News

NY: Charter Schools in Wealthy Areas at Center of NYC Battle. At Success Academy Union Square, a charter school in Manhattan, parents dropping off kindergartners one frigid morning include a radiologist with a Louis Vuitton bag slung over one shoulder and a fashion designer married to an investment banker. . . New York state law requires charter schools — publicly funded but privately run — to improve student achievement, especially among those “at risk of academic failure.” Still, Success Academy, the nonprofit that is the city’s biggest charter chain, is opening schools in wealthier neighborhoods like Union Square, where the median household income was $103,198 in 2012, about twice the city median, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. The evolution of Success Academy illustrates a growing debate nationwide over charters serving higher-income families. Bloomberg

GA: Push to privatize foster care, adoptions fails. A sweeping plan to privatize the state’s child welfare system failed to pass Thursday in the frenzied final hours of the legislative session amid infighting between the House and Senate over unrelated bills to legalize medical marijuana and mandate autism coverage for some children. Atlanta Journal Constitution ($)

MA: Mass. highway officials eye plan to install new toll lanes on the South Shore. . . This Route 3 HOT lane is among three potential public-private partnerships that state transportation officials are looking to advance this spring. There’s  the new Cape Cod Canal toll bridge under consideration, and there’s also a broad effort to find revenue-producing opportunities at some of the 133 state-owned properties adjacent to highways, such as rest areas, weigh stations and park-and-rides. Gov. Deval Patrick is keen on getting one of these public-private partnerships off the ground, and he is hopeful that at least one highway project will be on track before he wraps up his last year as governor in December. Boston Business Journal (blog)

 

 

 

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CO: UCCS study says outsourcing city and state jobs is not a good move. . . The center’s researchers identified the social and economic impact of outsourcing public services, which they say, includes reduced accountability and transparency as control of key public decisions is removed from citizens and their elected officials. Quality also often suffers, the report says. “There is a wealth of evidence that outsourcing public jobs often diminishes quality without substantial cost reduction. Unfortunately, few states and cities have a serious oversight process to let citizens evaluate what is happening,” said Daphne Greenwood, professor, Department of Economics, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs and center director.  Colorado Springs Gazette (blog)

CA: Private education overseer is failing public, state audit says. State regulators are failing to protect the public from potentially fraudulent and unqualified nonprofit and for-profit private educators, amassing a backlog of hundreds of licensing applications, inspections and complaints, according to an audit released Tuesday. The Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education has “consistently failed to meet its responsibility to protect the public’s interest” and “failed to appropriately respond to complaints against institutions, even when students’ safety was allegedly at risk,” state Auditor Elaine M. Howle wrote.  Los Angeles Times

CA: California Busts Red Light Camera Companies Over Wage Laws. The two largest providers of red light camera systems in the country have been caught flouting labor laws. The California Department of Industrial Relations has taken action against American Traffic Systems (ATS) of Arizona and Redflex Traffic Systems of Australia for failing to pay contractors prevailing wage rates, despite a contractual obligation to do so. ATS was caught violating the rules in South San Francisco in 2012. Six years earlier, the city signed a contract with ATS to install, operate and maintain the devices in return for keeping $5000 per month from the ticket revenue at each intersection approach.  TheNewspaper.com

MI: Michigan urged to reject $145M prison food contract over safety concerns. Two state employee unions and a Republican senator on Wednesday urged the Civil Service Commission to reject a $145-million prison food service contract with Aramark Correctional Services, saying the company’s performance since December is endangering prison safety. “These are things that are dangerous in a prison,” said Michigan Corrections Organization executive director Mel Grieshaber, after commissioners heard about Aramark workers exchanging love notes with prisoners and smuggling in prohibited cell phones. The Michigan Department of Corrections, which has already fined Aramark $98,000 for violating the three-year contract with frequent menu item substitutions and for hiring employees who get overly familiar with prisoners, acknowledged problems but said it plans to stay the course — at least for the time being.  Detroit Free Press

