“There should be no profiting from mass incarceration.”

An important read from the folks at In The Public Interest that may be of interest to readers of this space.  Replace prison with schools and you have a basic primer on school choice.

The weekly newsletter for people who want the government to work for all of us, not just the wealthy few. View this newsletter online. Not a subscriber? Sign up here. Prisons for Profit A new study released last month from the Sentencing Project, a nonprofit that “advocates for effective and humane responses to crime that minimize imprisonment and criminalization of youth and adults by promoting racial, ethnic, economic, and gender justice,” takes an important look at trends in incarceration in privatized prisons, including a breakdown by state. It points out that the number of people housed in private prisons has increased five percent since 2000; in 2022, eight percent of individuals serving a prison sentence in a state or federal prison were serving it in a private prison facility. In the Public Interest has had a keen interest in prison privatization as part of our criminal justice work. We asked the report’s author, Kristen M. Budd, a research analyst at the Sentencing Project, a few questions about the report. Can you talk about why you chose to explore the use of privatized prisons vs. public prisons? Are there meaningful differences that you are curious about? The privatization of prisons is a hidden or lesser-known component of the American corrections landscape. Many people do not know, or are not aware, that states, and historically the federal government, contract with private prisons. These are for-profit industries. Our Private Prison fact sheet is one way The Sentencing Project hopes to increase public awareness about these companies who make money—millions of dollars in profits—to incarcerate our community members. Each year, we publicly disseminate our analysis of private prison use not only so that the public is informed—it’s their tax dollars that are paying for these companies to run private facilities—but also so that we can analyze how the private prison industry contracts or expands. Ultimately, private prisons are another mechanism that feed and exacerbate mass incarceration in our country. There should be no profiting from mass incarceration. Do you have any ideas or theories about why certain states—like Montana—rely more on privatized prisons? Or about why some use them little or not at all? While our data helps us see the scope of private prison use across the country, it does not tell us why one state is more reliant on the private prison industry versus another. With that said, private prisons could be used for various reasons by specific states. For instance, if a state contracts with a private prison, the state would offset or not incur the cost of building a state-run prison. Private companies also claim there are cost savings to the state due to their efficiency. But, based on studies done on this claim, cost savings tend to be elusive, they are not guaranteed, and some states have been shown to spend more money on private prisons versus a public state-run facility. Reducing costs for profit is also problematic—think less rehabilitative programming, decreased labor costs (e.g., low staff benefits/pay) which can lead to high staff turnover. Ultimately, these all matter in terms of facility safety and even living conditions in facilities (e.g., unsanitary conditions). In regard to some states using them on a smaller scale or not at all, states do contract with private facilities out-of-state. So, while there may be few to no private prisons active in a state, that state may be using the private prison system in other ways, such as sending an incarcerated community member out of state to a private facility to serve their sentence, which won’t be reflected in the data we have available. What trends have we seen in the number of people housed in privatized prisons?  Since 2012, we have seen the number of our community members serving their sentence in a private facility decrease. There could be a number of reasons for this. Generally speaking, the U.S. prison population has declined 25% since reaching its peak in 2009. We know under certain administrations there has been movement to phase out and end federal government contracts with private prison facilities. For example, while more recent, the Biden administration issued an executive order to phase out the Bureau of Prison’s use of private facilities. States themselves may also decide not to renew private prison contracts. Anything surprising in your findings? At the federal level with the Bureau of Prisons, it was a welcome surprise to see the decrease in the number of people serving their sentence in a private facility over this 20-plus year time span. Historically, they’ve been the largest prison system relying on privatization. With that said, decarceration in private facilities should be happening at a much quicker rate, particularly given the health and safety concerns and that incarcerating people should not be for profit. We hope to see this continuation of eliminating contracts with for-profit prison companies not only at the federal-level but also at the state-level.   Your donations make our work possible.

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Check out the new report from Network for Public Education rating the states

An important read from the folks at In The Public Interest, and the first item from the Network for Public Education may be of particular interest to readers of this space.

