News

TX: Texas Schools Inadequately Funded, Court Rules

In a decision certain to be appealed to the Texas Supreme Court, state district Judge John Dietz ruled Monday in favor of more than 600 school districts on all of their major claims against the state’s school finance system….Dietz said that the state does not adequately or efficiently fund public schools — and that it has created an unconstitutional de-facto property tax in shifting the burden of paying for them to the local level.. Dietz said that issues raised by another party in the lawsuit, Texans for Real Efficiency and Equity in Education — a group representing parents, school choice advocates and the business community that argued the current system was inefficient and overregulated — were better solved by the Legislature. He also declined to find the state cap on charter school contracts, or the charters’ lack of access to facilities funding, unconstitutional.  Governing

TX: UT-Austin at center of fight over the purpose of college

In Gov. Perry’s push for productivity, many here see something nefarious: a campaign, rooted in a longstanding anti-intellectual strain of Texas politics, to gut a university that shouldn’t have to apologize for being “elite.””I just don’t understand why they want to dumb down a public institution of this magnitude,” said Machree Gibson, chair of the Texas Exes, UT’s powerful and independent 99,000-member alumni society, which has pushed back… Many on campus see a clash of fundamentally different visions of the very purpose of a university. “There seems to be a political move, and it’s not just in Texas, away from the classical mission of the university — cultivation of the mind and pursuit of knowledge — to a concept of a public university as sort of a job corps or a trade school,” said Peter Flawn, who came to Texas more than a half-century ago and was UT-Austin’s president from 1979 to 1985, then again in 1997-98.  USA Today

CA: Privitazation Group ACEC Tied To California Dark Money Millions

An engineering trade organization that advocates for privatizing government work has been tied to the group behind the $11 million dark money donation that prompted a legal showdown in California last fall. TPM

VA: Pro-privatization robocall blasts ports executive

A robocall aiming to convince listeners to support a privatization of Virginia’s ports began circulating as early as Monday. In addition to advocating for a management change at the state-run terminals, the script blasts an outgoing top port executive, calling him overpaid. Daily Press

PA: LETTER: Serving up liquor stores as shot for school safety a bad brew

One billion dollars will change forever how school safety initiatives are funded, and I credit the governor for his commitment. It certainly seems the days of unfunded mandates are finished. However, using the privatization and sale of the state liquor stores to fund our children’s safety simply does not mix. Taking jobs away from the working class, as his latest privatization effort would do to the tune of 5,000 PLCB employees, hurts the same families who Corbett seemingly wants to protect. Delaware County Daily Times

Republican Privatization Schemes in Action: Subhuman Prison Conditions

The ACLU has a deeply disturbing report about deteriorating conditions in Ohio prisons after Corrections Corporation of America took over.  Crooks and Liars

Postal Service to end Saturday mail service Aug. 1

It will mark the an end of an era for the agency, which started Saturday delivery in 1863. Tired of waiting for Congress to help, the Postal Service later Wednesday is expected to unveil a series of more drastic cuts they plan to pursue that will save them billions of dollars, a spokesperson for the service confirmed…The Postal Service has been borrowing billions of dollars from taxpayers to make up for shortfalls caused by a 2006 congressional mandate, under which it has to pre-fund healthcare benefits for future retirees…The move to end Saturday service is only expected to save a few billion dollars, far less than the tens of billions the Postal Service needs. CNN Money

‘Social Insecurity’ in the hands of Wall Street’s vultures

Private prisons, private roads and bridges, a private postal service, private water and sewer systems — even private schools for public education — are all great money makers for Wall Street and the 1 percent. But nothing comes close to the potential of privatizing Social Security. Wall Street has coveted this prize for decades. It’s not hard to understand why: money. It’s not just the billions in fees and commissions to be made from managing private retirement funds. It’s the assets Wall Street will get to play with. Social Security collects more than $1 trillion a year. Think what the barons could do with that. They have.  Phillyburbs.com

 

News

Private roads paved with public gold

Deals like these are increasingly common in the United States, sold by the same crowd that the conned cities and school districts coast to coast into disastrous interest rate swaps, rigged the municipal bond market, fixed international interest rates and set up the foreclosure catastrophe. The main selling points of the “privatizers” are almost always the same: the private sector can do everything better than the public sector, and offers lower municipal operating costs that keep taxes down. The claims don’t hold up. Costs may be kept down, but usually by eliminating jobs. It is a patently absurd claim that more unemployment is any city or state’s best interest. phillyBurbs.com

