HIGHLIGHTS

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First, the Good News

1) National: Summer’s over, and for schoolteachers, bus drivers, and other education support professionals, it’s back to school time. But the organizations we pay attention to and sometimes work with have been busy all summer long. Here’s a brief sampling of some recent news and research from organizations doing good work.

2) National: Counterpunch has published a terrific article by John P. Ruehl on the privatization of police and security services, a subject rarely touched on in the mainstream media. Ruehl is an Australian-American journalist living in Washington, D.C. Right-wing think tanks such as the Reason Foundation have promoted the privatization of first responders for decades. “In areas where PSCs operate, crime rates frequently remain high due to their focus on protecting private property and individuals rather than maintaining public order. Financial incentives can also lead to problems being managed superficially rather than addressing underlying issues. Additionally, PSC employees frequently face burnout, low pay, and negative working conditions. As PSCs intersect with private prisons, this has raised further concern over their expanding influence and overlapping roles. (…)  As the role of private security continues to expand, regulations must evolve at the same pace. In the U.S., with regulations primarily established at the state level and lacking uniformity, there is a need for greater oversight to address potential issues effectively. Failing to do so will undermine public accountability by allowing private companies to operate with minimal restrictions, as well as deepen societal divides.”

The article was produced by Economy for All, a project of the Independent Media Institute.

3) National: Elon Musk, who was born in apartheid South Africa (where “efficiency” was taken to mean “cheap” labor, straight out land theft, police raids, pass laws, pseudoscientific genetics-based ideas of racial supremacy, and “Christian Nationalist” theological justifications), wants to run Trump’s “efficiency” crusade. The good news is that there are multiple debunkings of Musk’s stale, retread idea that government should be run like a business from a business angle (see here, here, here, and here). But if you want a concise statement of the issues, see In the Public Interest’s Out of Control, The Coast-to-Coast Failures of Outsourcing Public Services to For-Profit Corporations.

4) National: “Prison profiteers have their hands on our presidential election,” says Worth Rises in an email. “When the President’s policies can grow or destroy a billion-dollar industry, of course it would seek to influence our presidential election. That’s just what the private prison industry is looking to do with its campaign donations, and Trump’s resulting rhetoric on this week’s debate stage is showing us how it works.” 

5) Colorado: The right wing is trying to enshrine privatized education in the constitution, but teachers and public education supporters are fighting back. Colorado Public Radio reports that “a coalition of parents, educators and advocates for public schools rallied Friday against a proposed constitutional amendment they say will usher in private school vouchers that they call harmful, destructive and discriminatory. For 30 years, public school children in Colorado have had the right to attend any public school for free even if they don’t live in that school district under the state’s Public Schools of Choice law. State law also permits families to enroll their children in private school or home school. Amendment 80  would enshrine those rights to school choice in the constitution, explicitly naming private schools and ‘future school innovations in education.’ ‘Colorado voters—do not be fooled by Amendment 80,’ said Lisa Danos, an English teacher and librarian from Gunnison. ‘It does nothing to increase parent choice or improve education in our state.’”

6) Florida: State House Democrats are calling for more transparency on how much school vouchers are harming the state budget. “Reps. Fentrice Driskell, Kelly Skidmore, and Allison Tant wrote to Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. and CEO of Step Up for Students Gretchen Schoenhaar asking for demographic information about students awarded scholarships, broken down by scholarship type and school district as well as the number of recipients who have never been in public school. (…) ‘Public transparency is integral to accountability. The state owes Floridians a responsibility to invest our hard-earned tax money wisely, and it’s impossible to know whether that’s happening with the limited information we have about spending within the voucher program.’ The lawmakers asked the commissioner to make public the number of new private schools that applied to accept scholarships.”

