found.  Business Week

Teachers Unions Notch Big Election Wins On State Education Votes

Teachers unions won several big victories in both red and blue states Tuesday, overturning laws that would have eliminated tenure in Idaho and South Dakota, defeating a threat to union political work in California, and ousting a state schools chief in Indiana who sought to fundamentally remake public education. The night didn’t belong entirely to big labor; advocates of charter schools, which are typically non-union, scored a win in Georgia and looked likely to prevail in a tough fight in Washington state.  Huffington Post