Another E-mail Trail: Jeb Bush’s Foundation and Ed Privatization

The key information revealed in these e-mails involves the foundation’s work in connecting the members of a Bush-created council of current and former state education commissions with corporations interested in privatizing state education functions. According to Donald Cohen, head of In the Public Interest, corporations have been using Jeb Bush’s foundation “to help state officials pass laws and regulations that make it easier to expand charter schools, require students to take online education courses, and do other things that could result in business and profits for them.” NonProfit Quarterly

FL: Fla. moving ahead with Medicaid privatization

Federal health officials gave Florida the green light to enroll tens of thousands of older, long-term care patients into a statewide Medicaid privatization program. But Gov. Rick Scott noted Monday he is awaiting a final signoff from the feds to privatize the program statewide for most of the state’s nearly 3 million Medicaid recipients….But critics worry for-profit providers are scrimping on patient care and denying medical services to increase profits.  Miami Herald

CA: Engineering association funded shadowy initiative campaigns

A group that backs privatizing public infrastructure engineering work gave $400,000 to a opaque out-of-state organization that injected millions of dollars — and plenty of controversy — into California’s initiative campaigns last year. New state campaign filings show that American Council of Engineering Companies California made a $150,000 donation to a Virginia-based nonprofit in July and another $250,000 in September. That nonprofit, Americans for Job Security, in turn, gave money to another non-profit organization based in Arizona which then contributed $11 million to a California committee that opposed Gov. Jerry Brown’s Proposition 30 tax hike and supported Proposition 32, which sought to end payroll-deducted political contributions. Sacramento Bee

PA: Privatizing Pennsylvania Alcohol Distribution Risks Lost Revenue and Higher Social Costs

The Keystone Research Center (KRC) today called on the General Assembly and public to encourage Governor Corbett to abandon a new proposal to dramatically increase the number of retail outlets for beer, wine and spirits in the state. “The proposal could cost the commonwealth revenue that won’t be invested in education, health services and a stronger economy,” said Stephen Herzenberg, Ph.D., an economist and executive director of KRC. “It will also radically increase alcohol accessibility and the resulting social costs.” KRC economist Mark Price, Ph. D., estimated last year that, controlling for other variables including the strength of state alcohol regulations, privatizing alcohol distribution in Pennsylvania would lead to 58 more traffic fatalities annually. KeyStone.com

NY: LI lawmakers briefed on LIPA privatization plan

Long Island lawmakers met Monday night in Albany with a top aide to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and financial consultants to hear the case for privatizing LIPA, the first in a series of briefings on the future of the troubled utility. Newsday

VA: Ports privatization critics voice concerns at public meeting

A last public hearing on possible port privatization in Virginia Monday quickly became a forum for opponents of two proposals that would put five state-run ports under new management. Opponents of the privatization proposals passed out fliers to hearing attendees and crowded the microphone with a string of speakers representing a range of local port companies.  Daily Press

TX: UT-Austin considering outsourcing some campus services

A new report released Tuesday by the University of Texas at Austin calls for the university to rethink its approach to housing, food and parking services. It also called for gradually raising the prices for those services up to market rates. The report, which is the product of a committee on business productivity that UT President Bill Powers assembled in April 2012, recommends consolidating business and administrative functions that are currently duplicated in individual colleges, improving the process for commercialization of technology developed on campus, and becoming more energy efficient.  The Horn

 

 

News

FL: Governor Pushes Prison Work Release Privatization Plan

Though Florida Governor Rick Scott has recently said he won’t privatize state prison operations (something he considered early in his term, which received flak after it was revealed that the conservative’s election campaign received $30,000 in contributions from both Corrections Corporation of America and GEO Group), his administration has pushed forward with plans to privatize healthcare services in state prisons and he recently recommended that 14 of the state’s publicly operated work release centers should also go to private contractors.  Forbes

PA: Lawmaker proposals could undercut privatization

While state lawmakers consider Gov. Tom Corbett’s plan to privatize wine and liquor sales, at least eight members have introduced proposals to change Pennsylvania’s alcohol laws. Dozens of measures aim to “modernize” wine and liquor sales and change what liquor fees and taxes fund. Debates over these measures might be meaningless if lawmakers agree to full-scale privatization, said Chris Borick, a political scientist at Muhlenberg College in Allentown. “But if you get some of those reforms moving, maybe the case for privatization becomes less strong. Tribune-Review

PA: AFSCME adds new arguments in its lottery privatization lawsuit

The union representing Pennsylvania Lottery workers is hanging its latest hope of invalidating Gov. Tom Corbett’s lottery management contract on an attorney general’s opinion from more than three decades ago. AFSCME 13 argues the lottery law may be unconstitutional but even if it isn’t, a 31-year-old attorney general opinion suggests Gov. Tom Corbett has to go through the state’s rule-making process before entering into a contract with Camelot Global Services PA, LLC. The lawsuit, filed in December, seeks a permanent injunction to prevent Corbett from handing management of the lottery over Camelot Global Services PA LLC. PennLive.com