7) South Carolina: Post & Courier columnist Cindi Ross Scoppe says “if you oppose school vouchers as much as I do, enjoy this moment.” But warns that “It won’t last,” as private school supporters will cry religious discrimination. “On Wednesday, a divided S.C. Supreme Court embraced that interpretation of our state’s constitution, in a surprising ruling that struck down the Legislature’s plan to throw our tax money at private schools. (…) Of course, the Legislature has rarely allowed the Supreme Court to stop it from doing what it’s determined to do, and in this case lawmakers have at least two opportunities to revive efforts to pay parents to abandon our public schools; I have no doubt they will pursue one or both.”

Education

8) National: Conservative billionaires are using money and influence to push school vouchers, says longtime Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Maureen Downey. “Education researcher Josh Cowen understands the passage of voucher bills in states like Georgia and the national rollback of reproductive freedom are not the same thing. ‘But they are driven by the same people,’ said Cowen. ‘What puts these two things together is their attempt to make America a Christian nationalist state.’ Who are these people? In a new book, Cowen says they’re conservative billionaires with tightly networked and well-financed political advocacy groups. Among them are former U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos who works through her American Federation for Children and industrialists Charles Koch and the late David Koch who created Americans for Prosperity. In an interview about The Privateers: How Billionaires Created A Culture War and Sold School Vouchers, Cowen said school privatization has become the mission of a conservative cabal that has effectively masterminded ‘a political capture of the judiciary, the federal regulatory apparatus, and state lawmaking processes.’”

9) National: “Why did we create a public education system?” Jack Schneider asks. “I offer an explanation in the first 10 minutes of this podcast. Then @BisforBerkshire and I spend the rest of the hour talking about what we’ll lose if we don’t protect and preserve our public schools.”

10) National: “The failing-schools narrative needs to go, researchers argue in the latest #kappanmag. ‘The narrative of a system in decline scapegoats the nation’s ‘school system’ and absolves us of our collective responsibility to each other.’” Read Mark Hlavacik and Jack Schneider’s article, “Talking Back to the Failing-Schools Narrative.”

They write, “One lesson that we can draw from the PDK Poll’s persistent finding that parents rate their children’s schools more favorably than the nation’s schools is that we need to strengthen the popular sense of collective responsibility for the nation’s schools. Such a sense of responsibility would need to be reflected in what we say and what we write about schools. This might lead to more positive discussion of the nation’s schools, but it need not result in false praise. After all, the news items we collected about local schools also asserted that schools were failing — they just made the argument with less certainty and intensity. We need narratives about the nation’s schools that are more nuanced and multifaceted. Considering the ones we craft about our own children’s schools would be a good place to start.”

11) National/New Jersey/Think Tanks: Richard Rein reads “N.J. charter schools are feasting on taxpayer dollars. See the monster salaries” and recounts one example. “A decade later, the publicly funded charter school has turned in questionable results. For the 2022-23 school year, STEMCivics scored a summative rating of 9.62 out of 100 on the state Department of Education’s school ratings system, placing it among the lower rated schools in New Jersey. Less than 10% of students met or exceeded expectations in math testing, and only 87% of students graduated in four years, placing it below state standards, according to the data. STEMCivics did, however, finish tops in New Jersey in one category. With a $360,000 salary for the 2023-24 school year, Byron was the highest paid superintendent in the state—outearning the leaders of nearly 600 other school districts, according to the state’s salary database. And the $360,000 reported appears to only be the half of it. Byron, 69, actually made $671,867 in total compensation for the tax year between July 2022 and June 2023, according to tax forms filed by the school in May.”

12) Florida: NBC Miami reports that Miami-Dade teachers say their raises are at risk due to district’s charter school debt. “The district settled with Miami-Dade charter schools, committing to pay them $179 million, funding that school district officials say is owed to charter schools. Because of the IOU, the union says the school district will do the following:

  • Slash $33 million from funding for student devices
  • $10 million would be cut from IT infrastructure
  • $20 million will be taken from capital improvements
  • $20 million from funds earmarked for teachers’ raises.