IN: Editorial: Lawmaker’s conflicts tarnish entire Indiana House. If it’s true that Rep. P. Eric Turner privately lobbied to kill a bill that would have hurt his son’s business, the Hamilton County Republican should be ashamed. But the shame should extend beyond the House speaker pro tem. The entire General Assembly – particularly its GOP super-majority – is tarnished by the clear appearance of backroom dealing and compromised ethics. The Associated Press reports that Turner lobbied to kill Senate Bill 173, a moratorium on new nursing home beds. Turner’s son is chairman and CEO of Mainstreet Property Group, a Carmel-based developer of upscale nursing homes. His daughter, Jessaca Turner Stults, lobbies for the company, which the legislator co-founded.  Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

 

News

Objection to USDA Plan Allowing Poultry Producer Self-Inspection Spreads to Congress. When the Obama administration unveiled a plan last year to privatize food inspections at poultry plants, a host of consumer and environmental organizations objected to the idea. Now, nearly 70 members of Congress have joined the opposition and called for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to scrap the idea before it is implemented. AllGov

The Defunding of Public Education and the Creation of a Permanent Underclass. People have supported the voucher program, as it is named ‘school choice,’ and this discourse allows parents to feel empowered, through giving them a neoliberalized model of choice: have your child attend a failing public school or an unregulated charter school or a parochial private school. These are not in fact real ‘choices,’ since attending a successful public school is often no longer even a possibility for many students. I argue that the goal of NCLB is not to close the achievement gap, but instead is aimed at widening that gap and destroying public education at the same time. . .Will we no longer provide a guaranteed education to every citizen? This is why I argue that we are creating a permanent underclass with the defunding and destruction of public education. And once again, this permanent underclass is often composed of African American and Latino male youth. Since NCLB’s passing, schools have officially become more segregated than they were forty years ago. Huffington Post

FL: Florida moves toward school voucher expansion — but with no accountability. Florida’s legislators appear to be on their way to passing legislation that will greatly expand the state’s Tax Credit Scholarship Program — a voucher-like scheme that allows public money to be used for private school tuition. A Miami Herald editorial said the plan  will “please the few” but  undercut “the many,” while Frank Cerabino, a writer for The Palm Beach Post, went further, describing the legislation as an opening gambit in what “promises to be a banner year for the dismantling of public education in Florida.”  Washington Post (blog)

IL: Aldermen create independent budget office, then let it languish. Three months ago, Chicago aldermen created a $485,000-a-year independent budget office to provide them with expert advice on mayoral spending, programs and privatization. Sponsors hailed the move as a step toward making the City Council the separate and co-equal branch of government it’s supposed to be. Three months later, nothing has happened. Ald. Ameya Pawar (47th), chief sponsor of the new office backed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, acknowledged that he’s frustrated by the delay and chomping at the bit to get started. Chicago Sun-Times

LA: Former DHH leader heading to LSU health care job. A long-time state health department official who helped arrange Gov. Bobby Jindal’s privatization of LSU’s public hospitals is heading to work for the LSU System. Jerry Phillips retired this month as undersecretary of the Department of Health and Hospitals, after 25 years with the agency. He’ll start working for the LSU Health Care Services Division on March 24, according to LSU System spokesman Jason Droddy. The Jindal administration has struck privatization deals for nine of LSU’s 10 hospitals that cared for the poor and trained medical students. Phillips worked on the financial pieces of those deals.   WHLT22

GA: House approves plan to test privatization of adoption, foster care. A bill calling for a two-year pilot program to test the privatization of child welfare services passed the House on Tuesday. . . The bill was altered significantly from the original version approved by the Senate, which called for the statewide privatization of child welfare services by 2017. Senate leaders are unhappy with the changes and still hope to get privatization passed this session. Atlanta Journal Constitution

GA: Final passage for bill extending college tax exemption to private developers. The state Senate passed a bill Tuesday that would extend a property tax exemption to private companies when they take over operations of University System of Georgia dorms and parking areas. The tax exemption is a key part of the University System’s privatization plan that could help wipe almost $4 billion in debt off its books. Under the plan, the system would retain ownership of the buildings and land, but the selected companies would operate and maintain the facilities according to leases that could run as long as 65 years. Atlanta Journal Constitution

IN: Airport privatization deal slammed by critics. Indiana University Northwest Professor Emerita Ruth Needleman said while the airport deal reserves 20 percent of contracts for disadvantaged and minority-owned firms, it does not mean those firms have to put disadvantaged workers on the job. “It means all the money will fly out of here, just like it did with the baseball stadium,” Needleman said in reference to building the U.S. Steel Yard in Gary. The Rev. Dwight Gardner, president of the Northwest Indiana Federation of Interfaith Organizations, took aim at the $166 million Gary airport expansion as the prime example of an RDA-funded project that employs few from the local community. nwtimes.com