IL: Not so fast, Mr. Mayor, on your Midway deal

The potential benefits of leasing the city’s No. 2 airport had dwindled considerably even before U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin weighed in last week with a demand for repayment of $380 million in federal grant money spent at Midway over the years. As my colleague Paul Merrion reported recently, private investors who were willing to pay $2.5 billion four years ago for the right to operate Midway are now unlikely to offer more than half that amount. That’s barely enough to retire airport debt the city hopes to extinguish with proceeds of a privatization deal. Subtract a third of the proceeds to pay back Uncle Sam and there’s even less. No matter what, little or nothing would be left to invest in infrastructure improvement, which is what Chicago and its taxpayers need.  Crain’s Chicago Business

WI: State prison head warns employees they could be fired for privatization rumors

The head of the state prison system warned employees this week that they could be fired if they spread what he considers baseless rumors about privatizing prisons and other matters involving the Department of Corrections… Privatizing prisons has long been a concern for correctional employees because it could lead to mass layoffs by the state. Gov. Scott Walker has taken no steps to privatize prisons, though he strongly backed the idea when he was in the Legislature in the 1990s.  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

OH: Kasich’s privatized prison fails first big test

When a series of fights broke out at the Lake Erie Corrections Institution last week, the company that operates the prison, Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), was forced to call Special Response Teams (SRTs) from the state of Ohio for assistance. According to representatives of the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association (OCSEA),  CCA’s own special response team has been in Mississippi since May when a riot broke out at a CCA facility in that state.  One guard was killed and multiple others were injured in that incident. ..Before being appointed as Director of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections by John Kasich, Gary Mohr was a consultant and managing director for CCA…. CCA’s inability to handle the disturbance that occurred last Friday further adds to our concerns that in a rush to privatize state assets, the Governor has put the safety of the employees and prisoners at LECI and the citizens of Conneaut at serious risk.  Plunderbund

VA: Big crowd expected at port privatization hearing

The public gets another chance today to weigh in on the port-privatization process. A hearing is planned from 5 to 8 p.m. at the theater inside Nauticus, the second public event sponsored by the Virginia Port Authority board. If it’s anything like the one held in early October, the room could be packed. The session comes as the process that began last spring moves closer to a decision, expected at the authority’s March 26 board meeting.  The Virginian-Pilot

CA: Judge terminates court order blocking Costa Mesa outsourcing

An Orange County city that found itself in the eye of a political firestorm after it explored whether to lay off nearly half of its workforce and replace it with private-sector employees is one step closer to repairing a fissure between workers and elected officials. Superior Court Judge Luis A. Rodriguez terminated an 18-month-old court order blocking Costa Mesa from outsourcing some of its services. The injunction took effect not long after an organized labor group, the Costa Mesa Employees Assn., sued the city to block some 200 layoff notices. Daily Pilot

The Post Office Heist

But now we are told the USPS is massively broke, teetering on bankruptcy, and can only be “saved” if it is privatized. Competition from private mail and package services and the advent of the Internet for routine correspondence and bill paying are the often cited reasons for the failure; that and “inefficiency.” It’s a scam. Think about it. The competition from the likes of Fed Ex, Yahoo and on-line bill paying and banking is not new. And automation has made mail handling steadily more efficient. Why is the postal service suddenly broke? Because a Republican Congress wanted it to be broke, and in 2006 required the USPS to pre-fund postal retiree health benefits for 75 years into the future, a burden no other public or private company is required to carry. Payments of $11.6 billion are due now on those obligations imposed by Congress.  phillyBurbs.com

News

Skeptics: Profit and education don’t mix

Charter schools of all types continue to spread rapidly. But schools managed by for-profit companies make up a smaller share than they did just a few years ago. The number of for-profit companies has declined modestly, and the number of schools they operate has hit a plateau, said Gary Miron, a professor of education at Western Michigan University who studies charter schools. (At the same time, some of the schools’ enrollment continues to increase, Miron said, and the number of virtual schools is exploding.) Education leaders say there are two main reasons for the increased wariness toward for-profit operators: philosophical objections to mixing public education and profit, particularly in low-income communities, and mounting skepticism over their record in some cities and states. NBCNews.com(blog)