Your weekly rundown of news and analysis about the corporate takeover of education, water, and other public goods. Not a subscriber? Subscribe here for free. View this post on the In the Public Interest website.  HIGHLIGHTS New NPE report released School custodian honored Corporate giants look to undermine NLRB JUMP: EDUCATION | INFRASTRUCTURE | PUBLIC SERVICES | THE REST First, the Good News 1) National: The Network for Public Education releases Public Schooling in America 2024, which rates the states on 42 factors that impact public education. [Full report] “From book bans to teacher qualifications, our new national report examines the laws and policies that support or undermine each state’s public schools and the students who attend them. We rate states on: Privatization Laws: the guardrails and limits on charter and voucher programs to ensure that taxpayers and students are protected from discrimination, corruption, and fraud. Homeschooling Laws: laws to ensure that instruction is provided safely and responsibly. Financial Support for Public Schools: sufficient and equitable funding of public schools. Freedom to Teach and Learn: whether state laws allow all students to feel safe and thrive at school and receive honest instruction free of political intrusion.” 2) National: Kyle Huelsman, senior director for legislative affairs at the State Innovation Exchange (SiX), says the time is now for a movement for tax justice. “The tax justice movement has arrived at a historic inflection point. One path leads toward massive cuts in government spending, divesting unprecedented levels of funding from our schools, our affordable housing stock, and our broader social safety net. The other path leads toward the ultrawealthy and corporations paying what they owe in taxes, enabling us to fund our future. The next two years will determine whether we can build together, across states and across movements, to fight for the second path, and realize a government that works for us all; or whether we will be overpowered by our opposition and become resigned to the worst possible outcome.” 3) National: Kyle Spencer, the founding editor, reports the launch of Reporting Right, “a weekly guide for local journalists covering democracy in the disinformation age, has officially launched! Tips, info, sources, data—it’s all here.” Comes out every Wednesday. “Tips, hints, data and more for local reporters covering threats to our democracy at the school board, town hall, and state leg.” 4) National: States are moving to cut grocery taxes, Route Fifty reports. “Oklahoma is just the latest in a growing number of states that have eliminated or are looking to eliminate sales taxes on groceries, according to Aidan Davis, state policy director at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, or ITEP. In his State of the State last week, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker called for the sales tax on groceries to be permanently abolished. The governor had temporarily suspended it as part of his 2022 budget. ‘If it reduces inflation for families from 4% to 3%, even if it only puts a few hundred bucks back in families’ pockets, it’s the right thing to do,’ he said. In November, Utah voters will have the option to change the state constitution, which would indirectly get rid of the grocery tax. Similarly, an effort is underway in South Dakota to get a measure on the ballot in the fall that would eliminate the 4.2% state sales tax on groceries. In recent years, Virginiaeliminated its state grocery sales tax, and Kansas OK’d a phase-out of the tax that will be complete in 2025.” 5) National: The Biden administration has announced new efforts to boost the nation’s housing supply. “The move, according to the Federal Housing Administration, will allow states and localities to build or preserve 38,000 affordable rental homes over the next decade. The National Council of State Housing Agencies praised the decision to continue the Housing Finance Agency Risk-Sharing Initiative “at a time when affordable housing is scarce for so many people who need it so much,” the group said. The program ‘is an important and effective way of helping to build and maintain apartments for low- and moderate-income families.’” 6) California: PowerSwitch Action has released a new report on corporate efforts to eliminate the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) and limit California worker’s rights. “Key findings of A Shrinking Toolbox include: PAGA is crucial to enforce labor laws where workers have signed arbitration clauses. PAGA filings have increased in direct proportion to the explosion in forced arbitration clauses since the early 2000s. Between 2018 and 2021, worker whistleblowers have filed more than 4,208 PAGA notices with the LWDA in the following strategic high violation industries: agriculture, auto repair, car wash, garment, janitorial, restaurant, retail, and warehouse. This is nearly three times the number of inspections the Bureau of Field Enforcement was able to conduct during the same time period. PAGA liability creates a market incentive to comply with labor laws. Corporations are incentivized to invest in compliance with labor and employment laws when noncompliance presents a significant threat to their profits. PAGA penalties fund labor law outreach, public enforcement, and education. Last fiscal year, PAGA generated $209 million for the LWDA. PAGA suits address wage theft and other serious violations. More than nine out of ten (91%) of PAGA claims allege wage theft, including overtime violations (79% of cases) and failure to pay for all hours worked (76% of cases).” 7) Kentucky: A Campbellsville High School custodian has received an award “from the Campbellsville Independent school board for going above and beyond his work as a coach and custodian for the district.” Tommy Allen, an alumnus of Campbellsville High School class of 2004, “now coaches football and has been the custodian at the high school for the past seven years. ‘It’s great, you know, you just don’t wake up every day wanting to be recognized for your work. You do what you do, but it feels good to be recognized,’ said Allen. The awards are based on six elements, which spell the word Eagles. The elements are the foundation of the Change Award and are strong attributes of the award recipient.” For additional information about the role and importance of educational support professionals and the issues surrounding outsourcing, read the In the Public Interest report “School Support Services Outsourcing: The Original Privatization of Education.” 8) Ohio: The state Senate has “passed a bill that included $1.27 billion in bonds for state government agency facilities, K-12 classrooms, local subdivisions’ capital improvement projects and conservation projects. The bill, HB 27, was originally intended only to give students more information about college fees and loan repayment. And Senate Democrats voiced reservations about spending they claimed was tacked on at the last minute.” The House has also balked. “House Bill 2includes a $350 laundry list of one-time funding projects, including $1 million for a professional women’s soccer stadium in Cleveland. The Senate has reportedly objected to some of those projects.” [Sub required] 9) Think Tanks/California: LAANE has the receipts on why scaremongering about raising hotel worker minimum wages was nonsense. “The Sky Never Fell: An Analysis of the Predictions and Outcomes of the 2014 Raise LA Hotel Worker Minimum Wage Ordinance (2024). In 2014, Los Angeles City Council passed the Citywide Hotel Worker Minimum Wage Ordinance, known as Raise LA, which raised wages for hotel workers. As part of the legislative process, Council commissioned three reports to study the potential impact of the wage increase, two of which—conducted by Blue Sky Consulting Group and Beacon Economics—largely predicted negative economic outcomes for the hotel industry, workers, and the broader city economy. Industry leaders and hotel owners echoed these predictions and claimed the economic consequences would be disastrous. Analyzing the data today, it’s clear these claims did not materialize. LA’s hotel industry grew by every measure, either outperforming or on track with comparator markets in California and New York City.” [Full report] 10) International/Mexico: Iberdrola, a Spanish multinational electric utility company, has completed the sale of 13 power generation plants to the government. “The transaction was announced by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who emphasized the importance of preventing CFE from monopolizing the electricity generation sector. Iberdrola stated that the deal was closed as planned and is part of the company’s strategy to fulfill its decarbonization commitments.” Education 11) National: Jeff Bryant, writing in The Progressive, picks up on a first by education secretary Miguel Cardona—Cardona calling out the right wing specifically for waging an assault on diversity, equity and inclusion in the nation’s schools to promote privatization. “Cardona called new laws passed by Republican state lawmakers to eliminate DEI programs ‘a deliberate attack on efforts to try to make sure schools are inclusive, welcoming places for all students—in particular, students from different backgrounds.’ But more than just defending schools for embracing DEI, Cardona went further to call out the intention behind these attacks on the programs, calling them ‘very deliberate attempts to seek division in our schools so that a private option sounds better [emphasis added] for parents.’ ‘Every year, there’s something to stoke division in an attempt to disrupt our public schools and decrease the confidence in our public schools,’ he said. ‘Four years ago were the masks. [Critical race theory] was a year after that. [Now,] DEI, [and] banning books.’” 12) Iowa: Robin Opsahl, writing in the Iowa Capital Dispatch, reports that “House lawmakers heard from Iowa teachers, school district staff and parents in a public hearing Wednesday on their proposal to make changes to Iowa’s Area Education Agencies. Some speakers remained concerned about potential privatization of special education services, while others urged more control for school districts. Legislators held the public hearing to discuss House File 2612, a bill approved by the House Education Committee last week and available for consideration by the full House.” 13) Maryland: The Maryland State Education Association (MSEA) reports on legislative action in the state capital. “MSEA, the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 2250, and Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 500 were among the witnesses that provided testimony on Wednesday to the House Ways and Means Committee for House Bill 1175, to put guardrails around subcontracting in public schools and make such contracts more transparent and with stronger oversight and employee protections. Bus driver and AFSCME Local 2250 President Martin Diggs described subcontracts that create unequal working conditions in disregard of negotiated agreements. MSEA Treasurer Colleen Morris described times when subcontractors’ lack of familiarity with the education policy, students, and schools where they were temporarily assigned created unsafe consequences and additional staff workloads. MSEA President Cheryl Bost and lobbyist Christian Gobel emphasized the need to keep for-profit contractors from filling public school jobs and to make sure any contracts are transparent. 14) Ohio: WOSU reports that school voucher usage has exploded in suburban Columbus districts. “A 2022 lawsuit in Franklin County Court of Common Pleas argues that the EdChoice expansion is unconstitutional. Dozens of public school districts have signed on, including Columbus, Bexley, Gahanna-Jefferson, Reynoldsburg, South-Western, Westerville and Worthington. William Phillis, Executive Director of the Ohio Coalition for Equity and Adequacy in School Funding, which is spearheading the lawsuit, said Ohio’s constitution calls for a ‘thorough and efficient system of common schools’ and prohibits the state from funding private, and specifically religious, schools. Vouchers have, at times, been used to segregate, and Phillis argues that’s happening again. ‘Recent data is that a disproportionate percentage of the people taking the vouchers are white,’ Phillis said. ‘And so, the voucher program has a segregating effect. It segregates people along racial lines, ethnic lines, economic lines.’” 15) Texas: Rural Republicans, along with Democratic public education supporters, continue to stand in the way of Gov. Abbott’s vouchers scheme, says the Hechinger Report. “The governor worked to court support by tying the passage of his voucher plan to a $7.6 billion funding boost for public schools that included teacher pay raises. Still, a stalwart group of 21 House lawmakers, most of whom represent rural areas and fear the measure would pull resources away from their public schools, sided with state Democrats to torpedo the legislation. ‘Abbott wanted them to bend the knee and kiss the ring, and they’re just not going to do it. That ain’t Texas,’ said Rev. Charles Johnson, executive director of Pastors for Texas Children, a public-school advocacy group. ‘It is Texan to vote in the interest of your community and constituents.’” 16) International/Ireland: European Parliamentarian Mick Wallace reports that the housing crisis is driving a teacher shortage in Ireland. “Ireland has a shortage of Teachers which is having a dramatic impact on students – Plenty of teachers are qualifying, but the #Housing Crisis means they struggle to find affordable accommodation. Neoliberal Policies of successive Irish Governments have been a total disaster.” Infrastructure 17) National/Think Tanks: Lawmakers across the country are seeking to curb utility spending on politics, ads and more extras. “After a string of scandals and amid rising bills, lawmakers in statehouses across the country have been pushing legislation to curb utilities spending ratepayer money on lobbying, expert testimony in rate cases, goodwill advertising, charitable giving, trade association membership and other costs. At least a dozen states have considered bills to limit how gas, water and electric utilities can spend customers’ money, according to a tracker maintained by the Energy and Policy Institute, a watchdog group funded by environmental and climate-focused foundations that concentrates on utilities and fossil fuel interests.” 18) National: A bill has been introduced in Congress that would allow tax-exempt bonds to be issued for space infrastructure. Spaceports would have the same access to low-cost financing as air and seaports. “The legislation calls for spaceports to be treated like airports under exempt facility bond rules, allowing for the issuance of tax-free private activity bonds that would be exempt from the state volume cap. (…) Space investment, which has gained popularity among private investors, faces high capital costs and limited revenue-generating ability. ‘This strategic policy change empowers our state and national leaders to leverage the power of financial markets to accelerate space infrastructure development and bolster the economy,’ said Rob Long, president and CEO, Space Florida, the state’s aerospace finance and development authority, in a statement. In Florida, there has been more than $2.1 billion in private investment across 44 spaceport infrastructure projects since 2012, according to the group. Space Florida wrote a letter last year to IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel urging the move.” [Sub required] 19) California: Disney’s proposal to privatize California streets has kicked off a protest. “We previously reported that not everyone is a fan of the plan, with a grassroots campaign named ‘Save Our Anaheim Streets from DisneylandForward’ asserting that ‘[b]uried in a 17,000-page document are plans to narrow existing streets around the Resort, back out of past deals to complete roads Disney promised, and even close some of the streets we use daily to access the freeway!’ Other Anaheim residents are beginning to raise more concerns about the privatization of California streets, according to KTLA. For example, in a recent Planning Commission workshop, a resident named Randy Lewis pushed against it, saying, ‘Magic Way is near and dear to my heart. I love Magic Way. I do not love the idea of closing Magic Way. It’s a great way for residents to bypass a lot of traffic.’” Here’s the petition. It says, in part, “Yes, Disney is a massive corporation but, by standing together, we can make our voices heard. This petition asks Anaheim leaders to consider alternatives that benefit both tourism and taxpayers. Additionally, we call for increased truth and transparency in these dealings. ” 20) California: We don’t need to weaken environmental regulations to create more housing, say Joel Reynolds and Tom Soto. Reynolds is western director and senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council in Santa Monica; Soto is a former alternate member of the California Coastal Commission and a Natural Resources Defense Council board member.  “If the coast of California is a state asset worth trillions of dollars—and it is—why is the state agency that has successfully protected that asset for 50 years under assault? The answer—’unnecessary permitting delays’—is unfounded. Yet California’s exceptional history of coastal protection is in greater jeopardy today in the halls of our state Capitol than it has been for generations.” 21) Florida: The Florida Times-Union’s Nate Monroe is covering the high profile JEA get-rich-quick privatization scheme in playing out in a Florida courtroom. “The alleged get-rich scheme, prosecutors have said, was tied to an effort also moving forward in the summer of 2019 to privatize JEA. Although the conspiracy and fraud charges against CEO Aaron Zahn and CFO Ryan Wannemacher are not directly tied to that potential sale effort — which was ultimately canceled shortly before Christmas in 2019—prosecutors have argued that too was the result of an elaborate effort to dupe the board into believing that a sale was the only way to save JEA from financial ruin.” “Assistant U.S. Attorney A. Tysen Duva on Wednesday questioned former JEA board member Alan Howard in depth about the lead up to the privatization effort, including revisiting financial presentations Zahn and his team delivered the board that prosecutors believe cast JEA’s finances in an overly negative light. One of those slides, for example, had an illustration of a frog in a pot—a reference to an old parable about a frog in gradually warming water being unaware it’s slowly boiling until the point of death. The information from JEA’s executives, Howard said Wednesday, left him believing there were ‘storm clouds on the horizon’ if drastic action weren’t taken.” 22) Maryland: Pointing to staffing shortages, Baltimore officials have approved a private contracting deal at the Back River Wastewater Treatment Plant. “Under the contract, signed last year by the city, the company has taken over operating certain parts of the plant previously run by city staff, said interim Director of Public Works Richard Luna. The 40 city staff members in those areas have been transferred to other places in the facility. The contract represents an expansion of private operation of the Back River facility, where corporations already have a sizable footprint. But city staffers were adamant during Wednesday’s Board of Estimates meeting that it did not represent privatization of the plant, but rather a temporary fix to staffing struggles.” 23) Massachusetts: The Boston Globe reports that “a local environmental group that serves as a steward of Franklin Park joined 15 residents in a lawsuit Tuesday to halt the redevelopment of White Stadium in the park into a home for a new professional women’s soccer team, arguing the proposal was fast-tracked without adequate community input, and would privatize public parkland. The lawsuit is the first to be filed by the Emerald Necklace Conservancy in its roughly 25-year history—an action its leadership said they took reluctantly, but seriously.” 24) Texas: Privatized segregation? Now happening down the road from Greenwood in Austin, “opponents, who filed a lawsuit seeking to block the central Capital Express project in January, warn the expansion will worsen I-35’s historic role as the city’s racial dividing line. The city of Austin has crafted a plan to try to diminish the barrier with a series of bridges and caps covering the highway, but it remains uncertain whether the city can meet the roughly $900 million price tag.” [Sub required] Public Services 25) National: The staff shortages in nursing homes that contributed to elevated death rates during the pandemic continue. “Many Americans prefer to believe the Covid pandemic is a thing of the past. But for the nation’s nursing homes, the effects have yet to fully fade, with staffing shortages and employee burnout still at crisis levels and many facilities struggling to stay afloat, according to a new report published Thursday by federal investigators. The report, by the inspector general’s office at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, found that the flawed infection-control procedures that contributed to the 170,000 deaths at nursing homes during the pandemic were still inadequate at many facilities. And while the uptake of Covid vaccines was initially robust when they first became available, investigators found that vaccination booster rates among staff workers and residents have been badly lagging. The findings were directed at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.” For more see “‘They Were Traumatized’: How a Private Equity-Associated Lender Helped Precipitate a Nursing-Home Implosion.” 26) National/Oregon: How might the U.S. Postal Service’s consolidation plan affect smaller and rural communities? Sarah Anderson and Scott Klinger spell out some of the issues in Counterpunch. “Through this consolidation plan, many postal processing and distribution facilities in smaller communities will be converted to Local Processing Centers with reduced functions. USPS has not yet disclosed a full list of facilities to be affected by the plan. But in numerous reported cases, consolidation will result in packages and mail traveling long distances from outlying areas to urban regional processing centers. “How might this consolidation plan affect smaller towns and rural communities, where residents tend to rely most heavily on the public Postal Service? Unfortunately, USPS has published very little analysis to back up their claims about the expected benefits of the consolidation plan. This report uses available information to examine the potential impacts on just one facility: a postal processing and distribution center in Medford, Oregon.” 27) National: More than 17 million low-income households will experience service disruptions if internet subsidy ends, Route Fifty reports. “Funding for the ACP, which provides a $30-a-month subsidy to eligible low-income households for internet access, is set to run out at the end of April unless Congress provides more money to continue it. The FCC, which surveyed ACP households in December, also found that more than two-thirds of respondents had inconsistent or zero connectivity prior to enrolling in the program. Of that group, 80% cited affordability as the reason.” 28) Florida: The state Senate is seeking to level up salaries of private prison workers to bring them in line with state levels. “Florida has offered bonuses and raises to corrections officers, but only those directly employed by the state. Corrections officers at state prisons received raises years ago. Now the Senate wants $8.5 million to keep pay commensurate at private prisons. The Senate Criminal and Civil Justice Appropriations Committee in its latest offer continues to seek $8.5 million for private prison operations. Senate President Kathleen Passidomos Office said that’s money entirely intended for officer pay, and to create parity with salaries at the Department of Corrections (DOC). (…) But to date, the House Justice Appropriations Subcommittee has not agreed to dedicating any money to private prison salaries. For the last few years, the Legislature has passed wage increases for public corrections officers, which is all facilitated through the DOC.” 29) Montana/ Arizona: Montana prisons are still overcrowded even after a transfer of inmates to a private (CoreCivic) Arizona prison. “The transfer of 120 male inmates to CoreCivic’s Saguaro Correctional Center in Eloy, Arizona last year—the result of an almost $4 million annual appropriation that Republican lawmakers slipped into a prison infrastructure bill in the latter days of the 2023 Legislature—did allow for 212 state inmates previously housed in county jails to be placed at the Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge, Department of Corrections Director Brian Gootkin said Tuesday. But, according to department data, about 345 state inmates are still being held in county facilities while they await placement elsewhere, including 103 who are in jail pending free space at the state prison.” 30) North Carolina: Republican lawmakers have opened a crusade to privatize the DMV, and roasted its leader on Thursday. “Goodwin told lawmakers that agency leaders have taken a variety of steps as they’ve dealt with the challenge of losing “over half of our staff during the pandemic.” He noted the DMV has filled more than 250 vacancies but still has a challenge filling contractor position[s], as they don’t qualify for state benefits. The DMV set up an appointment system for customers. But, after seeing about 25 percent of those appointments ended up being no-shows, they moved all appointments to morning hours and left the afternoons for walk-in services. It can be challenging to make appointments as some offices have no availability for the next three months. ‘While we’ve made a host of changes and improvements over the last two years, we recognize that this agency is not perfect. None of us are. And, we have a lot to learn and a lot to do,’ said Goodwin. He said the agency has entered into an agreement with the state of Arizona with the goal of modernizing ‘aging mainframe systems.’” 31) International/Canada: Last Tuesday, the Registered Nurses’ Union of Newfoundland and Labrador and allies took their message to Confederation Hill “to demand the provincial government reduce its spending on private agency nurses as a stopgap measure to address the province’s nursing shortage. ‘We’re here today because when health care is under attack, we fight back!’ said Registered Nurses’ Union Newfoundland and Labrador President Yvette Coffey. (…) The rally comes less than two weeks after a Globe and Mail investigation into the provincial government’s contract with a private, for-profit company based in Toronto and public money spent on private travel nurses. The investigation found that public spending on private nurses has drastically increased since the pandemic. Between April and August of 2023, the province spent $35.6 million on agency nurses, a considerable rise from the pre-pandemic annual average of just over $1 million. The Globe also reports that Canadian Health Labs, contracted by the Andrew Furey government, was in some cases paid the hourly wage equivalent of more than $300 per nurse, an amount exponentially higher than the average rate of pay for nurses in the province.” 32) International/United Kingdom: A new study, led by University of Oxford researchers and published in The Lancet“has concluded that hospitals that are privatized typically deliver worse quality care after converting from public ownership.” Lead author Dr. Benjamin Goodair says “this review challenges the justifications for health care privatization and concludes that the scientific support for health care privatization is weak. Overall, hospital privatization may reduce costs, but does so at expense of quality of care. (…) Increases in privatization generally corresponded with worse quality of care, with no studies included in the review finding unequivocally positive effects on health outcomes. Additionally, hospitals converting from public to private ownership status tended to make higher profits. This was mainly achieved by reducing staff levels and reducing the proportion of patients with limited health insurance coverage.” All the Rest 33) National: Corporate giants are aiming to hobble the National Labor Relations Board, Taylor Giorno and Julia Shapero report in The Hill. “Amazon, Starbucks, SpaceX and Trader Joe’s are all facing complaints from the NLRB over their alleged harassment, intimidation and illegal firings of unionizing employees. The companies have responded by challenging the constitutionality of the NLRB in federal court, which could upend the structure of the New Deal-era agency. The NLRB is at the center President Biden’s mission to be the most ‘pro-union’ president ever and a bulwark for a rising tide of union activity. But the organization could suffer a serious blow to its power if the companies challenging its legality succeed. ‘This energy in the labor movement is at least in part fueled by the knowledge that workers have that they are protected when they undertake these kinds of activities,’ said Sharon Block, a former NLRB member who now works as a professor and executive director for the Center for Labor and a Just Economy at Harvard Law School.” This is not the first time that corporate behemoths have tried to strangle the NLRB by getting courts to decare it unconstitutional. Leading right wing organizations in the 1930s, such as the American Liberty League (p. 26) and the National Association of Manufacturers (now headed by, among others, Johnson & Johnson, Rockwell, ExxonMobil, Dow Inc., General Motors, Caterpillar, Pfizer, and Toyota) also tried to kill it off but were defeated. 34) National: Cheap jail and prison food is making people sick. It doesn’t have to, says the Vera Institute. “Maneuvering around constraints imposed by the ubiquitous Keefe Group—which supplies food and other services to correctional facilities nationwide—Matthew worked to make eating behind bars tolerable, even enjoyable. He resisted serving food he considered substandard and, whenever possible, heeded his peers’ requests and preferences. ‘[Food is] a sense of relief; when you can go to the kitchen and get a good meal [it’s uplifting],’ he said. ‘I always tried to produce that for people.’ Still, despite Matthew’s ingenuity, his efforts were ultimately that of an individual person attempting to alleviate and make up for institutional failures to provide adequate, healthy food—a misconceived cost-saving measure that’s lucrative for corporations.” 35) National: Republican lawmakers are butting heads against service chiefs who want to upgrade the military’s skills at things like HVAC repair and maintenance, Stars & Stripes reports.  Despite privatization disasters such as the privatized military housing program, the efficiency arguments have now given way to warfighting arguments.