Voters passed referendums in 2018 and 2022 specifically for teacher raises.”

13) Louisiana: The Hechinger Report says New Orleans is “all-charter no more.” Ariel Gilreath reports that “The decision to open the school in a short time also reflects shifting attitudes in the community and the Orleans Parish School Board, which was once committed to having only charter schools in the district. What happens with the Leah Chase School is a litmus test for a school system that was once considered failing in most metrics, and it will likely determine how it operates future schools, and when. ‘I think the opening of the Leah Chase School does mark a new period for New Orleans public schools,’ said J. Celeste Lay, a political science professor at Tulane University who studies education policy. ‘I think they are more willing to consider directly running schools in ways we haven’t seen, certainly since Katrina.’”

14) North Carolina: The Associated Press reports that “the Republican-dominated North Carolina legislature passed a supplemental spending bill Wednesday that eliminates a large waitlist for private school vouchers and also directs sheriffs to assist federal immigration agents seeking jail inmates. While Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper almost assuredly will veto the measure, it’s still poised to become law later this year if GOP lawmakers remain united. (…) Cooper, other Democrats and allied groups opposed to the scholarships argue the expanded program will devastate public schools on which most low-income families rely, while the richest families will get payments to help their children attend private and religious schools. ‘It doesn’t make sense to take resources away from students who need them the most,’ Giancarlo Nolasco, a junior at a Chatham County high school, said at a Legislative Building rally before the House vote. ‘Instead of helping a few, we should be investing in solutions that help everyone.’”

Meanwhile, two former North Carolina charter school employees have pleaded guilty to embezzlement.

15) New Hampshire: Another charter school is in danger of collapse. “Lionheart Classical Academy (LCA) in Peterborough was supposed to be the refuge for parents and families in the Monadnock region who wanted an escape from a secularized public education where unaccountable bureaucrats rule. But now, the K-7 charter school is in danger of financial collapse after questionable board deals that were hidden from the public, according to Lionheart founder Fred Ward. ‘We have two problems, and they are at war with each other,’ Ward said. ‘We want that school to work. But the thing we’re pissed off at is that, the way they are going, they are going to go bust.’ Lionheart was one of the many tuition-free charter schools that got start-up funding from the state in 2021. A $46 million federal grant for New Hampshire to expand charter schools resulted in $1.5 million for Lionheart. The school officially opened in 2022 with grades K-5, with plans to eventually expand to a K-12 school.”

16) Oklahoma: K12dive reports that “Oklahoma State Superintendent Ryan Walters, whose state has been in the spotlight for blurring lines between church and state, is facing growing scrutiny from state officials and lawmakers. (…) In late August, Republican state Rep. Mark McBride called for a federal Department of Education investigation into Walters citing concerns about the state department of education’s spending of federal and state money, according to local reports. In the past month, a growing number of Republican state lawmakers have also questioned Walters’ leadership, including over a Title I allocation dispute with Bixby Public Schools Superintendent Rob Miller. State Attorney General Gentner Drummond also sent a letter to Walters last month over the education agency’s lack of responses to open records requests.” Meanwhile, the state charter school board continues to approve new charter schools.

17) Texas: Writing in the Waco Tribune, Ashley Bean Thornton says don’t use low-income students as a reason to vote for voucher supporters. “In 2023, the voucher plan failed during regular session. Gov. Abbott called four additional special sessions in the hopes of passing the plan—but in the end it was defeated by a coalition of 63 Democrats and 21 Republicans. (…) Vouchers have been sold in other states on the promise of helping low-income students, but we know that has not ended up being the case. In Arizona for example, according to a recent article in Forbes magazine, ‘Only 32% of the voucher applicants come from families making less than $60,000. And only 3.5% of voucher applicants came from zip codes with schools with D or F grades.’ In Indiana, according to reporting by WFYI-FM, Indianapolis Public Radio, ‘The 2023-24 academic year was the Indiana program’s 13th year. The typical student receiving a voucher is described as a White, elementary school-age girl from a household of four or five people with an income of nearly $100,000, according to the Indiana Department of Education.’ We would almost certainly get those same kinds of results in Waco.”