NJ: Christie Pushes Private Lottery as Bidder Misses Targets

Governor Chris Christie says turning over New Jersey’s lottery to a private manager would boost sales, even though there’s scant evidence to support his position. The Republican is reviewing the one bid his administration received from a group that includes Gtech Corp., a company that helps run the lottery in Illinois, where revenue has missed goals. Though New Jersey had a record $2.7 billion in lottery sales in fiscal 2012, Christie says a private company can do better.  Bloomberg

IL: Sen. Durbin wants cash payback before privatizing Midway

Not so fast, Sen. Dick Durbin cautioned federal regulators who have final say on whether Midway International Airport should be privatized. The city of Chicago is studying whether to lease Midway on a long-term basis as part of a privatization pilot program run by the Federal Aviation Administration. Durbin pointed out that federal tax dollars revitalized Midway. “The $378 million invested in Midway helped rebuild runways, taxiways and a new terminal,” he told U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood in a letter…. “The federal taxpayer should have a seat at the table during negotiations,” Durbin noted. Those tax dollars should be repaid, he added, and used for projects such as modernizing O’Hare International Airport. Daily Herald

FL: Editorial: Work-release shows perils of privatization

It should not have taken the murders of two men and the rape of a teenage girl for the Florida Department of Corrections to realize that something was wrong at the privatized Largo Residential Re-Entry Center — the largest work-release program in the state. Now state officials are pledging reforms there and the operator, Goodwill Industries, appears to be responding. But the evidence of lax state oversight should give pause to the continued campaign in Tallahassee to privatize more of the state’s corrections services. Tampa Bay Times

TxDOT Considers Outsourcing IT

TxDOT Executive Director Phil Wilson sent an email to TxDOT employees Thursday notifying staff that the agency had requested proposals from private firms to improve the agencies’ IT function….While informing TxDOT staff that the agency may outsource some or all of its IT functions in the near future, Wilson also said the agency’s current IT department has the chance to fight for its own survival. Texas Tribune

PA: Corbett makes his case for privatizing the LCB

Pressing his campaign to privatize Pennsylvania liquor sales, Gov. Corbett borrowed a staff member’s smartphone at a Philadelphia news conference to show a photograph and drive home a point.” ‘Welcome, visitors. Sorry, no beer. We sell only wine and spirits. Beer is sold four lights up at 12th and Walnut Streets,’ ” he said, reading from the photo of a sign posted at a state liquor store in Center City. “That speaks to what we are talking about,” the governor said. The point of his plan, he said, is consumer choice and convenience.  Philadelphia Inquirer

VA:  Commentary: Falls Church Should Not Privatize City Government Buildings

These “public-private” arrangements are often sold to cash strapped and credit starved communities because the private “partner” can show a short term financial benefit either in terms of a new facility, new services, or even a lump sum cash payment. Over the life of the project however the cost is substantially higher using this privatization arrangement instead of traditional financing mechanisms. That is because the City can borrow money more cheaply than the private developer and does not have to fund a profit line. The excessive cost of the privatization approach is most dramatic when one considers that the City could be in a decades-long lease and thus paying rent long after any public debt would have been paid off had the City used traditional financing. Having to make these long-term (and generally increasing) rent payments will drain the money that our City will need to educate future generations of Falls Church children.  Falls Church News Press

 

 

News

PA: Corbett promises liquor proceeds to schools

Gov. Tom Corbett says his plan to auction 1,200 wine and liquor store licenses and open beer and wine sales to a broad array of retailers would commit the proceeds to education. Corbett’s office says most of the revenue would come from selling wholesale liquor licenses. Auctioning and selling retail licenses to sell wine, liquor or beer would generate the remainder. The plan involves shutting down the more than 600 state-owned wine and liquor stores as a prelude to auctioning private retail licenses. Philly.com

PA: Union remains committed in fight against liquor privatization in Pennsylania

Just like it has in the past, the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1776 isn’t about to back down on its fight, even as Governor Tom Corbett has thrown his full support toward getting Pennsylvania out of the business of selling alcohol. “It’s pretty clear there’s not a lot of support. I think he’s out of touch with Pennsylvania,” said Wendell W. Young IV, president of the UFCW 1776, which represents about 3,000 state liquor store employees. In the meantime, Young said the union will continue to galvanize its efforts, throwing attention on studies regarding privatization and shedding light on what has happened in other states, such as Iowa and West Virginia, which privatized their liquor systems. PennLive.com

NY: Plan to Privatize LIPA Is Forming

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is considering privatizing the state-owned Long Island Power Authority by issuing bonds to pay off more than half its debts and selling its distribution and transmission system, separately, to the highest bidder, officials said. It isn’t certain the plan would reduce LIPA customers’ bills, among the highest in the nation…. Privatization faces significant political opposition on Long Island, and administration officials said they are considering other options, including turning LIPA into a municipal utility. … Many lawmakers and business owners.  Wall Street Journal