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The Public Supports Public Education

An important read from the folks at In The Public Interest that may be of interest to readers of this space.

The weekly newsletter for people who want the government to work for all of us, not just the wealthy few. View this newsletter online. Not a subscriber? Sign up here. The Millions Versus the Millionaires A new study from University of Southern California Center for Applied Research in Education at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences should give hope to those who believe in the value of public education—in other words, according to the study, most Americans. Despite the current political climate, the survey revealed surprising areas of agreement among Americans regarding education. For example, Americans across the political spectrum overwhelmingly agree on the importance of a free, public education for every child; its core functions of teaching basic literacy, numeracy and civics; and positioning children to have a financially secure future. The researchers also discovered that 58% of Democrats and 54% of Republicans believe protecting democracy is a very important goal of education, while 36% of adults with other affiliations agree. The survey also showed widespread agreement that parents should play an important role in their children’s education. “In an election year, when the partisan stakes seem so high, we were heartened to find such high levels of agreement around core purposes of education, including both teaching the basics and also strengthening our fragile democracy,” said Morgan Polikoff, co-author of the study and associate professor of education at USC Rossier. The study mirrors findings over the years, including a 2021 study commissioned by the National School Boards Action Center that found a solid majority of respondents valued what their public schools are doing in their community. That study also found 59 percent of voters think funding for public schools should be increased. Among those who believe it should be increased, 86 percent would support an increase in funding even if it meant they would pay more in taxes. What’s more, three-quarters of respondents to a more recent NPR poll say teachers are “asked to do too much work for the pay they receive.” More than nine out of ten K-12 students attend public schools. That’s more than just voting with your feet—that’s voting with your precious children’s education. These number add up to a lot of children, parents, and grandparents who could make up a nearly unstoppable political force that should shield public education budgets from getting gutted by money-guzzling projects like voucher programs and charter schools. But they are up against some of the best-funded political organizations, like those supported by anti-public education zealots Betsy DeVos and the Cleveland Browns football team owner Jimmy Haslam and his wife, Dee. As conservatives look for more ways to undermine public education funding across the states, let’s hope millions of families are able to defeat a handful of millionaires.   Your donations make our work possible.