 

News

Billionaires With Big Ideas Are Privatizing American Science. As government financing of basic research has fallen off precipitously, philanthropists have stepped in, setting personal priorities and raising questions about science research for the public good.  New York Times

Federal Privatization and the Expensive Philosophy of the Circular A-76 Process. It might be thought that, if any work in America is inherently governmental and requires such tight governmental control that it cannot be privatized, it must be the military. However, history shows otherwise. From the British use of Hessian soldiers during the American Revolutionary War up to today’s use of defense contract workers, there is a long tradition of using private contractors in the military. For example, in recent years, military housing has been privatized, with not particularly good results. The second Iraq War was awash with contractors, who were paid billions of dollars and were part of a system of cronyism and corruption.  Truth-Out

VA: Virginia transportation secretary suspends work on toll road from Suffolk to Petersburg. The road was a priority of former Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell’s administration. But when Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe took office earlier this year, his administration began reviewing how the project should proceed because of well-known issues involving streams and wetlands along the route that could prevent it from securing permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He said the suspension of contract and permit work is needed so the Virginia Department of Transportation can be sure it will get the necessary approvals before moving forward with the highway. Daily Journal

NY: Why NYC mayor is getting unfairly bashed over charter schools. The level of discourse over New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s decision not to allow several charter schools to co-locate in the buildings of traditional public schools has reached a hysterical pitch. Washington Post (blog)           

VT: Vermont Senate votes for ban on privatizing schools. The Vermont Senate has voted in favor of a two-year-old ban on privatizing public schools. The move comes as the town of Westford considers the possibility of turning its public elementary school into a private one. The Senate voted 19-0 on Friday to ban public schools from ceasing operation so they can become independent until the ban ends on July 1, 2016, according to published reports. The bill also requests a study of the constitutional and legal consequences of such changes. The report from the education secretary is due in January 2015. Brattleboro Reformer

IN: Commentary: Public-private partnerships, profit and public service. Rep. Pat Bauer, D-South Bend, says outsourcing management of the Indiana Toll Road has been a huge mistake. Bauer, the former speaker of the Indiana House of Representatives, says the money Indiana collected for leasing the toll road to a private consortium for 75 years now is gone with more than 65 years remaining on the lease. . . .He says that the problem with outsourcing is that it introduces a new factor into the public service equation. He says that people pay taxes so that government can afford to provide certain services and that the taxpayers shouldn’t have to pay anything more than what those services cost. He says that outsourcing brings in companies and people who want to make a profit from serving taxpayers and that breaks down systems of accountability and opens the door to corruption.  The Statehouse File

 

News

Tackling Student Debt and the Privatization of Education. Last week, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) kicked off a new campaign called “Higher Ed, Not Debt” to tackle the nation’s staggering burden of student loan debt. The campaign will be fought by a broad coalition of unions and progressive groups including the Working Families Party, Progress Now and Jobs for Justice and a couple of think tanks, the Center for American Progress and Demos. The campaign has broad goals, including highlighting the role Wall Street has played in financializing student debt products. But Nelini Stamp, youth outreach director for Working Families, tells BillMoyers.com that it is part of a larger battle over education in America from pre-kindergarten up.  Bill Moyers

Public-Private Partnerships From Hell….[L]obbying efforts by the private prison industry seem to have been diverted recently. An analysis from the Associated Press last year found that the three major private prison corporations spent roughly $45 million over the past decade to influence state and federal government. CCA has its own PAC and a lobbying firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP and Geo Group exerts influence through donations to candidates’ PACs. Recently Senator Mark Rubio argued that “we need a responsible, permanent solution to the problem of those who are here illegally. But first, we must follow through on the broken promises of the past to secure our borders and enforce our laws.” Rubio received at $33,000 from the private prison industry. CounterPunch

The link between charter school expansion and increasing segregation. One thing that proponents of the broad expansion of charter schools never talk about is the evidence of how charters are leading to increasing segregation by race, ethnicity and income. Washington Post (blog)