DE: Deal to lease Port of Wilmington at risk

Delaware lawmakers might have scuttled a Port of Wilmington privatization deal by imposing a new requirement for legislative review, a top official with Kinder Morgan told investment analysts Wednesday. The News Journal

TX:  City Hall hopes to turn over Dallas Farmers Market’s keys to a private operator

One thing the city wants to do is keep from spooking the existing vendors at the market, many of whom are already leery of the city’s plans to turn over the market to outsiders who are looking to raze some of the sheds and replace them with apartments, restaurants and other related offerings. Many of market’s vendors have long had a strained relationship with city management and have blamed City Hall for keeping the market from becoming a more vibrant place. Dallas Morning News

E-mails link Bush foundation, corporations and education officials

A nonprofit group released thousands of e-mails today and said they show how a foundation begun by Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor and national education reform leader, is working with public officials in states to write education laws that could benefit some of its corporate funders…. Donald Cohen, chair of the nonprofit In the Public Interest, a resource center on privatization and responsible for contracting in the public sector, said the e-mails show how education companies that have been known to contribute to the foundation are using the organization “to move an education agenda that may or not be  in our interests but are in theirs.” Washington Post

 

 

News

Congress to consider privatizing the NFIP

Privatizing the National Flood Insurance Program could mean higher rates but better coverage for flood insurance policyholders, market observers say. They also say that any privatization of the debt-ridden program, which was reauthorized for five years last year, would have to be phased in after considerable discussion to avoid market disruption. The program came under increased scrutiny as losses from Superstorm Sandy mounted. During the House debate over financial relief for Sandy victims this month, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, called the program “ineffective, inefficient and indisputably costly to hardworking American taxpayers.”  Business Insurance

Public Libraries and Private Parties

Traditionally, libraries are very public spaces. Everyone is welcome. This is the case whether you think of libraries as community centers or the university of the people. To block the public from such a preeminently public space seems like an egregious violation of mission. Plus, it’s not just blocking the public from a public space. It’s privatizing a public space. Some members of the public still got to enjoy being in the library that evening. Specifically, those members of the public who could pay a little extra to make a public library their private playground. Library Journal

IL: Sen. Durbin urges caution on Midway privatization

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin urged the Federal Aviation Administration and the City of Chicago to proceed with caution when evaluating whether to privatize Midway Airport, noting “there are significant federal investments at stake.” In a letter to Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood on Tuesday, Durbin said that the federal government has invested $378 million since 1982 to help rebuild runways and taxiways and a new terminal and that those funds should be repaid before any sale or lease of the airport. LaHood announced Tuesday that he is stepping down from the Cabinet position. His comments also were directed at a plans to privatize Luis Munoz Marin International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico, which are close to completion. Chicago Tribune

IL: To privatize or not to privatize? Some say it’s only way Illiana gets built

With government funds in short supply and general distaste for a gas tax increase, is privatization the only way to go for major transportation projects such as the proposed Illiana Expressway? Yes and no, experts said Monday at a Northwestern University forum on public-private partnerships. “Public-private partnerships aren’t free,” investment banker Tom Lanctot said. “There’s no (public private partnership) fairy or money tree. The private sector is looking to earn a return on their investment. (With infrastructure) some people find that profit motive to be distasteful.” Illinois and Indiana approved legislation in 2010 enabling the two states to form a partnership with private contractors to build and operate the so-called Illiana Expressway although they haven’t pulled the trigger yet. Chicago Daily Herald

PA: Governor Corbett sees lottery privatization as jackpot for senior support

The job of managing the Pennsylvania state lottery is poised to be outsourced to a private management firm based in the United Kingdom called Camelot Global Services. Despite a dearth of popular support for privatization, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett spent the last nine months enthusiastically soliciting potential buyers to take over the operation-estimated to be worth $3.5 billion. In the end, Camelot Global Services was the only bidder, and, pending the contract‘s clearance byattorney general Kathleen Kane (D) and state treasurer Rob McCord (D), will assume management duties in the near future.  Ballot News

PA: Gov. Corbett to unveil state store privatization plan today

Tom Corbett is in Pittsburgh today where he’ll strap on a toga and do his very best Sisyphus impersonation as he announces his plan to privatize Pennsylvania’s state-owned liquor stores. PennLive.com