18) Texas: Despite optimistic statements from some that Gov. Abbott’s quest to elect enough pro-voucher politicians in November to pass vouchers in the legislature can be defeated, Republican State Rep. Jay Dean (who voted against vouchers) says Texans need to be prepared for a possible win by voucher supporters. “‘I’ve been working really hard the last several months on how we minimize the impact of that on our great rural public schools,’ Dean, R-Longview, said during a presentation at the Pine Tree ISD board meeting. (…) ‘The governor and billionaires from Pennsylvania and Michigan who make money off of charter schools had a very expensive and active program to go and get rid of as many of us as they possibly could,’ Dean said. ‘And it was successful.’ Voucher opponents claim public tax revenue should not finance private education and that their use will come at the expense of public schools already struggling with budget deficits. East Texas and other rural areas with few private school alternatives have been a hotbed of voucher resistance.”

Infrastructure 

19) National/California: The Air Force hopes a privatized apartment complex can be completed at Edwards Air Force base by 2026. “The need is urgent: the military construction budget process is moving too slowly to stem a nationwide affordable housing shortage felt even more acutely at remote military bases such as Edwards, which is short accommodations for 307 unaccompanied service members. ‘Just about everyone has more demand than they have availability. We’re no different,’ Col. Joel Purcell, commander of the 412th Civil Engineer Group at Edwards, told Air & Space Forces Magazine. ‘But we hope that we’re going to be able to take care of some of the 307 unaccompanied member shortage with the apartments.’ (…) The target demographic is service members who are no longer eligible for on-base government-owned dormitories—inhabited mostly by very junior service members fresh out of training—but who are not quite ready for the tight off-base housing market.”

20) National: S&P Global Market Intelligence, in a new report, says AI datacenters-driven demand for energy will be skyrocketing, posing critical challenges for society. “Fueled by the increased computational demand created by generative AI, almost 50 GW of Datacenter capacity is projected to be added to the US grid by 2028, according to forecasts by S&P Global. This growing demand is a particular challenge to highly concentrated Datacenter markets, such as Northern Virginia, where Datacenter energy demand is expected to account for up to 40% of the regional load by 2040. This demand has far-reaching implications on energy reliability, grid constraints, and access to clean energy.” On October 30 S&P Global will be having a conference on the issues involved. $350 registration fee for nonclients.

21) California/National: The Bond Buyer reports that some local water authorities are resisting federal regulation. “According to the state’s proposal, $3.8 billion would be allocated to water projects, including safe drinking water efforts, recycling wastewater, storing groundwater and controlling flooding. An additional $1.5 billion would be spent on wildfire protection, while $1.2 billion would go toward protecting the coast from sea level rise. The proposition is opposed by taxpayer groups concerned about runaway construction costs but is supported by labor unions, environmentalists and water agencies. At the same time, some of the local level water authority managers believe the state is suffering from a long history of ill-advised water management decisions.” [Sub required]

22) California: Fitch Ratings has upgraded the credit rating of the Los Angeles World Airport’s people mover project. “Fitch had downgraded the LINXS bonds to its current junk rating status in January—from the BBB-minus assigned when the debt was sold—after conflicts between LAX and LINXS called the viability of the project into question. The upshot was the project was substantially complete, but likely to open much later than originally anticipated. Conflicts between the airport and developers over delays—and who should cover the resulting cost increases—resulted in Fitch placing the bonds on negative outlook in October 2023. The outlook revision reflects an agreement between the developers and the airport to extend the official opening date of the project to December 2025, Fitch said. The rating agency also said the design-build contractor members ‘are experienced with a long history of successfully working together.’” [Sub required]

