News

AZ: Ariz. charter schools oppose more state regulation

Arizona charter school officials say they don’t want the state to impose more regulations on how the mostly privately operated schools buy goods and services with taxpayer dollars, and the state board says no changes are in the works. The State Board for Charter Schools held a study session with charter school officials Wednesday in response to an investigation by The Arizona Republic that found that board members and administrators of some charters did business with their own schools.  San Francisco Chronicle

PA: Extension possible on Corbett decision on firm’s bid to privatize lottery

Another extension of a deadline is possible for Gov. Tom Corbett to consider whether to hire the British national lottery operator to manage the $3.5 billion Pennsylvania Lottery.  The Republic

VA: 2 local lawmakers seek to halt port privatization deal

Two senior local lawmakers from opposite sides of the political spectrum are trying to halt a multibillion-dollar deal to privatize the operations of the port of Hampton Roads. Legislative proposals from state Sen. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, and Del. Chris Jones, R-Suffolk, were introduced separately but share a common aim: preventing Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell’s administration from turning port operations over to a private company.  The Virginian-Pilot

DE: Bill would require Wilmington port deal approval

Sen. Robert Marshall has introduced legislation that would require state lawmakers and the governor to approve any deal to privatize the Port of Wilmington. In early December, the Diamond State Port Corp., the governing board of the state-owned port, entered into exclusive bargaining with Kinder Morgan for a possible contract operation agreement. DelawareOnline

Murderous Reform: A Plan to Privatize Postal Profits at Public Expense

The National Academy of Public Administration has released a ‘Work-in-Progress’ report entitled ‘Restructuring the U.S. Postal System: The Case for a Hybrid Public-Private Postal System.’ The Academy is now embarking on a study of this proposal, which would privatize a large portion of the country’s postal system. The proposal is predictably one-dimensional — as befits men who seemingly have little or no sense of the public service mission for which the Post Office was created 238 years ago under the direction of Benjamin Franklin. Its purpose, then as now, was democracy and equality, not efficiency or profit. Thus, the report omits much.  OpEdNews