CA: Saving City College of San Francisco

City College of San Francisco, one of the nation’s most successful community colleges, is fighting for survival. A lifeline to immigrants, students of color and the poor, the school has been knocked to its knees by brutal austerity measures. Looming is a March 15 deadline to change – or face closure…. In December, faculty and staff formed Fight to Save CCSF. Its aim is to launch a campus-wide coalition of students, staff, faculty, labor and the community. They opened spring semester with a bang: a hundreds-strong picket and boycott of a speech by the chancellor. “We are battling a privatization tsunami,” said Dr. Robert Price, chemistry professor and co-convener of Fight Back to Save CCSF. “If we unite, we can have tremendous impact.” Bay Area Indymedia

FL: Winter Haven Commission Rejects Garbage Privatization Plan

Winter Haven won’t privatize its residential garbage pickup, at least for now, city commissioners decided Monday in an vote that was not on their agenda. The 3-0 vote to reject all bids ends a months-long look at privatizing the city service. The vote saves the city jobs of 20 city garbage collection workers. The Ledger

 

News

PA: Op-ed: Lottery privatization is a gamble that’s not worth taking

As Pennsylvania Secretary of Aging, I oversaw programs the Lottery finances. In the 1990’s, when the state’s premiere aging programs faced similar demographic and financial challenges, I helped develop the “Lottery Fund Preservation Plan” that preserved Lottery-funded programs by cutting unnecessary spending and reigning in rapacious prescription drug prices. Aging services now face a greater threat – not from similar demographic and fiscal trends, but from the Administration’s plan to privatize management of the lottery. Penn Live

MI: Lansing’s mayor says privatizing the city’s power company is not going to happen on his watch

Lansing mayor Virg Bernero’s State of the City address celebrated recent positive economic news for the capitol city. But perhaps the biggest applause line in the speech last night involved the future of Lansing’s city-owned utility. …“I just want to be clear…that’s not going to happen. Not on my watch,” Bernero said, which drew large applause from those gathered to hear the mayor’s State of the City address. After the speech, Bernero told reporters that the revenues BWL generates for the city, as well as the low utility rates it provides Lansing residents, are too great a benefit for the city to give up. Michigan Radio

WA: Researchers find prison privatization can impede job growth

Building on earlier research in which they challenged the widespread belief that rural communities can create job growth by hosting state prisons, researchers at Washington State University have now found local job growth is often impeded in communities that become hosts to privately operated prisons. WSU News

MT: Gov. Bullock, public education community line up to oppose tax credits for private schools

Advocates of “school choice” filled the state Capitol halls Monday, in part to testify for a pair of bills creating new state income-tax credits helping finance private schools in Montana. But they ran into a united front of opposition from Montana’s public-school community and Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock, who said the measures essentially take public funds away from public schools and are likely unconstitutional. Helena Independent Record

Why are the Jonas Brothers helping privatize America’s schools?

The school system is one of America’s last public treasures, but corporate interests represented by private schools, charter schools, and virtual schools are launching a new push to help privatize them. Dubbed “School Choice Week,” a coalition of these schools is launching 3,500 events this week to advocate for school vouchers, the expansion of charter schools, and other policies that would help privatize education. The kick-off event for the group featured a concert and rally hosted by the Jonas Brothers in Phoenix, Arizona. Organizers described their push for school vouchers as equivalent to the battle for civil rights and woman’s suffrage.  Bold Progressives

News

NY: New York City Scraps Privatizing Parking Meters

New York City is scrapping plans to privatize management of its street-parking system, the latest sign of growing wariness in U.S. cities of initiatives to address budget woes by selling off the rights to run meters and lots. The decision by the nation’s largest city comes amid a backlash in Chicago, whose 2008 deal to lease rights on 36,000 parking meters to private investors for 75 years for about $1.2 billion was the first parking privatization by a major U.S. city. Chicago residents and policy makers—including Mayor Rahm Emanuel, whose predecessor presided over the deal—have criticized it for selling the rights too cheaply and for including clauses that have ended up costing the city additional funds. Pittsburgh and Los Angeles also have put privatization plans on ice.  Wall Street Journal

NY: About Privatizing Long Island Power Authority

In his State of  the State speech, Governor Andrew Cuomo advocated taking Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) private….In 2005, there was a Strategic Review performed by FTI Consulting in conjunction with Bear Stearns and three white shoe law firms…..The study concluded that privatization would result in an immediate and dramatic increase in electric rates…. Bottom line, years of study and effort have gone into figuring out what form LIPA should take going forward. The only thing that all the consultants seemed to agree on was that privatization was too expensive.  Firedoglake.com

NC: Resegregation by Charters in North Carolina?