23) New York: The MTA is under severe capital pressure, The Bond Buyer reports. “The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority has been coping with a capital fiscal cliff since June, when Gov. Kathy Hochul canned congestion pricing, and the toll revenue that was supposed to fund $15 billion of projects. But that’s just the beginning of the authority’s capital shortfalls, according to New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. A new report from his office suggests the MTA’s capital needs outweigh its available funding by roughly $20 billion—beyond the $15 billion funding gap Hochul created.” [Sub required]

Public Services

24) National: The American Society for Public Administration reports that election workers are under stress. Pressures from political officeholders, lawyers and citizens are making their jobs tough as the elections approach. “As of March 2024, some 20 individuals have faced federal charges in connection with “widespread threats against officials running the 2020 and 2022 elections.” Numerous other complaints have been investigated. Meanwhile, a coalition of election lawyers and communications professionals has come together to provide election workers with assistance on a pro bono basis. The Election Official Legal Defense Network (EOLDN), a nonpartisan group led by Benjamin Ginsberg and Bob Bauer, explains its mission as follows: ‘Across the United States, election officials are enduring threats, harassment, intimidation, defamation and, in some states, exposure to criminal penalties, for simply doing their jobs of administering fair elections. EOLDN stands by, ready to connect election officials in need of qualified pro bono attorneys who can provide advice or assistance.’”

 25) National: A Congressional hearing was held on the threats to election workers on September 11. “Those Democratic secretaries of state added that since former President Donald Trump has continued to perpetuate the falsehood that he won the 2020 presidential election, they have been forced to deal with threats and are concerned the lie has led to overall distrust in election results. The insurrection on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 was an attempt by a mob of pro-Trump supporters to stop Congress from certifying the electoral results of the 2020 presidential election. (…) The top Democrat on the committee, Joe Morelle of New York, noted that the election is already here, as ballots are going to be sent to military members overseas and states are getting ready for early voting in the coming weeks. He raised concerns about threats to election workers as well as misinformation about the security of elections. ‘Election officials are operating in an election season that continues to be marred by a steady drumbeat of mis- and disinformation,’ he said in his opening statement. ‘For months, we have heard the former President and others either refuse to say they will accept the outcome of the election, or condition their acceptance with an “if they are free and fair”—which undermines Americans’ confidence that our elections are, in fact, fair and secure.’”

26) National: The Wall Street Journal reports that Trump backers are planning to privatize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the housing finance entities after having failed to do so under his administration. “Trump confidants including Larry Kudlow, former director of the National Economic Council, and John McEntee, former director of the White House presidential personnel office, are among those involved, the people said. ‘The [former] president himself has never said anything about this throughout the campaign,’ a Trump campaign spokeswoman said. The government’s stakes in Fannie and Freddie could be valued at hundreds of billions of dollars, bankers estimate. That could allow the government to sell more than $100 billion of securities in one swoop, some bankers say. That would top the biggest stock and bond offerings in history and require interest from the largest investors, including sovereign-wealth funds. (…) Opponents of privatization have said that it would decrease access to credit for home buyers and increase the risk for taxpayers. (…) Some prominent hedge-fund investors, and Trump backers, have for years been pushing for Fannie and Freddie to be freed from government ownership. Depending on the plan, they could stand to profit handsomely. Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square owns a roughly 10% stake in the common shares of both Fannie and Freddie. Both Paulson and Ackman have endorsed Trump for president.” [Sub required]

27) National: Trump’s VP candidate, J.D. Vance, says he would further privatize the Veterans Administration. “When Ryan asked “would you ever consider privatized health care for veterans?” Vance responded by saying “I think I’d consider it” before shifting to thoughts on Trump’s past veterans policies. ‘I think that there are areas where the VA actually works very well,’ he said. ‘So I would not say, “get rid of the whole thing.” But I would say, “give people more choice.” I think you’ll save money in the process.’ A spokesman for Vance on Thursday afternoon denied that the nominee supports defunding parts of the VA and blasted the campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris for creating a controversy where one did not exist.”