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Left Turn in LA Council has Republicans and Corporate Dems Taking Aim

An item from the folks at In The Public Interest that may be of interest to readers of this space.

Your weekly rundown of news and analysis about the corporate takeover of education, water, and other public goods. Not a subscriber? Subscribe here for free. View this post on the In the Public Interest website.  HIGHLIGHTS International Unions Launch Insourcing, Remunicipalization Toolkit Landlords Sound Alarm Over L.A. City Council’s Left Turn  Transit Workers Launch Strike in Virginia JUMP TO: EDUCATION | INFRASTRUCTURE | PUBLIC SERVICES | THE REST First, the Good News 1) National: Writing in Common Dreams, In the Public Interest Executive Director Donald Cohen says the new direct file tax filing pilot program, which will be available to some next year, shows it doesn’t have to be hard to do your taxes. “So, what’s the hold up? Well, listen to Times editorial board writer Binya Appelbaum’s explanation, also in the Times video. ‘There is a company that dominates the tax preparation industry in the United States. It makes billions of dollars by charging Americans to help them complete their taxes. It makes a product called TurboTax, which, for most Americans, is practically synonymous with doing your taxes. And it has made an industry out of something that ought to be a public service.’ That company is Intuit, and for decades it has hired the best lobbyists to block the Internal Revenue Service from offering a free tax filing tool. In a rare and unfortunate moment of bipartisanship, the company has been able to influence Republicans and Democrats alike with its fundraising prowess.” The Wall Street Journal road tested the new program, and listed some of the pluses and minuses of the new program, with the biggest plus being the cost—it’s free. “Once it is live, a chat function will let users get help from IRS employees. The IRS won’t charge for assistance. Employees won’t try to upsell you. Taxpayers spent an average of $150 to prepare returns last year, according to the Treasury Department. IRS employees available through live chat are trained on the Direct File tool, so they should be able to guide you through any problems. That said, they aren’t there to give you customized personal financial advice. It may end up feeling more like an interactive IRS publication. Users will be able to toggle between English and Spanish. Officials say Direct File will work on desktops and smartphones.” [Sub required] 2) National: Is there a way out of the collapse of local journalism, which provides some of the leading coverage of privatization in the country? Alissa Quart, executive director of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project has some suggestions. “On the first count, we should look to civic media models like the one proposed by communications scholar Robert McChesney. Drawing from participatory budgeting and inspired by economist Dean Baker, McChesney’s idea for reform is a local government process where citizens vote on how their county or city’s government media budget should be directed. McChesney proposes a news media voucher program—the Citizenship News Voucher—which, as he wrote in 2010, would make it so that ‘every American adult gets a $200 voucher she can use to donate government money to any nonprofit news medium of her choice. She will indicate her choice on her tax return. . . . A government agency, possibly operating out of the Internal Revenue Service, can be set up to allocate the funds and to determine eligibility.’ As for whether this reform could happen in real life—it’s already being considered. Washington, DC has started looking at a media voucher plan after a council member introduced a novel bill, which would offer government-funded vouchers to DC residents that they can donate to local journalism venues that they select.” 3) National: The federal Office of Personnel Management will be conducting a survey to analyze “artificial intelligence” in government jobs. “Last July, OPM completed the first step of its work, identifying 43 general and 14 technical competencies required for work with AI. And in a memo last week, Veronica Hinton, OPM’s associate director for workforce policy and innovation, announced the HR agency’s next task: surveying current federal employees who are already working with AI to confirm OPM’s initial list of skills. “The OPM artificial intelligence job analysis survey represents the next phase of the study and will be used to validate the AI competencies identified by technical and human resources subject matter experts as needed for performing AI work governmentwide,” Hinton wrote. ‘OPM plans to issue the OPM AI Job Analysis Survey today, the results of which will be used to develop an AI competency model.’” 4) Maryland: Maximillian Alvarez reports that “Baltimore’s co-ops show the power of a ‘solidarity economy.’ (…) “At a recent event hosted by the Baltimore Museum of Industry titled ‘Work Matters: Building a Worker-Owned Co-op,” Max moderated a panel including workers and representatives from Common Ground Bakery Café, Taharka Bros Ice Cream, A Few Cool Hardware Stores, and the Baltimore Roundtable for Economic Democracy (BRED). He talked to them about how they came to work at these different co-ops, how their businesses transitioned to more cooperative models, and they dig into the nitty gritty of what working at a co-op looks like, what it takes for workers to democratically run a business, and the real challenges, limitations, and rewards that come with this kind of work. Panelists include: Vince Green (Taharka Bros Ice Cream); David Evans (A Few Cool Hardware Stores); Craig Smith (A Few Cool Hardware Stores); Sierra Allen (Common Ground Bakery Café); Christa Daring (BRED). 5) New York: New York State has awarded $1.8 million in grants for Hudson River projects. “The Department of Environmental Conservation’s Hudson River Estuary Grants Program implements priorities outlined in the Hudson River Estuary Action Agenda 2021-2025. Over its 21 years, the program has awarded 643 grants totaling more than $28 million. Funding is provided by New York’s Environmental Protection Fund, which enables land acquisition, farmland protection, invasive species prevention and eradication, recreation access, water quality improvement, and environmental justice projects, according to a DEC statement. ‘These grants build upon local conservation efforts and priorities to sustainably improve water quality and protect the Hudson River,’ DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos said in a statement.” 6) Iowa: In a letter to the editor of the Cedar Rapids Gazette, Martha Huffman of Williamsburg has come to the defense of public accountability for public business and records. “Senate File 2311 is a bill that should concern every Iowa voter. The bill considers the legislature should hire private CPAs and auditing companies to audit state business transactions that our state elected employees have made. Our taxpaying citizens in Iowa should not pay for private CPAs or accounting firms. the cost for this procedure would be astronomical and political. Rob Sand is our state [auditor]. He was elected by the majority of the people to do the accounting for all the state house business and records. Legislature, let Rob proceed!” 7) International: The European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU), which represents 8 million public service workers across Europe, and Public Services International (PSI), a Global Union Federation of more than 700 trade unions representing 30 million workers in 154 countries, have announced the launch of “a new online training tool to support affiliates to understand the concepts, opportunities, challenges, and processes around remunicipalisation and insourcing. The toolkit is the outcome of the EPSU-PSI European Commission-funded project on insourcing and remunicipalisation—INQPS. The project development has lasted over a year of development and has involved many EPSU and PSI affiliates, who took part and contributed to six Project Steering Committees.” Online launches are scheduled for March 14 and 18. “The toolkit features three-levels of knowledge depth, beginning with introductory videos, moving into text and infographics and ends with Q&A tests and checklists to enable trade unionists to grasp and command the key concepts of remunicipalisation/insourcing and apply it to their trade union work in a national and local environments. The toolkit also provides extensive information, resources, and case studies from the basic to the detailed, depending on the needs of the user. It will be made available on the PSI website and will continue to be developed on an ongoing basis after its launch.” Education 8) National: The good news out of USC Dornsife is that “despite partisan divides on topics like LGBTQ+ inclusion and racial justice in K-12 curricula, Americans overwhelmingly agree on the value of public education.” See the report. “Drawing from a nationally representative survey of more than 3,900 U.S. adults, the study offers a more nuanced picture of public opinion than the heated debates dominating headlines. The research also provides insights for policymakers and educators navigating the complexities of public education in an increasingly polarized America. ‘We were surprised and hopeful to find such strong bipartisan support for public education and its purpose,’ said Anna Saavedra, co-author of the study, research scientist and co-director at the Center for Applied Research in Education at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. ‘That said, there are major partisan differences in beliefs about what children should be learning in public schools, particularly regarding topics related to LGBTQ and race. Local districts have the challenge of reconciling these differences in the coming years,’ said Saavedra, who is also the director of research for the USC EdPolicy Hub based at the USC Rossier School of Education.” 9) National: A new poll by the Pew Research Center shows that educators across the country favor teaching students about race and gender. “When it comes to race, most U.S. public-school teachers think students should be taught that the legacy of slavery affects Black Americans today and that parents shouldn’t be able to opt their children out of lessons on racism, according to Pew. At the same time, most educators don’t think schools should teach that a child’s gender can be different from the child’s birth sex. Teachers say this topic usually doesn’t come up in class anyway, the national survey shows. Meanwhile, more than 40% of teachers said that the high-profile discussions about classroom content have had a negative impact on their jobs. Seven in 10 teachers think that, as a group, they don’t have enough influence over what they teach.” [Sub required] 10) Alaska: “Governor Dunleavy’s endorsement of charter schools raises concerns about privatization in Alaska. “Hawaii’s privatized education system serves as a cautionary tale. Investing in public schools and supporting teachers can ensure high-quality education for all,” says Ebenezer Mensah in BNN. “As a former resident of Hawaii and a current supporter of Alaska’s public schools, I have seen firsthand the potential consequences of underfunding public education and the resulting shift towards private education. Hawaii’s education system is heavily privatized, with families spending tens of thousands of dollars on tuition annually. If Alaska follows suit, families with means will undoubtedly seek alternatives to the underfunded public schools, leading to a rise in private school tuition costs. The influx of new families could also change the Christian character and philosophies of Alaska’s private schools, as well as increase competition for jobs at these institutions.” 11) California: Peter Drier sat down with Jon Wiener of The Nation’s Start Making Sense podcast and talked about Drier’s new article, co-authored with Mike Bonin, on the battle for control of the Los Angeles City Council, which has played a leading role in national efforts to defend the interests of renters against predatory corporate interests. The alliance of unions and community organizers terrifies LA billionaires, says Drier. “They’re really afraid of the unions and the community organizing groups that do tenants’ rights work, work on education reform, and try to stop the tide of chartered schools. So it’s really the billionaires, the cops, and the firefighters who don’t like a progressive city council, and they’ve been losing for the last five or six years, and billionaires don’t like to lose.” 12) Florida: Writing on Twitter/X, Andrew Spar, president of the Florida Education Association, says “there is a massive teacher & staff shortage impacting the education of Florida’s students. However, the Governor and Lawmakers continue to ignore the issue. With about 2 1/2 weeks left in the 2024 Legislative Session, Florida lawmakers must do better!” 13) Kentucky: Veteran Kentucky investigative reporter John Schaff, writing in the Northern Kentucky Tribune, says school vouchers are hurting students’ academic performance. “A couple of weeks ago at the State Capitol in Frankfort, a lobbying group called ‘EdChoice Kentucky, Inc.’ organized a rally in favor of changing the state’s constitution to funnel taxpayer money into private religious schools. Most of the people who showed up were students from Catholic and Christian schools who were bused in for the occasion. They were there to support lobbyists’ efforts to force all Kentuckians to pay tuition and expenses for students like them who are already attending private schools. Sadly, most taxpayers were probably at work and couldn’t attend the rally to hear EdChoice’s Moe Lundrigan tout his dream for a huge and costly expansion of state government: vouchers paid for by every Kentuckian, with the voucher money flowing into the pockets of out-of-state corporate big shots and churches from the ‘hood to the holler.’” 14) Wyoming: K-12 mental health services have been revived in the state budget. ““Even in my little town of Big Piney, we have an inordinate amount of children that are going to school counselors that are basically talking about suicide and are in crisis,” Speaker of the House Albert Sommers (R-Pinedale) said. Sommers learned of these circumstances through his experience on the Legislature’s Mental Health and Vulnerable Adult Task Force. It spurred him into action. ‘These are our precious resource, these children,’ Sommers said. ‘And to see them in the pain, and the crisis that’s occurring in our schools, is tragic.’ The bill, however, died when the hardline Freedom Caucus used its voting bloc to kill it upon introduction. ‘It’s not the role of government,’ caucus member and Rep. Jeremy Haroldson (R-Wheatland) said in opposition to the bill. (…) Today, however, a slightly different version of the bill got a second chance when Sommers brought it as an amendment to the budget bill. The House voted 33-28 to put $18.5 million toward establishing a grant program intended to address K-12 mental health needs.” Infrastructure 15) National: The Congressional Research Service has a new report out, The Highway Funding Formula: History and Current Status Under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. “The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA; P.L. 117-58), enacted in 2021, changed the relatively simple programmatic structure for highway funding established by MAP-21. Part of this change was that the IIJA combined surface transportation reauthorization with a broader infrastructure bill funded primarily with multiyear advance appropriations. The IIJA retained the existing formula programs and created several new ones. The IIJA also created new competitive discretionary programs. The IIJA added two new formula programs to the core highway programs that were funded from the HTF: the Carbon Reduction Program and the Promoting Resilient Operations for Transformative, Efficient, and Cost-Saving Transportation (PROTECT) Program. Two other new formula programs created by the IIJA for highway bridges and electric vehicle infrastructure were funded with multiyear advance appropriations and apportioned on the basis of formulas unique to the individual programs. The IIJA also revived a stand-alone Appalachian Development Highway System (ADHS) Program, provided for ADHS funds to be distributed according to a cost-to-complete formula, and funded the Ferry Boat Program from both the HTF and the general fund. The formula funds under the Ferry Boat Program are not apportioned to the states but are allocated to existing public ferry service entities on the basis of ferry passengers, vehicles carried, and route miles.” 