A new study of racial segregation in North Carolina shows that 30% of regular public schools are racially imbalanced, but 60% of charter schools are.  These findings echo the work of the UCLA Civil Rights Project, which has found that charter schools are frequently even more segregated than their surrounding district. Diane Ravitch’s Blog

NJ: Christie quietly takes on lottery

Gov. Christie hasn’t held a news conference about it, and his treasurer has refused to testify on it. But the Republican governor is close to privatizing the bulk of a $2.8 billion New Jersey institution. Following a national trend already under way in Pennsylvania, Christie is negotiating a 15-year contract with a company to operate the state lottery in an effort to increase sales, thereby building more revenue for schools and state institutions. Like Pennsylvania’s Republican Gov. Corbett, Christie bypassed the Legislature, much to its chagrin, in bidding out the system. And like Pennsylvania, New Jersey got just one bid in response to its request for proposals. Philadelphia Inquire

PA: Scranton Sewer Authority member pans asset sale

They’d never be able to take this (sewer authority),” Mr. Verrastro said. “We went that route once before, and I hope they (city leaders) can understand how we got killed by it.” A sewer privatization plan in the late 1990s/early 2000s ended up costing the authority millions of dollars.. Scranton Times-Tribune

WA: Shoplifting incidents rise with liquor privatization

Spirits theft has become a common crime at stores locally and statewide since voters decided in 2011 to shut down the state’s liquor stores and allow grocery stores to sell hard alcohol. Shoplifters are taking advantage of the grocery stores’ relatively lax security and making off with bottles of whiskey, vodka, tequila and other spirits.  Longview Daily News

VA: Debt raises doubt about Virginia buying Dulles Greenway toll road

A General Assembly subcommittee will take up legislation from Del. Joe May, R-Leesburg, that would allow Virginia to take over the private, 14-mile toll road west of Washington Dulles International Airport that’s now run by the Macquarie Group.But Virginia Secretary of Transportation Sean Connaughton raised questions about whether the state could afford to buy the road given how much debt its current owners have run up.  Washington Examiner

Letter: Modernize, but don’t privatize Postal Service

Downgrading the U.S. Postal Service, one of our oldest and most reliable public institutions, is being helped by anti-government fanatics and lobbyists for privatization who could steal a worthy public service from the American people and transfer its management and profiteers…. USPS could provide banking services needed in small towns and depressed urban areas. Japan Post is said to be the world’s largest depository institution.  Florida Today

 

News

NC: A Tea Partier Takes Charge of North Carolina’s Budget

His think tanks favor a repeal of North Carolina’s income tax, privatizing Medicaid, and reducing the state workforce. Liberals fear Pope will decimate funding for public schools, Medicaid, and other social programs. Chris Fitzsimon, executive director of NC Policy Watch, a public policy group in Raleigh, worries that Pope’s years of activism will give him more clout than the governor and is calling the new regime “The Pope Administration.” Says Fitzsimon: “It’s unprecedented to have the largest funder of campaign ads as the state budget director.” Businessweek ‎

OK: Bill seeks to eliminate funding for Oklahoma Arts Council

Oklahoma is following neighboring Kansas, where Koch Industries is headquartered, to eradicate public arts funding. De-funding the arts is a privatizing scheme. “The Arts Council can operate solely from donations and self-generated funds. Los Angeles Times

OR: Liquor privatization issue still percolating in Oregon

After the bumpy start for Washington’s liquor privatization law last year — which included price hikes that led some consumers fleeing to stores across the border — you might think the issue is off the table in Oregon. It doesn’t appear to be the case.   Both sides are preparing for a potential battle here.  OregonLive

SC:  SC Board of Education Authorizes Strikebreaking Bus Drivers

On Wednesday, the board authorized the emergency use of school bus drivers who do not have the state certification should a strike occur in those districts…. The districts have contracted with private company Durham School Services to provide transportation services. Durham’s employees are unionized under Teamsters 509 and authorized a strike last week and this week as negotiations with the company stalled.  Patch.com

VT: Vermont: One Tiny State’s Movement to Ban Private Prisons

A recent New Yorker piece noted more Americans are now incarcerated than there were imprisoned in Stalin’s gulags. Clearly a dialogue about mass incarceration, budget crises, and privatization is unfolding. A group of Vermonters working out of Church basements and living rooms is attempting to build a movement to push this conversation forward by passing a historic law banning Vermont’s use of for-profit prisons. Toward Freedom

IL: Bucktown Billboards Galore

The new LED billboard planned for a prominent local intersection is part of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s expansive billboard privatization deal, according to 32nd Ward Alderman Scott Waguespack…Area residents and community groups have also started taking action against the billboard projects. Bucktown Community Organization President Steve Jensen is drafting a letter to the mayor to publicly state the group’s position on the issue, and he has encouraging neighbors to do the same.   Patch.com