NJ: Christie’s charter school nightmare: “White flight, and they’re bankrupting us”. As charters in the city have exploded in number and size, “they’re fostering white flight, and they’re bankrupting us,” the city’s school board head charged in a Wednesday interview. “We are creating separate but equal school systems,” warned Hoboken Board of Education president Leon Gold. (As Salon has reported, Christie-style ed reform has also sparked controversy in Newark.) Salon

NY: Gov. Cuomo Says Protecting Charter Schools Will Be Major Part Of Budget. Gov. Cuomo says the fight to protect charter schools will be one of he biggest issues in the upcoming state budget negotiations. In a slight jab at Mayor de Blasio, Cuomo said the charter school issue will trump the fight over prekindergarten expansion–declaring that latter battle over. New York Daily News

VT: Moratorium on school privatization goes to final Senate vote. S.91 aims to temporarily prevent municipalities from closing a public school only to reopen an independent school in the same physical property. The legislation, which now heads to a final Senate vote and potentially to the House, also would create a committee to study the constitutionality of such transitions. To date, two Vermont schools have transformed from public to private: Winhall in 1998 and North Bennington in 2013. Westford is now considering the same. Sen Philip Baruth, D-Chittenden, said that looks like a trend, and it’s got the Senate Education committee worried. vtdigger.org

OR: Conservationists Say They’ll Sue Over Privatization Of State Forest. The state of Oregon is in the process of selling almost 3,000 acres of public land in the Elliott State Forest. Conservation groups are afraid that timber companies will buy the land and log it. Much of the forest is home to the Marbled murrelet, a seabird that’s listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. “Our effort is to put the timber industry on notice and let them know that we are going to prosecute them for violation of the Endangered Species Act if they plan to clearcut these stands of marbled murrelet habitat,” said Josh Laughlin of Cascadia Wildlands. It’s one of three groups that has filed notice of intent to sue.  Jefferson Public Radio

GA: Documents Show Privatized Bus System Costs More Than City Operation. Augusta Commissioners privatized the bus system three years ago, with the promise it would save $400,000 a year. The city changed private companies in July, hiring McDonald Transit, but some Commissioners feel it’s the wrong route to take.  “We can’t afford to expand with it outsourced, because it costs too much money. So, what we need to do is bring it back in-house,” says Commissioner Bill Lockett. And, figures from the Augusta Finance Department seem to indicate that. Comparing the last six months the city ran the bus system, in 2011, to the last six months under the current company, the private company’s operation was about $500,000 more expensive than the city’s operation. “Is it more expensive to have the private contractor in there?” we asked. “Most certainly, it is more expensive plus it limits what you can do,” says Lockett.  WJBF-TV

OK: State Senate passes bill to privatize Medicaid. The Oklahoma Senate on Thursday passed a bill that would privatize Medicaid in a pilot project at a yet-to-be-determined location in the state. . . Managed care for Medicaid was tried in the 1990s and failed miserably, said Wes Glinsmann, Oklahoma State Medical Association spokesman. “This isn’t about managed care,” he said. “It is about privatization. The Oklahoma Health Care Authority is already one of the most efficient agencies in state government. Their administrative overhead is far less than what you would find with most private insurers and so for there to be any cost saving, it is going to be borne on the back of providers.”  Tulsa World

FL: Sierra Club latest to oppose toll road idea in south Pasco. Add another name to the list of opponents to the proposed toll road in south Pasco County: the Sierra Club Tampa Bay Group. The environmental organization’s Tampa chapter came out against the planned elevated highway that would span most of south Pasco, saying it would bring more sprawl and traffic. It urged policies promoting mass transit and blamed current traffic headaches on inadequate planning. Tampabay.com

 

 

News

Say goodbye to public schools: Diane Ravitch warns Salon some cities will soon have none.  In a wide-ranging conversation last week, Ravitch spoke with Salon about new data touted by charter school supporters, progressive divisions over Common Core, and Chris Christie’s ed agenda. “There are cities where there’s not going to be public education 10 years from now,” Ravitch warned. A condensed version of our conversation follows. Salon

Unions fear a ‘New Deal’ sell-off. Labor unions are going on the attack against a proposal buried deep in President Obama’s budget that they charge is a move to privatize the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA).  Established in 1933 and still owned by the federal government, the TVA is one of the lasting legacies of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s “New Deal,” providing electricity to more than 9 million people in seven Southern states. But while the utility is now self-financing, the government could pocket a hefty profit by selling its stake. Obama proposed studying that option in his last two budgets, angering a trio of major labor unions that have thousands of members at TVA facilities.  The Hill

