Headlines
1. Letting the market drive transportation; Bush officials criticized for privatization
2. GA: State begins $1.6B tech privatization
3. IN: 27 counties next for privatized welfare
4. Louisiana parents get tax break for students
5. Jail ‘deplorable’: tour gives first-hand look at conditions


News Summaries
1. Letting the market drive transportation; Bush officials criticized for privatization
Transportation Secretary Mary Peters and other political appointees
have spent the latter part of President Bush’s two terms laboring
behind the scenes to shrink the federal role in road-building and
public transportation. They have also sought to turn highways into
commodities that can be sold or leased to private firms and used by
motorists for a price. In Duvall and Gribbin’s view, unleashing the
private sector and introducing market forces could lead to innovation
and more choices for the public, much as the breakup of AT&T
transformed telecommunications. But their ideas and actions have
alarmed transit advocates, the trucking industry, states struggling to
build rail projects and members of Congress from both parties. Washington Post
2. GA: State begins $1.6B tech privatization
The state of Georgia’s technology is so dysfunctional that the only way
to fix it is to privatize it. On March 14, bids were due from major
technology companies interested in the job — which could be worth up
to $1.6 billion over as long as seven years. At stake is an attempt by
Gov. Sonny Perdue to revamp state government computers, software and
systems that a February consultant’s report said "are placing key
business systems and operations at risk" — everything from the ability
of state police to look up the license plates of vehicles they pull
over to Division of Family and Children Services workers’ ability to
keep track of child welfare cases. Atlanta Business Chronicle
3. IN: 27 counties next for privatized welfare
State officials say the rollout of the state’s new privatized welfare
system is going well enough to expand it to a large swath of southern
and western Indiana. The Indianapolis Star
4. Louisiana parents get tax break for students
A tax break for the parents of private, public, university lab and home-schooled
students cleared the Legislature on Friday. The Advocate
5. Jail ‘deplorable’: tour gives first-hand look at conditions
Padlocks keep detainees accused of violent crimes shut up in their
cells in the Harrison County jail’s maximum-security section. Sheriff
Melvin Brisolara admits it’s not an ideal situation, but calls it a
temporary solution until the decrepit jail’s broken safety devices are
replaced. A Biloxi, Mississippi Sun Herald tour of the jail on Tuesday
gave a first-hand look at problems….A few inmates were locked in
examination rooms in the privatized medical center. The director said
its 18 full-time employees see 2,200 inmates a month for routine health
care. Sun Herald
Upcoming Events
Discussion. The Education Sector holds a discussion
on "The Evolving Federal Role in Education:Past, Present, and
Future." Thursday, March 20, 2008, Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace, 1779 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, D.C.
Participants: Christopher Cross, education consultant and former
assistant secretary in the Education Department; Samuel Halperin,
founder of the American Youth Policy Forum and former deputy
assistant secretary of the Health, Education and Welfare Department;
Jack Jennings, president and CEO of the Center on Education Policy;
Kati Haycock, president of Education Trust; Fritz Edelstein, principal
of Public Private Action; and Andrew Rotherham, co-founder and
co-director of Education Sector. Contact: Stacey Jordan, 202-552-2849,
[email protected].