News

Past audits show Aramark charged states for unserved prison meals. A private vendor in line to begin feeding roughly 100,000 prison inmates in Ohio and Michigan has a track record of billing for food it doesn’t serve, using substandard ingredients and riling prisoners with its meal offerings, past audits in several states show. The Republic

Teach For America alumni organize ‘resistance’. The summit, billed as “Organizing Resistance Against Teach for America and its Role in Privatization,” is being organized by a committee of scholars, parents, activists, and current corps members. Its mission is to challenge the organization’s centrality in the corporate-backed, market-driven, testing-oriented movement in urban education.  American Prospect

Noam Chomsky lectures on continued corporatization of universities. “If you want to privatize something and destroy it, it’s simple,” Chomsky said. “First you defund it so it doesn’t work anymore.” Chomsky said the increase of private higher education, and those institutions with similar practices, edged out the demand in the market for public higher education, which could halt tuition hikes in favor of more modest spending practices instead of spending more to compete with other public institutions. He said soon the only colleges in the United States that could realistically be called publicly funded were community colleges. The Michigan Daily

Cities and States Should Learn From Edward Snowden. Unfortunately for taxpayers, not only has outsourcing these services and privatizing public infrastructure to for-profit companies failed to keep this promise, but too often it undermines transparency, and public accountability. In fact, the fine print in these contracts often gives government contractors the power to make public decisions and guarantees profits even when it conflicts with public purpose. Huffington Post

PA: Analysts hold little hope for liquor, transit bills. Linking a bill to raise money for transportation to one that would privatize liquor sales was supposed to be the key to their passage in the General Assembly. Instead, the strategy doomed both proposals, analysts and lawmakers say. The Tribune-Review

WI: Local husband and wife fight school choice vouchers. Last month, Warner introduced a School Board resolution — approved by the full board on Monday — that opposes the expansion of vouchers in Wisconsin. Meanwhile Schroder, who is one of the teachers who went months without promised pay or benefits while working for Racine’s now-closed St. John Fisher Academy voucher high school, has founded a Facebook group called “Stop The Decimation of Public Education — Eliminate Vouchers!” It has 94 members and encourages people to contact their legislators about opposing vouchers. Journal Times

NC: NC Justice Center questions development privatization efforts. A liberal-leaning advocate believes N.C. Gov. Pat McCrory’s efforts to privatize economic development in the state needs some tweaking before it becomes law. A report from the N.C. Justice Center says one missing element stands out — companies that contribute to the N.C. Partnership for Prosperity should be barred from receiving state incentives. Charlotte Business Journal (blog)