Public Transit Use in the U.S. is Now Higher Than Private Vehicle Use. According to the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), Americans took 10.7 billion public transit trips in 2013, making it the highest ridership figure since 1956. Overall, the use of public transportation went up 1.1% in the last year, outpacing both population growth and private vehicle use. “There is a fundamental shift going on in the way we move about our communities. People in record numbers are demanding more public transit services and communities are benefiting with strong economic growth,” said APTA president Michael Melaniphy. PolicyMic

MI: Michigan fines Aramark $98,000 for prison food rule violations. A food service provider, already under fire for its handling of food and dealing with inmates, has been fined $98,000 for violating its contract, according to two state Department of Corrections letters released Tuesday. Aramark Corp., which took over Michigan prison food service operations late last year that eliminated union jobs, was fined after not getting approval to make meal substitutions 52 times, failing to make the appropriate number of meals 240 times and allowing 12 instances of poor staff conduct, according to two state letters addressed to the company dated March 6.  AFSCME Privatization Update

CA: Charter schools dealt setback by San Jose court ruling. The South Bay movement to fast-track the opening of charter schools has been dealt a setback, with a court ruling that county school boards can’t override local ordinances while deciding where to place campuses. San Jose Mercury News

PA: CLEAR Coalition Opposes Push to Privatize PASSHE. Legislation to allow some PA State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) institutions to privatize could cost thousands of Pennsylvania families access to a high quality, affordable college education, leaders of the CLEAR Coalition said today. The legislation would permit PASSHE universities with more than 7,000 students to leave the state system under certain prescribed conditions.  The universities would then be considered “state-related” which would result in skyrocketing tuition costs. “So many middle class and working families are struggling to make ends meet and pay college tuition bills. This legislation would make it that much more difficult for these hard-working Pennsylvania families,” said Dave Fillman, Executive Director of  the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 13 and Chair of the CLEAR Coalition.  PR Newswire

GA: Unlikely twins: Foster care bill may be merged with Medicaid expansion. A Senate-based bid to privatize Georgia’s child welfare system on Thursday may be joined to a high-profile House effort to give the Legislature say-so over Medicaid expansion. . . . SB 350 passed the Senate last month with a 31-18 vote, and would require the Division of Family and Children Services to bid out primary functions such as case management, family preservation and independent living. . . .The House Judiciary Committee passed a scaled-down version, calling instead for a two-year pilot program. Unterman decried the “pared down” version and disputed critics who have said the state was moving too fast.  .  .  .So Unterman intends to merge her foster care bill with HB 990, which is backed by the House’s top leadership. Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog)

 

News

The Postal Service is Outsourcing Itself to a Company Doing Almost as Badly as the Postal Service. In November, the United States Postal Service launched a big partnership with Staples under which 84 of the office-supply retailer’s stores, in four states, would start offering nearly comprehensive postal services, staffed by Staples employees. If this year-long pilot program succeeds, postal officials said, it could well expand to hundreds more Staples stores around the country. Meanwhile, last week, Staples announced that it is closing 225 of its stores—some 12 percent of its North American outlets—following a plunge in revenues in the fourth quarter of 2013. The company’s stock plummeted 15 percent on the announcement. There is something wrong with this picture. What exactly is the postal service doing staking its future to a partnership with a company whose business model is if anything in even greater trouble than its own?  The New Republic

VT: Faceoff coming in Vermont Senate over privatizing schools. Later this week, the Senate is scheduled to vote on a bill that would put a two-year halt to turning public schools into independent institutions while the state studies whether the practice is constitutional. A split over which way to go emerged Tuesday in the Senate Judiciary Committee.  Burlington Free Press

GA: House puts brakes on plan to privatize foster care, adoptions. . . But child advocates cautioned lawmakers against moving too fast, and the House Judiciary Committee responded to those pleas by passing a substitute that would inch Georgia toward privatization with a two-year pilot program in portions of the state. Atlanta Journal Constitution