16) National: The transportation industry says the Build America, Buy America Act is holding back infrastructure development. “Part of the worry is that U.S.-made materials might not be available. In that case, the federal approval process for getting foreign parts can take years. But even the prospect of certifying that components are made in the U.S. is so grueling that many suppliers choose not to do it, instead selling their goods to private industry and leaving public agencies with fewer design choices or more expensive bids. The new Build America, Buy America rules come at the same time that public agencies confront shortages of workers and materials to build projects funded by the 2021 infrastructure law. Inflation has been especially high in the construction sector, too.” 17) Alabama: A bill advancing through the state legislature could introduce so-called public-private partnerships into the airport sector, The Bond Buyer reports. “The federal Airport Investment Partnership Program allows airports to explore privatization as a way to generate private capital though experts say it has generated less interest than expected. Major terminal projects at John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia have led the way in the space. Most recently, the U.S. Virgin Islands is crafting a long-term design-build-operate-finance-maintain lease for both of its airports. Not all the agreements work out. In June 2022, the Gary Chicago International Airport dissolved its P3 eight years into what was to be a 40-year agreement. The Denver International Airport in 2019 dropped a two-year-old P3 in favor of a traditional general contractor approach.” [Sub required] 18) Florida: The Charlotte County Airport Authority recently signed a resolution pledging not to privatize the Punta Gorda Airport. 19) Louisiana: The Bayou State is set to float $1.34 billion of private activity bonds in April “as part of its largest public-private partnership to date, which will replace an aging bridge over Interstate 10 near St. Charles.” Interest and issuance costs will take a big bite out of the proceeds. “The approvals come a few weeks after state lawmakers revived the project earlier this month. The deal is tentatively set to price the week of April 1 by J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and Wells Fargo Bank, NA. The $1.34 billion includes $800 million to cover construction costs for the first several years, with the remaining $523 million going to capitalized interest and issuance costs.” 20) Massachusetts: A Boston pro soccer team is being sued over its plans to redevelop a stadium. “Neighbors and park advocates have filed a lawsuit against the city and a professional women’s soccer team planning to restore and use Franklin Park’s White Stadium, stating that such a use would unconstitutionally privatize the land. Mayor Michelle Wu pushed back on that claim, however, stating that any attempts to paint the redevelopment project as a privatization of White Stadium was “either a misunderstanding or a misrepresentation.” In a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Suffolk Superior Court, the plaintiffs also allege that redevelopment plans would largely displace Boston Public School student-athletes and community members who regularly use the park and stadium, and were made hastily by the city and Boston Unity Soccer Partners without public input.” 21) Montana: The Bozeman Daily Chronicle reports that right wing U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke (R) has come out in favor of limiting the privatization of public lands. “Zinke introduced the public lands bill as part of a roundtable discussion on Monday between himself and representatives from outdoor recreation, sportsmen and conservation organizations. Beyond seeking to add a layer of protection to public lands and increased scrutiny on their sale, Zinke said the bill will start a discussion on the addressing issues of access, restoration and wildlife corridors. ‘We were given the legacy of public lands. Now, I think we have to look at the next 100 years,’ Zinke said. The bill is bipartisan, co-sponsored by Congressman Gabe Vasquez (D-NM).” 22) Ohio/Think Tanks: Policy Matters Ohio’s Zach Schiller has unpacked Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb’s Tax Increment Financing (TIF) proposal. “None of the TIF money is to go for stadiums or private developers. But the major riverfront development outlined by Dan Gilbert’s Bedrock Management Services LLC will be covered by its own, separate TIF. Will funds from that TIF go right to Bedrock? Why does a billionaire need such assistance? Much of the discussion of the TIF so far has centered around how much would be spent in the neighborhoods, an important question. But there are plenty of others for Cleveland City Council to take up when it evaluates the TIF ordinance.” 23) Vermont: Tonight at 6:30 ET, St. Albans residents will vote on whether to approve an $11.4 million bond paid for through tax increment financing to upgrade the city’s downtown area. “10 million of that money would be earmarked for two new four-story apartment buildings behind city hall, housing about 90 new units in total, according to city planning documents. Those units would primarily be one- and two-bedroom apartments and be considered ‘workforce housing’—meaning they would be affordable for people making between 80% and 120% of the area’s median income. The median household income in the St. Albans City area is just under $50,000, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. (…) If passed, the bond debt would be paid for through tax increment financing, or TIF. Under that structure, a municipality designates a TIF district — in this case downtown St. Albans — and pays for upgrades to the district with future tax revenues that are expected to be derived from those improvements.” 24) Revolving Door News/Ohio: HNTB, the infrastructure design behemoth, has announced it has hired Jennifer Gallagher, until recently the “director of the City of Columbus Department of Public Service where she played a key role in the implementation of transformative transportation initiatives in Columbus.” Gallagher also worked for the Ohio DOT and Franklin County Engineer’s Office. Public Services 25) National: As a private robotic satellite lands on the moon, the GAO has produced a report on FAA oversight of commercial human space flight. “The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) oversees commercial space operations with humans onboard under its broader licensing framework. FAA requires commercial launch operators to obtain a license before conducting any operation within U.S. borders—whether they carry humans or payloads, such as satellites. To obtain a license, operators must demonstrate that they can conduct the operation without jeopardizing the safety of the people and property not involved in the operation. FAA has additional licensing requirements for operations with humans onboard, such as crew training and the ability to suppress cabin fire. These requirements are intended to address risk to the uninvolved public. FAA is currently prohibited from issuing regulations directed at protecting the safety of humans onboard, with some exceptions, due to a moratorium that Congress established in 2004 to limit certain regulatory burdens on an emerging industry. This moratorium is set to expire on March 8, 2024.” [Full report] 26) National/Virginia: Transit workers represented by the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) have launched the largest strike in years against Transdev, the private corporation operating some of the bus lines. A press release issued by Local 689 declared a ‘vast divide between the Union and the company’ as of the last meeting between the two parties. “The ATU reports that while the company’s last stated offer ‘included what appeared to be competitive wage increases for bus operators,’ it ‘deliberately failed to acknowledge’ the area’s high cost of living and excluded other benefits. The workers have been without a new contract since late November. Workers are demanding improved pay as well as retirement benefits. According to one driver, “we have people that work for 25-30 years who have retired and don’t have any income… apart from social security” in Fairfax County, one of the most expensive places to live in the United States.” Sign the petition. 27) National/Think Tanks: The Sentencing Project has produced an excellent research brief on private, for-profit prisons in the U.S., pulling together many statistics that are hard to find and laying a basis for further research and action. The author is Dr. Kristen Budd, a research analyst at the Sentencing Project.  “Private for-profit prisons incarcerated 90,873 American residents in 2022, representing 8% of the total state and federal prison population. Since 2000, the number of people housed in private prisons has increased 5%. Harmful crime policies of the 1980s and beyond fueled a rapid expansion in the nation’s prison population. The resulting burden on the public sector led to the modern emergence of for-profit prisons in many states and the federal system. Of the 1.2 million people in federal and state prisons, 8%, or 90,873 people, were in private prisons as of year-end 2022. States show significant variation in the use of private prisons. At one end of the spectrum, Montana incarcerates almost half of its prison population in privately run facilities, but in another 23 states, private prisons are not used at all. A total of 27 states and the federal government use private corporations like GEO Group, Core Civic, LaSalle Corrections, and Management and Training Corporation to run some of their corrections facilities.” 28) Colorado: the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Colorado is resisting the privatization of Aurora’s Public Defender’s Office. “In a December 2023 letter to the council, the ACLU cautioned that “Privatization of indigent defense services will likely cost the City of Aurora millions of dollars long-term,” explaining that the current freestanding public defender office is the gold standard and represents significant cost savings over alternative models like flat-fee or assigned-counsel systems. Policy Counsel Catherine Ordoñez of the ACLU of Colorado warned against abandoning the city’s current model, which she views as a cornerstone of fair and effective legal defense for Aurora’s indigent population.” “Furthermore, the ACLU’s letter outlines that the Request for Proposals (RFP) process posed by the resolution presents significant conflicts of interest and is inconsistent with state and municipal law, stating, ‘Under current law, the Aurora Public Defender Commission is the only entity with legal authority to contract out the indigent defense services currently provided by the Public Defender’s Office.’” 29) International/Argentina: UNI Global Union stood in solidarity lasty week with 500,000 striking healthcare workers, demanding the negotiation of a wage increase. Argentina is undergoing massive popular resistance to the brutal scorched earth austerity and privatization policies of its new right wing president, Javier Milei , which are crushing the economy. The teachers union, CTERA, is planning a national strike on March 5. “On Monday, the teachers of CTERA will also organize a march to Congress. ‘We’ve defined a national resistance strategy that has a 48-hour strike, Monday and Tuesday, and a march on March 5 ending at the National Congress,’ [(CTERA General Secretary Sonia Alesso] specified. ‘We will not tolerate the war-like language from the national government,’ indicated Alesso. ‘We want to work like the schools in Finland and have salaries like the teachers in Finland have,’ added the secretary, alluding to comments that have been made on more than one occasion from the government about wanting an education similar to the that country’s.” 30) International/Canada: The Ontario Nurses’ Association is strongly urging Ontarians to fight the Ford government’s Blood-for-Cash Scheme. “‘Ontario nurses and health-care professionals are horrified at this government’s latest plan to enrich a private corporation while risking the health and well-being of Ontarians,’ says ONA President Erin Ariss, RN. ‘Premier Ford is laying out the red carpet for a private, multinational corporation to make off with profits from a blood and plasma supply that our patients rely on. The evidence is clear from other jurisdictions: for-profit blood and plasma collection erodes the voluntary donor base and exploits the vulnerable. This scheme will put a safe blood supply at risk in Ontario.’” The Ontario Health Coalition has issued a new report revealing that “local hospitals in every region of Ontario have operating rooms sitting idle the majority of the time. The public has funded local hospitals for more than 70 years to build operating room capacity that is unused while the Ford government is shunting unprecedented public money to private for-profit clinics and hospitals to build new operating rooms, the Coalition reports. For the last year, the Coalition researched the unused capacity in local public hospitals through Freedom of Information requests and interviews with surgical staff.” An it’s not just in Ontario. In the Maritime provinces, Josh Lewis says, there are signs of creeping privatization. “Here, perhaps the most concerning is a private clinic in Summerside run by a company called Medicalux which charges for services covered by Medicare. It also serves private companies. One of these companies is JD Irving. It’s no surprise that one of the Irving companies, which get an easy ride in New Brunswick with virtually no accountability, thinks it is appropriate to partake in such tomfoolery. The province is leaning more and more on Maple, a for-profit app, in lieu of access to adequate public services. But complaints of having to wait hours, and even then not being able to see a doctor, are widespread.” 32) International/U.K.: Writing in Jacobin (“The West Is Sabotaging a Global Pandemic Treaty”), Leigh Phillips says, “although Britain’s National Health Service has been eroded over the decades by wave after wave of ‘internal market’ wheezes, corporate outsourcing, and partial privatization, it remains the case that the principle of a nationalized healthcare system resolves the conflict between need and profit incentive: the provider is compensated for their work not by profits but instead via taxation, or other forms of cooperative pooling of resources.” All the Rest 33) National: Nvidia, the AI chipmaker, had a spectacular performance on Wall Street this week, with its valuation topping $2 trillion. But the AI chipmaker’s revenue is not just a private sector story. Publicly-funded military research and government subsidies are part of the profit mix (sales were up 265% year-on-year). But “some investors said they were more cautious about the frenzy. Activity in corners of the stock and options market in recent sessions has shown extreme optimism about the technology, stoking fears about an AI-driven bubble.” The Economist, striking a cautionary note, says ‘the end of the era of cheap money is largely to blame.’” [Subs required]