CA: Dozens of layoffs possible with Fresno trash plan delay

KMJ is reporting up to 60 impending layoffs at the City of Fresno on possible delays to residential trash privatization.KMJ (580 AM) is reporting that upward of 60 City of Fresno employees could be laid off in the coming months due to possible delays in privatizing the city’s residential solid waste collection. In addition to layoffs, two fire stations would be cut, as well as hot meals for seniors and graffiti abatement efforts, Appleton said.  Fresno Business Journal

 

News

In 2013, debt collection is big business — really big

Consider it the privatizing of justice. Instead of investigating bad-check complaints, prosecutors simply pass them along to Corrective Solutions. The company then uses official DA letterhead to threaten jail time if consumers don’t pay up. Corrective Solutions also runs the “voluntary” financial-accountability classes, and prosecutors get a cut of the profits while barely lifting a finger. Unfortunately, the entire system runs on a one-size-fits-all presumption of guilt. No one’s bothering to investigate whether the check writer was working a scam or merely suffering from a momentary lapse of mathematics.  WestWord

MD: Maryland Considers Photo Ticket Reform

Lawmakers in Maryland are considering legislation to rein in the use of photo enforcement. In the past few months, a series of embarrassing revelations have cast doubt on the legality and accuracy of speed camera citations, including the admission that more than 5 percent of photo ticket recipients in Baltimore were likely innocent. Supporters of the technology in Annapolis are now scrambling to save a program that has lost credibility in the public eye. Montgomery County and other jurisdictions have been paying their camera contractors on a per-ticket basis, even though state code section 21-809 unambiguously states “the contractor’s fee may not be contingent on the number of citations issued or paid. TheNewspaper.com

MI: Survey shows Michigan lawmakers and residents don’t see eye to eye on education reform

Many Michigan lawmakers see school choice and online learning as keys to improving the state’s education system, but a yearlong survey of Michigan residents released Tuesday shows a disconnect between what lawmakers want and what the public wants….Instead, survey participants say Michigan schools will improve by giving teachers more support, strengthening requirements to become a teacher, boosting early childhood education programs and holding educators more accountable. Livingston Daily

PA: Lottery privatization: Corbett’s administration sales pitch falls short for some lawmakers at House hearing

Despite the administration officials’ best efforts to sell the House Aging and Older Adult Services Committee on the benefits of a 20-year contract with Camelot, lawmakers who spoke voiced an uneasiness about this change for the lottery. Some lawmakers’ questions exposed other worries ranging from the reliance on people’s desire to gamble to fund social programs to fears that Camelot’s business plan focused around broadening to participation would result in college students being targeted. PennLive

PA: Teachers’ pension plan funds privatization of PA lottery

Canada’s Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan put up the $150 million cash and $50 million in credit to back UK-based Camelot Global Services that enabled Camelot to drive competing bidders Gtech and Tatts out of the picture. Philly.com

NJ: Privatize emergency dispatch? South Jersey officials, company weigh in

A Central Jersey town’s decision Tuesday night to privatize its police dispatch service has made history and highlighted an impassioned debate over the wisdom of taking emergency services out of the public sector. NJ.com

DE: House panel releases port privatization bill

A Senate bill giving the General Assembly veto power over privatizing operations at the Port of Wilmington has cleared a House committee. Member of the economic development committee voted unanimously Wednesday to release the bill for consideration by the full House.  San Francisco Chronicle

MI: Court records show how union’s fight against privatization at Grand Rapids Veterans Home failed

More than 140 unionized caregivers at the Grand Rapids Home for Veterans were given layoff notices this week, the culmination of a months-long battle against a plan by the state to privatize the jobs…. Contracted caregivers, union leaders argued, receive lower pay and fewer benefits than state-paid, unionized caregivers, and therefore were not as dedicated to their jobs. State officials dismissed such claims, and said privatizing the jobs would save $4.2 million annually. The ultimate undoing of the union’s fight against privatization are spelled out in state court documents, which show a legal challenge brought by veterans home resident Anthony Spallone was dropped in December 2012.  The Grand Rapids Press

NE: Regents won’t consider health center privatization Friday

University of Nebraska-Lincoln officials, who had hoped to bring the proposal before the regents during their regular meeting on Friday, still are negotiating with Bryan Health, regents Chairman Tim Clare of Lincoln said. “They (university officials) pulled it because they did not have the information or had not completed their negotiations to be able to give us adequate information as to where things are,” he said.  Lincoln Journal Star