FL: Toll road opponents say Pasco officials using ‘scare tactic’. . . Panelists from the Urban Land Institute, who toured the county last October, said Pasco officials are overestimating their projected 2025 population by more than 50,000 people. In the final report released Monday, the panelists strongly oppose the elevated highway concept, saying it would promote “highway oriented development” rather than “transit oriented development,” which is the county’s stated goal. . . They recommended the county “defer for a reasonable time” the private toll road. “Instead, the county should pursue a regional collaboration that could both enhance funding opportunities and configure different physical solutions,” they wrote. “Proceeding with the elevated freeway before pursuing the regional MPO configuration would foreclose possible superior solutions to the east–west congestion challenge. In the meantime, the continued buildup of congestion may spawn more public support for transit solutions.”  Tbo.com

MI: Orr’s alternative: Privatize or sell Detroit water department. With multi-county negotiations stalled to create an expanded regional water authority, Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr is exploring Plan B — privatize operation of the Detroit Water and Sewer Department or sell it outright. The Detroit News

 

 

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FL: Officials get earful at town hall meeting over toll road plan. Angry residents made their voices heard at a town hall meeting Monday about a proposed toll road in south Pasco. The meeting didn’t start that way, though. Like previous meetings about the road, the first hour consisted of a slide presentation, a series of discussions touching on historical and anticipated growth patterns, and trends in housing, employment and transportation. Then something happened not seen at two previous meetings. Tampabay.com

FL: Florida special election offer clues for 2014. Democrat Alex Sink and Republican David Jolly are vying to win a special election in Florida’s 13th congressional district, with polls showing a virtual dead heat. . . .A key line of attack has been Jolly’s lobbying work for a conservative organization that wants to privatize Social Security.  MSNBC

NY: Irate Charter School Parents Filing Lawsuits Against De Blasio. Lawsuits are being filed this week over Mayor Bill de Blasio’s decision to move charter school students out of public school space. CBS Local

SD: South Dakota Governor Blasts Iowa Traffic Cameras. Governor Dennis Daugaard South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard (R) is tired of having Sioux City shake down South Dakotans as they pass through Iowa. In a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Thursday, Daugaard transportation policy advisor Matt Konenkamp blasted Iowa’s speed trap tactics and offered an amendment to legislation that would prevent photo enforcement companies like Redflex Traffic Systems of Australia and Arizona-based American Traffic Soluions from accessing the South Dakota driver’s license records they need to issue citations. The committee unanimously adopted the recommendation. The Newspaper.com

AZ: Divisive Arizona school plan advances. The Arizona Legislature will soon decide whether to dramatically expand the state’s nation-leading efforts to give parents control over where to spend their child’s taxpayer-generated education funds. The state’s Empowerment Scholarship Account program was, at the start of this school year, scheduled to disperse $10.2 million to 761 students. If expanded as proposed, the 3-year-old program could within the next five years apply to more than 28,000 students and strip more than $374 million a year from public and charter schools, based on the current average cost. The goal is to eventually expand the program to the state’s more than 1 million public and charter schoolchildren. Opponents of the bills say an expansion on that scale would be a deathblow to public schools.  azcentral

Understanding the Propaganda Campaign Against Public Education – Diane Ravitch. A few years ago, when I was blogging at Education Week with Deborah Meier, a reader introduced the term FUD. I had never heard of it. It is a marketing technique used in business and politics to harm your competition. The term and its history can be found on Wikipedia. FUD stands for Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt. The reader said that those who were trying to create a market-based system to replace public education were using FUD to undermine public confidence in public education. They were selling the false narrative that our public schools are obsolete and failing.  Huffington Post

 

 

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Fight the Privatization of Education: Oppose the Nomination of Ted Mitchell. In October, the Obama administration nominated Ted Mitchell, the chief executive of the NewSchools Venture Fund, to become Under Secretary of the Department of Education. While the nomination has flown largely under the radar, the choice represents an alarming sign that the administration is favoring greater privatization of public education. The Nation (blog)

CO: Toll roads causing problems, but Colorado says it’s immune. . . The apparent end of what that study calls the “driving boom” is causing problems for tolling projects from California to Texas, where reality is failing to match projections of growth in traffic and revenue. Some states, including Illinois and Indiana, are offering set payments to supplement toll projects. Colorado officials insist they’ve built in safeguards for taxpayers in case traffic revenue doesn’t meet expectations. The state’s recent 50-year agreement with Plenary Roads Denver — a six-company consortium — for the maintenance and tolling of U.S. 36 between Denver and Boulder includes no contractual guarantee for a minimum level of revenue, say officials with the Colorado Department of Transportation. . . But credit agencies are taking USPIRG’s per capita numbers seriously, downgrading companies and issuing warnings to investors to be leery of toll roads because of anemic traffic numbers.  Denver Post