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Now Arriving: Biden Administration Grants to Improve Airports

An item from the folks at In The Public Interest that may be of interest to readers of this space.

Your weekly rundown of news and analysis about the corporate takeover of education, water, and other public goods. Not a subscriber? Subscribe here for free. View this post on the In the Public Interest website.  HIGHLIGHTS Chicago schools set to end contract with Aramark  Biden admin approves 100 grants for airport improvements Lincoln County (WI) activists fight to keep public nursing home public JUMP: EDUCATION | INFRASTRUCTURE | PUBLIC SERVICES | THE REST  First, the Good News 1) National: Chris Hedges did an outstanding interview with veteran Pulitzer prize-winning investigative business reporter Gretchen Morgenson, whose tenacious and forensic coverage of the 2008 financial crash set a public interest standard. They covered a wide range of issues from the decline of the news industry, especially at the local level, to the subject of Morgenson’s latest book, These Are the Plunderers: How Private Equity Runs—and Wrecks—America. [Audio, about 52 minutes] “The consumption of news and entertainment by the public in the digital age has turned many of the traditional media platforms into dinosaurs,” says Hedges. “But as they disappear, so does the core of journalism, reporting, especially investigative reporting. Digital platforms are, with a few exceptions, not sustaining repertorial coverage, certainly not on the local level, but of the fundamental pillars of democracy.” But it’s part of a bigger problem, says Hedges with Morgenson’s agreement. “It’s not just the collapse of journalism. It’s the collapse of education. And, you know, you write about private equity firms. I mean, who are running these charter schools, which is all about rote memorization and enough financial literacy in poor neighborhoods to work in a fast food store.” The good news is that there is resistance against private equity’s corrupting of our public goods and institutions, and terrific, new-model local, community-based coverage to keep u informed (see #30 below). 2) National: Can private companies bar access to the courts in labor disputes? The U.S. Department of Labor said no last year, and now it’s moving in to require compliance. Bloomberg Law reports that “The US Department of Labor’s top lawyer says the agency is focused on taking a closer look at how certain employment agreements, such as mandatory arbitration pacts, can amount to illegal retaliation under federal law. More than 60 million workers are subject to contractual provisions that require them to resolve wage, discrimination, and other employment claims in private arbitration, instead of court, according to the DOL. Those agreements can be retaliatory if they are offered after a worker attempts to assert their rights, Solicitor of Labor Seema Nanda said Thursday during an American Bar Association conference in Puerto Rico. Additionally, Nanda said the agency was open to considering whether certain confidentiality agreements could ‘frustrate’ a worker’s ability to participate in a DOL investigation. Nanda also touched on the agency’s continued deployment of enhanced compliance agreements to correct violations long-term.” 3) California: The Los Angeles school board has approved a policy that will limit when charters can operate on district-owned campuses. The policy “prohibits the new location of charters at an unspecified number of campuses with special space needs or programs. One early staff estimate put the number close to 350, but there’s uncertainty over how the policy will be interpreted. The school system has about 850 campuses, but advocates are concerned that charters could be pushed out of areas where they currently operate, making it difficult for them to remain viable. (…) The new rules also discourage placing charters where they could disrupt traditional feeder-school patterns. Goldberg cited the example of a charter middle school located on a district-run elementary campus. The charter school, she suggested, would have an unfair advantage in recruiting those elementary students, undermining the local, district-run middle school. In the current school year 52 independent charters operate on 50 campuses, according to L.A. Unified. The number is expected to be smaller for next year and down significantly from a peak of more than 100.” UTLA reported that “cheers erupted in the LAUSD School Board meeting on February 13 when a new policy limiting co-location at public schools by charter operators passed on a tight 4-3 vote. The policy would protect Community Schools, Black Student Achievement Plan schools, and the district’s 100 priority schools from co-location, as well as limiting co-locations that would compromise a school’s ability to enroll students from nearby neighborhoods. Educators and parents lined up early outside the board meeting to speak to the realities from their schools and urge a yes vote on the resolution.” Policy on charters will be affected by an upcoming election for the school board. United Teachers Los Angeles retweetsLA Techer’s Choice’s statement “public schools are under attack by privatizers who want to make more money off our students. We’re electing public education champions that will be there for our schools. We’re proud to endorse Kahllid, Scott, and Karla!” UTLA says “the new policy was passed by four pro-public education members of the board—Jackie Goldberg, Rocío Rivas, George McKenna, and Scott Schmerelson. The narrow passage underscores that the anti-privatization stance of the board majority is at stake in the March 5 school board election.” 4) Illinois/National: The Chicago Public Schools plan to end a multimillion dollar contract with Aramark, Chalkbeat Chicago reports. “The move comes after years of concerns and complaints over school cleanliness from staff, parents, and students. The school board’s latest agreement with the Philadelphia-based company is set to end June 30, 2024. According to a school board committee agenda posted Monday, the district is asking board members to increase the current contract, which started Aug. 2021, from $369 million to $391 million ‘due to unforeseen expenditures associated with overtime, custodial supplies and custodial equipment.’ A district spokesperson confirmed Monday the district is not renewing the contract with Aramark and the school board will vote on seven new contracts at its Feb. 22 meeting. Charles Mayfield, chief operating officer at CPS, said the district is looking forward to more direct oversight of janitorial services and supplies and allowing principals to have more say on school cleanliness. Mayfield said the district will contract with seven vendors for custodial services. He said he doesn’t anticipate any job losses with this change.” 5) Maryland: Howard County Library System workers have voted overwhelmingly to form a union and join AFSCME. “As a public service worker who interacts with the community, [Eliana Holgate, a children’s instructor and research specialist] said, she’s faced various challenges with customers and the physical library buildings that have made it harder for her to do her job. The union, she said, will help her advocate to have a stronger voice to get the resources she and her colleagues need. ‘I’m just really proud of my co-workers,’ she said. ‘It took a lot of group effort to get to this point, and you can see how important it was to so many of us to have this voice by the overwhelming majority that voted yes. We’re really excited.’” 6) Michigan/National: Michigan has officially become the first state in nearly 60 years to repeal its anti-union right-to-work law. “Pro-labor groups have celebrated the law’s repeal, saying that it was a victory ‘decades in the making’ as unions and labor advocates have fought against the law. The bill also restored the practice of the ‘prevailing wage’ that requires workers on state projects to pay union wages and benefits. ‘By standing up and taking their power back, at the ballot box and in the workplace, workers have made it clear Michigan is and always will be the beating heart of the modern American labor movement,’ said Michigan AFL-CIO President Ron Bieber in a statement.” 7) Nebraska: As big money pro-voucher forces line up to defeat a citizen-led ballot initiative, a pro-public education coalition prepares to carry their fight forward. In the Public Interest’s Donald Cohen has the details. “Shortly after the bill was passed, public school supporters launched a referendum petition drive to put repeal of the new law on the November 2024 ballot. In fewer than 90 days, the repeal campaign gathered nearly double the number of required signatures from across the state. The effort was led by Support Our Schools Nebraska, a coalition that includes, among others, the Nebraska State Education Association, OpenSky Policy Institute, Parent-Teacher Association of Nebraska, Stand for Schools, League of Women Voters of Nebraska, Omaha NAACP, ARC of Nebraska, Nebraska Farmers Union, and the Nebraska Civic Engagement Table. In Nebraska, 84% of private schools are religiously affiliated. Many, if not most of these schools are legally permitted to discriminate against applicants based on their gender orientation, religious affiliation, or other characteristics. The Nebraska OpenSky Policy Institute has estimated that state aid distributed to public schools could decrease by almost $12 million in response to the new voucher program.” 8) New York: Community based organizations deserve a round of applause for their tenacious fight against the forces determined to re-privatize Long Island’s electrical utility. From a letter to the editor of Newsday by Timothy Karcich of Deer Park, a member of the grassroots Reimagine LIPA Coalition: “Public utilities help users in many ways. The Long Island Association is being disingenuous about Long Island’s energy future. It’s not surprising since PSEG-Long Island is a major player in the LIA as well as a political force on Long Island and in Albany. (…) Studies consistently find that public utilities benefit ratepayers in terms of efficiency, reliability, accountability and affordability. A LIPA that is totally responsible for running the grid will have these benefits as well as streamlined efficiency, more local control and lower rates. Our energy system should work for its ratepayers, not for PSEG shareholders and those who profit from their dealings with PSEG.” 9) Ohio: The Springfield Local Schools Board of Education has passed a resolution authorizing a contract with the Ohio Association of Public School Employees (OAPSE). It covers “179 classified personnel including secretaries, teaching assistants, custodians and other support staff. The agreement is from July 2023 through June 2025 and includes a 2% raise each of the two years of the contract. Treasurer Christopher Adams said in addition to the increase in pay, the district raised the amount the teaching assistants are paid to a more competitive rate. Adams also mentioned that the union voted for the contract with a 61 to 2 vote.” Education 10) Arizona: In an article for The Hechinger Report, a school parent says, “If you live in Arizona, school choice may be coming to your neighborhood soon. As someone who has had more school choice than I know what to do with, I can tell you what may feel like a shocking surprise: Private schools have the power to choose, not parents.” Pamela Lang writes “I then thought Catholic schools would welcome my son, but none of them did. One Catholic school principal who did admit him quickly rescinded the offer after a teacher objected to having him in her class. The long list of general, special-ed, Catholic and charter schools that turned my son away indicate how little choice actually exists, despite the marketing of ESA proponents. (…) I then tried to enroll him in private schools for students with disabilities. These schools were almost always located in former office suites in strip malls with no outdoor access. My son’s current school shares space with a dialysis center in a medical building, while a former school was located in a small second-floor suite in a Target plaza.” 11) California: Writing in Jacobin, Jessica Myers, a member of United Teachers Los Angeles and the Democratic Socialists of Los Angeles, lays out the issues for the upcoming school board elections. “Now is the moment of truth,” Myers says. “Al-Alim and Griego’s campaigns won’t be a cakewalk. Pro-privatization forces also have their sights set on the school board, with billionaires shoveling money into past school board races to get their candidates get a seat at the table. It’s no mystery why: the school board oversees big-picture decisions like approving the budget, setting curricula, and deciding the general direction of the district. It’s in charge of approving, or rejecting, new charter petitions and renewals in the city. It’s therefore no exaggeration to say that the future of public education in Los Angeles hinges on the outcome of school board elections. Once reliably favorable to privatization, the LA school board has been more circumspect about charters in recent years. In the fall, the board passed a resolution directing the district to provide a policy to limit the colocation of charters on campuses occupied by neighborhood schools. (…) This election is an opportunity to ‘realize and recognize what is possible,’ Karla Griego said. ‘What does it look like for schools with a working-class school board? It’s exciting to think about the possibilities of the changes and the transformations that we can make.’” 12) California: KQED reports that “immigrant students’ schoolwork and experience in the classroom often suffer in the presence of immigration enforcement—with 60% of teachers and school staff reporting poorer academic performance, and nearly half noting increased rates of bullying against these students, UCLA-based researchers found.” But community schools do better. “Meanwhile, 34 of LAUSD’s schools are also community schools, which provide ‘wraparound’ services—from meals to medical assistance — that advocates say are critical for students who are undocumented. Rosie Arroyo (not related to Yesenia), a senior program officer of immigration at the California Community Foundation, a nonprofit organization based in Los Angeles that aims to address systemic challenges facing various communities throughout the region, said housing and mental health resources are in especially high demand for these students and their families. ‘It’s about survival,’ Arroyo said. ‘And right now, there’s a lot of multilayered challenges communities are facing, from being able to make it on a day-by-day basis and having access to resources around just food.’ As a community school, the School for the Visual Arts and Humanities holds workshops for families every Wednesday, covering a range of topics, from housing to special education and how to access community resources.” 13) Florida: What’s the political link between book banning and school privatization? Writing on X/Twitter, Jennifer Berkshire says “DeSantis’ effort to rein in off-the-rails book banning in Florida seems like a recognition that relentless school culture warring is repelling voters. Except that the GOP base is WILD for this stuff. Add in deep-pocketed school choice groups ginning up culture war cuz they think it’s good for the privatization cause and we get GOP candidates running on issues that most voters either don’t care about or are repelled by. IOW nothing learned from multiple losing election cycles.” 14) Massachusetts: Berkshire also has a good takedown of a Boston Globe hit piece on the state teachers union. “TheBoston Globe wants desperately to paint the state’s largest teachers union as a bunch of out-of-touch radicals but the problem is causes like the millionaires tax & more $ for schools are way more popular than the #edreform agenda the Globe trumpets.” Keep rolling Jennifer. 15) Pennsylvania: A new charter school with a curriculum from the Christian Right’s Hillsdale College may be coming to the State College area. “Parfitt expects that the State College Area school board would deny the charter. ‘We expect them to deny charter schools,’ Parfitt said. ‘We’ve baked that into the plan. If they say yes, that’s great, that would be awesome news. But we’re pretty convinced they will deny it twice. So our entire process is going to be built with charter school appeal boards in mind.’ From 2021 to August 2023, the appeal board issued 12 charter decisions, siding with the charters only twice, according to reporting from the Philadelphia Inquirer.” 16) Texas: The Fort Worth school budget shortage is all about diverting your tax dollars to vouchers, says Cecelia Gilbreath. “Why am I not surprised, when state funds are withheld to try to force lawmakers to create a school voucher program? I am against my tax dollars being diverted, leaving the public schools to cut educational opportunities to try to survive. No wonder our teachers are leaving in droves for better-paying, less-stressful jobs, even though teaching is their first love.” Infrastructure 17) National: Route Fifty reports that the Biden administration has approved more than 100 grants for airport improvements. “Austin’s airport received $39.5 million to help with its expansion plans. Phoenix will get $36 million for its heating and cooling systems. Los Angeles brought in $31 million to help with its plan to consolidate rental car operations and taxi and shuttle connections away from its main terminal. Dulles International Airport in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., secured $35 million to help build a new 14-gate terminal building. And Raleigh-Durham, which missed out on last year’s funding for the Airport Terminals Program, fared better this year by garnering $12 million for terminal improvements. More than 600 airports applied for the grants this year, with requests totaling $14 billion. The FAA chose 114 of those for funding.” 18) Florida: A P3 bill is in the works in Florida. A hearing will be held this Thursday in the state Senate transportation committee on a bill to prohibit the DOT from “annually committing more than a certain percentage of revenues derived from state fuel taxes and motor vehicle license-related fees to public transit projects; authorizing the department to enter into comprehensive agreements with private entities or the consortia thereof for the building, operation, ownership, or financing of transportation facilities; prohibiting a local governmental entity from adopting certain standards or specifications concerning asphalt pavement material; requiring the department to receive three letters of interest before proceeding with requests for proposals for certain contracts, etc.” 19) Minnesota: Less than 1% of construction jobs go to women of color in Rochester. “Rochester, with a population around 220,000, was halfway into a $585 million, 20-year funding initiative to build new infrastructure downtown. It was also home to the prestigious Mayo Clinic, which had just announced a $5 billion economic growth project. All of that growth meant a lot of available construction jobs, which was facing a worker shortage. Could that problem be solved by diversifying the workforce?” 20) Pennsylvania: Another day, another private equity grifting story, from Capital & Main. “For some industry observers and analysts, the Homer City station stands as a cautionary tale regarding the growing role of private equity, typically backed by large institutional investors, like pension funds, in the financing of coal production and the operation of coal-fired power plants, marked by a desire for quick profits. While banks have increasingly pulled back from financing fossil fuels, notorious for their damage to the environment, private equity has helped keep the coal industry alive. In the case of Homer City, the plant’s private equity owners kept a failing company operating for another six years—as it further polluted the environment and extended the power sector’s reliance on coal.” 21) Texas: Houston Mayor John Whitmire is battling park privatization. “Aside from the possibility of charging for photos at Memorial Park, a bigger topic came up in the city council. ‘Do you have a position on privatizing city parks?’ Mayor Whitmire asked during city council last week. In a statement this week, Whitmire said he does not plan to privatize parks and says he is strongly against parks charging fees to the public. ‘I want our parks to be accessible and affordable to the least among us. I am concerned about the fees charged, outsourcing, and selling naming rights. Our parks belong to the public, and they should remain accessible and affordable for the least among us,’ Whitmire said. As for the conversation about the potential to charge for photos at Memorial Park specifically, the proposal hasn’t been officially put on the table.” 22) Texas: The Austin City Council has authorized a move to court to validate a bond issuance for a multi-billion dollar light rail project, The Bond Buyer reports. “Bond financing for Project Connect is already being targeted in a lawsuit filed in Travis County District Court in November by taxpayers with a claim that echoed the attorney general’s opinion. The plaintiffs also contend the project presented to voters in 2020 was ‘drastically different’ than the light-rail system currently being pursued. Bill Aleshire, attorney for the taxpayer plaintiffs, said he expects the lawsuit will be consolidated into the bond validation action, adding he welcomes the move because it will lead to a speedier decision on the debt. ‘If they get shut down in court and told ‘no you can’t issue those bonds,’ I think that would be actually a wonderful thing even for those who support light-rail here in Austin because their only alternative is to do exactly what we told them to do … and that would be to turn back around and go to the voters with a phased plan,’ he said.” [Sub required] 23) International/Canada: A battle has broken out “over the Newfoundland and Labrador government’s desire to use a P3—or a public-private partnership model—to twin a portion of the Trans-Canada Highway. As the CBC’s Terry Roberts reports, the union representing public sector workers is vowing to fight the move.” Video report, 3 minutes. CBC reports that “Jerry Earle, president of the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Public and Private Employees, says his union will vigorously resist efforts by the provincial government to allow private contractors to carry out snow and ice control operations on the new sections of divided highway.” 24) International/Indonesia: Following national elections, the Indonesian labor movement is gearing up to fight “to defend public energy against the threat posed by the ‘privatize to decarbonize’ agenda reflected in the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) between the rich countries and the Indonesian government. (…) In mid-January 2024, TUED supported a broad coalition of trade unions, academics and public figures that petitioned Indonesia’s Constitutional Court to declare unconstitutional the electricity sector reform provisions in Law Number 6 of 2023. Known as GEKANAS, the coalition’s petition reflected concerns that the new law would lead to the “unbundling” of PLN, the public power utility, and increase the role of the for-profit independent power producers (IPPs.) The coalition’s effort is supported by power sector unions.” Public Services 25) New Mexico: Return to Work legislation has gained bipartisan support and is moving through the legislature. “The Return to Work legislation was developed through a bipartisan effort with input from the New Mexico Association of Counties and the American Federation of State and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). It aims to provide an opportunity for retired employees with experience in ten public safety areas to reenter the workforce in entry-level positions while still receiving their pension. Commissioner Benson emphasized the importance of this bill in addressing the staffing challenges faced by various public safety sectors. By allowing retired employees to return to work, the legislation not only helps fill critical positions but also utilizes the expertise and experience of these individuals. In a statement, Commissioner Benson said, ‘This legislation is a win-win for both the retirees and the community.’” 26) Iowa: Iowa’s privatized Medicaid system is gumming up the works for people who need repairs for their wheelchairs. “Council Bluffs State Representative Josh Turek introduced a bill in the Iowa legislature that he calls ‘right to repair.’ That term is often used by the ag community—referring to farm implements—but in this case, it refers to a bill meant to help individuals with disabilities. Turek says it takes too long for people using wheelchairs to get their devices repaired through insurance companies, including Medicaid. Iowa, like many states, privatized its Medicaid system. Claims are handled by Managed Care Organizations and Turek says they all have different requirements for wheelchair users who need to get repairs and it takes too long. Pharmacist and healthcare business owner, David Kohll, says the system of repairing medical equipment worked better before Medicaid was privatized.” 27) North Carolina: Lawmakers are considering privatization of the Division of Motor Vehicles. A report is due May 1. “Justin Cruz said he couldn’t find an available time slot, so he showed up to a DMV office in Raleigh Friday. This time, he said he was in and out in 20 minutes. The last time he came, he said he waited an hour and a half before he was seen. Kirk Montgomery, president of the State Employees Association of North Carolina, said he’s concerned privatizing the agency will not lead to better service and ultimately could increase costs for customers. He’d like to see state leaders do more to address the challenge in hiring that’s plaguing many state agencies. ‘The state has a 20 percent vacancy rate. And so, that’s a big problem. We’re not hiring, so they’re trying to put a Band-Aid on the issue,’ he said. ‘This is a lazy way of trying to get things done by trying to privatize. Invest in the resources we actually need to get state employees here to actually work.’ Sen. Lazzara said while there will be legislation considered regarding privatization during the session that starts in April, he does not anticipate a final decision being made on whether to move forward with that until the long session in 2025.” 28) Pennsylvania: In case you missed it, there was a very interesting three hour hearing on water privatization conducted by the Pennsylvania Senate Democratic Policy Committee on January 22, 2024. Click here for the video in “Reining in Water Rates: The Unintended Consequences of Act 12 of 2016.” Testimony by Keep Water Affordable. Visit their webpage. 29) Pennsylvania: Cumberland County commissioners have approved a contract with AFSCME, “the union representing county prison staff that calls for an average salary increase of 18.5% over the next three years. The collective bargaining agreement between the county, the prison and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees covers Jan. 1, 2024, through Dec. 31, 2026.” 30) Wisconsin: Residents in Lincoln County want to keep their county-owned nursing home public. Why do local elected officials want to privatize it? To find out, we need to go to the indomitable Barn Raiser, your excellent source for “independent news, analysis and information to support diverse, civically engaged and dynamically connected rural and small town communities.” Henry Bleifuss reports that “over the past eight months, members of People for Pine Crest have organized a county-wide effort to oppose Pine Crest’s sale, leading demonstrations, calling press conferences, petitioning elected officials and, in January, hosting a town hall meeting attended by 175 community members. Then on February 12, they learned the county board will be voting on a proposal to sell Pine Crest on February 19. Pine Crest is one of the few remaining county-owned nursing homes in the region, where it has served the local residents for nearly 70 years. As a county-owned entity, Pine Crest houses a substantially higher proportion of seniors reliant on Medicaid than a private for-profit entity will often choose to take. Community leaders contend that its privatization puts at risk the ability of residents on Medicaid to remain at the home, which has received a five-star rating from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).” To find out the result of yesterday’s meeting, check out Barn Raiser’s X/Twitter feed. 31) International/Canada: A new report is refuting Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s rationale for privatizing the province’s public hospital services. “As the Ford government counters horror stories about unprecedented emergency department wait times, burgeoning deficits, and an unrelenting staffing crisis, it is running high-rotation advertisements paid for by the public to convince Ontarians that they are doing all they can to improve our health care. A new report to be released by the Ontario Health Coalition takes aim at those claims and exposes the impact of the Ford government’s drive to privatize public hospital services on local public hospitals across the province. The report, based on a year-long study looking at local hospitals across Ontario, reveals the concrete costs—both financial costs to patients and the province and services losses to local communities—of the transfer of resources away from our public hospitals to for-profit clinics and hospitals. The report includes information on hospitals in every region of the province.” [Summary; full report]. All the Rest 32) National: Writing in The American Prospect, Suzanne Gordon and Steve Early say “Trump’s VA Plans Look Too Much Like Biden’s VA Reality.” Gordon and Early write that “the challenge facing concerned veterans and their caregivers is how to mobilize to prevent a much better-coordinated Republican return to the White House, when the current administration does not offer enough of an alternative to Trump’s own VA agenda, past and future. Biden’s VA leaders continue to ignore the elephant in the room: the already swinging wrecking ball of privatization. One sign of this is the rare Project 2025 praise of Biden appointees, for ‘adopt[ing] some of their predecessors’ governance processes’ at the VA.” 33) National: President Biden’s nomination of American Enterprise Institute senior fellow Andrew Biggs to serve on the Social Security Advisory Committee has generated a sharp backlash. Biggs, a longtime advocate of privatizing Social Security, has suddenly backed off that position—for now. “Wednesday’s hearing came two weeks after the Republican-controlled House Budget Committee voted largely along party lines to advance legislation to create a fiscal commission for the nation’s trust fund programs. Opponents of the bill say it’s a ploy to fast-track cuts to Social Security and Medicare. Social Security Works, a progressive advocacy group, warned Wednesday that ‘if confirmed to the SSAB, Andrew Biggs would influence policymakers to push for Social Security cuts.’ ‘This would devastate working class families, while creating another way for billionaires to avoid paying their fair share into the system,’ the group wrote on social media.” AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler says “this commission is a power grab that is trying to bypass the regular democratic process by hiding behind closed doors and fast-tracking a plan that escapes public scrutiny and accountability.” In prepared remarks, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) said “it should come as no surprise that I have serious concerns about Dr. Biggs’s nomination given his background as one of the architects for privatization. Just a few weeks ago, he argued in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that Social Security is not an earned benefit. That represents a fundamental misunderstanding of the program and what it was designed to do. Social Security is an earned benefit because you don’t receive it until you’ve worked and paid into it for at least 10 years. The mission of every Board member is to work toward gathering bipartisan consensus to strengthen Social Security, and should he be confirmed, I fear Dr. Biggs would be nothing more than a megaphone for partisan ideas to deny seniors their hard-earned benefits.”

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