FL: Medicaid privatization talks weren’t in public view. . .The bid process for the contracts was “rigorous” and “competitive,” according to a news release announcing the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) celebration. What went unmentioned is that contracts covering every region in the state were, in part, the product of behind-the-scenes negotiations outside of the public view. In every region across the state, at least one losing company filed a complaint in administrative court challenging the winning company’s eligibility. Overall, 17 companies filed a total of 64 challenges. The agency ultimately signed final settlement agreements between feuding insurers, which are subject to state public records laws. How those companies overcame sometimes serious allegations to reach the settlements, though, isn’t a public record. Those talks could have included factors such as financial agreements or work share plans.  Tbo.com

MD: Housing advocates seek details about plan to privatize public housing. Lawyers for three low-income advocacy groups have sent 34 questions to Housing Commissioner Paul T. Graziano about the city’s plans to sell off a large swath of Baltimore’s public housing projects. “The devil is in the details,” said Karen E. Wabeke, a staff attorney for the Homeless Persons Representation Project, about the proposed conversion of 4,000 of the city’s nearly 11,000 public housing units to private ownership. Wabeke said her group is worried that the promised renovation of the projects by developers may reduce the number of low-income units in the city and establish unrealistically high standards for future residents.  Baltimore Brew

NY: In Rent Plan for Charters, Mayor Faces a Hard Road. Mayor Bill de Blasio has pledged to charge rent to charter schools, but education experts say his proposal might be difficult to put into effect.  New York Times

AK: Public funds for private schools on Senate docket. A proposal to amend Alaska’s constitution to allow for public money to go to private or religious schools has been placed on the Senate calendar for Monday. The sponsor of SJR9, Sen. Mike Dunleavy, would not say Friday evening whether he had the votes for the measure to pass. “I have a pretty good sense, I’ll leave it at that,” the Wasilla Republican said. . . A similar measure is pending in the House.  Washington Times

VA: Editorial: Public money for private doors: Virginia’s ethics laws have long been predicated on the notion that transparency, rather than any cap on money or gifts, is sufficient and proper. But state lawmakers, at least in the House of Delegates, aren’t quite willing to let go of taxpayer subsidies that help fund their travel to conferences put on by special-interest groups that don’t share an affinity for disclosure. . . The Senate unanimously agreed. The measure sailed into the House, where it hit a brick wall in the Rules Committee this week. As The Pilot’s Bill Sizemore reported, members of that committee decided on an unrecorded “voice vote after less than three minutes of discussion” to kill the bill. . . The broad wording of the measure meant that it could apply to any qualifying group, but McEachin made no secret that he intended to target the American Legislative Exchange Council. Last year, about $20,000 in public funds were spent to cover Virginia lawmakers’ dues and travel to the council conference. ALEC is a legislative bill factory for conservative causes, and its members include roughly two dozen Republican Virginia lawmakers. One of them is Republican House Speaker Bill Howell, who also chairs the Republican-heavy Rules Committee.  The Virginian-Pilot

 

News

Pitfalls Seen in a Turn to Privately Run Long-Term Care. . . At least 26 states, including California, Florida, Illinois and New York, are rolling out mandatory programs that put billions of public dollars into privately managed long-term care plans, in hopes of keeping people in their homes longer, and expanding alternatives to nursing homes. . . “It’s a success story,” said Patti Killingsworth, director of long-term services and supports in Tennessee, pointing out that the state was serving a quarter more people with inexpensive home and community services. But a closer look at Tennessee, widely cited as a model, reveals hidden pitfalls as the system of caring for the frail comes under the twin pressures of cost containment and profit motive. In many cases, care was denied after needs grew costlier — including care that people would have received under the old system. “The notion of prevention saving money in the long run only works if you actually provide care in the long run,” said Gordon Bonnyman, former director of the Tennessee Justice Center, a patient advocacy group. “Tennessee is probably as good as it gets in terms of oversight and financial regulation, and thus I think it is a cautionary tale.”  New York Times

Length of public-private road contracts questioned. Some public-private partnerships involving toll roads are only a few years into long-term contracts but are already falling short on traffic and revenue. Members of a U.S. House panel questioned the length of the contracts and urged accountability for so-called PPPs during a hearing Wednesday, March 5, on Capitol Hill. . . The ranking Democrat on the panel, Rep. Michael Capuano of Massachusetts cut right to the chase on some PPP contracts that last 75 or even 99 years. “I’m concerned about spending tomorrow’s money today,” he said during a discussion of the Indiana Toll Road. Back in 2006, then Gov. Mitch Daniels leased the toll road for 75 years, allowing a private firm from Spain and Australia to keep the toll revenue until 2081 in exchange for operation and maintenance of the roadway. Truckers have seen tolls on the Indiana Toll Road more than double since 2006 to help the private investors recoup the $3.85 billion they spent to control the roadway. Land Line Magazine

NJ: Rutgers study cites ‘stunning’ lack of oversight of companies hired by New Jersey. A “stunning” lack of oversight by New Jersey of companies hired to do work for the state has cost taxpayers money and, in some cases, endangered residents, according to a three-year study released by Rutgers University on Thursday. New Jersey has not devoted enough money or attention to making sure companies that sign contracts with the state do what they say they will do, the report said, even as the state continues to outsource government functions. “The state is failing in its duty of protecting vulnerable citizens from poor service and taxpayers from wasted funds,” the report said.  NorthJersey.com           

KY: Ky. panel backs public-private partnerships to build bridges, other projects. Arnold Simpson of Covington, who said the public-private partnership option could pave the way for tolls to finance a new Ohio River bridge between Cincinnati and Covington. Lexington Herald Leader

PA: GOP says privatizing LCB could aid budget. House Republican leaders are arguing in ongoing negotiations that privatizing the state liquor system would bolster the 2014-15 budget, but political analysts remain skeptical, given the issue’s troubled legislative history. . . Corbett forecast a $1 billion-plus budget shortfall. He said his spending plan, which needs legislative approval, would balance the budget without raising taxes. But officials acknowledge balancing the budget may be difficult, depending on revenue the next few months.  Tribune-Review

TX: Petition Drive Seeks Public Vote on All SA Toll Projects. In a change of tactics for anti toll groups, they have begun circulating petitions calling for an election on a change to the San Antonio City Charter which would require that a public vote be taken before any toll roads or toll lanes could be built inside the city limits, 1200 WOAI news reports. “When they come back and want to toll these roads, they would have to get public approval first,” said Terri Hall, founder of Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom, a major anti toll organization, told 1200 WOAI

TX: Texas Voters Reject Red Light Camera Candidates. . .Carona and Harper-BrownTwo of the figures most responsible for the spread of red light cameras in the Lone Star State lost their jobs Tuesday. Texas state Senator John Carona (R-Dallas) and state Representative Linda Harper-Brown (R-Irving) were both defeated in Republican primary elections.. . .Harper-Brown was richly rewarded for her efforts. Paradigm Traffic Systems, which sells equipment used by the red light camera industry, provided a black 2010 Mercedes E550 sedan and a 2004 Chevy Tahoe to Harper-Brown and her husband William Brown. Harper-Brown insisted she did not have to disclose the gift because the cars were for her husband, an accountant, but WFAA-TV caught her driving the vehicle with her official state license plates. The Texas Values in Action Coalition filed a complaint in 2010, and the Texas Ethics decision decided to fine the lawmaker $2000 in 2012. TheNewspaper.com

NY: De Blasio, in Radio Interview, Defends His Position on Charter Schools. Battered in the press over his position on charter schools, Mayor Bill de Blasio on Thursday took to a friendly news outlet to defend himself and argue that his actions were being distorted. New York Times

ME: Maine governor vetoes virtual charter school bill. Maine Gov. Paul LePage has vetoed a bill that would put a pause on the creation of virtual charter schools in the state until next year while officials try to come up with a state-run cyber academy. In his veto letter, the Republican governor said Thursday that he opposed that the moratorium because it would halt Maine Connections Academy, a virtual charter that was approved by the state Monday. He said the school is critically needed for hundreds of students, many of whom are “emotionally or physically unable to access a ‘brick and mortar’ option.”  WCSH-TV