Military Times says Democratic Presidential candidate Kamala Harris has supported President Biden’s PACT Act and that her “four years in the Senate included votes on military and veterans bills, and her time as California’s attorney general saw her take on for-profit colleges that targeted veterans—a record that could provide a window into what a Harris presidency would mean for service members and veterans.”

The Harris campaign released a statement from Sen. Tammy Duckworth—a decorated combat veteran who served in Iraq —who said, “When JD Vance floats the Trump-Vance Project 2025 agenda to privatize the VA, we should take him seriously. This isn’t just some misguided policy idea; it’s a slap in the face to the men and women who served this country. … Veterans deserve better than candidates who will turn their health care into a business opportunity the minute they get the chance.”

28) National: The Electronic Frontier Foundation blasts NextNav’s “brazen attempt to privatize” the 900 MHz band, “a frequency range serving as a commons for all.” EFF says “Left by the FCC for use by amateur radio operators, unlicensed consumer devices, and industrial, scientific, and medical equipment, this spectrum has become a hotbed for new technologies and community-driven projects. Millions of consumer devices also rely on the range, including baby monitors, cordless phones, IoT devices, garage door openers. But NextNav would rather claim these frequencies, fence them off, and lease them out to mobile service providers. This is just another land-grab by a corporate rent-seeker dressed up as innovation. EFF and hundreds of others have called on the FCC to decisively reject this proposal and protect the open spectrum as a commons that serves all.”

29) Ohio/Think Tanks: Policy Matters Ohio releases the first of two reports on childcare funding in Ohio. “Much of DCY’s annual budget—upwards of $1 billion—is allocated for childcare, primarily through Ohio’s Publicly Funded Child Care (PFCC) program. More than half of that funding comes through a single line item in the federal Child Care Block Grant; another quarter comes from the state’s General Revenue Fund. Part 1 of the analysis focuses on these two streams. ‘There is a growing movement for better childcare here in Ohio, and that requires better funding,’ said report co-author Kathryn Poe. ‘Ohioans need a clear, detailed understanding of how we fund these programs, so we can effectively advocate for our priorities.’ Part 2 of the analysis will be released in October and will focus on the 21.8% of Ohio’s childcare funding that comes by way of the federal block grant for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. It will include recommendations for ensuring more families can access childcare in their communities and more providers can pay staff a minimum of $20 per hour.” [Full report]

30) Wisconsin: Wisconsin Public Radio reports, “as more nursing homes in the state and around the country are sold to for-profit businesses, a health care advocate for aging Wisconsinites said that hurts the quality of life for older adults who rely on them. ” The interview is with Rob Gundermann president and CEO of the Coalition of Wisconsin Aging and Health Groups.

“KAK: In terms of staffing levels, would a for-profit just follow the state/federal regulations for the number of staff that they have to have?

RG: Typically, it’s the minimum. The for-profits typically have fewer staff ratios than the nonprofits do.

KAK: Should we assume that nonprofit or county facilities provide better care than for-profit facilities?

RG: They tend to, they really do. And the thing about these county nonprofit nursing homes is a lot of the time, that’s where someone who has failed out of other places ends up. It’s sort of a place of last resort.

Take a dementia patient who has become aggressive or difficult to handle or they just can’t handle them anymore where they’re at, they send them to these county facilities that are usually able to deal with them.

There’s a real need for these facilities and it’s concerning that we’re losing them.”

All the Rest

31) National/Think Tanks:  A new study finds that the prevalence of firearms is driving soaring gun deaths in U.S.—not mental illness. “The research led by an Oregon Health & Science University professor looked at mental health conditions and firearm deaths in the U.S. and 40 other countries. It found the U.S. had 20 times more deaths by firearms than the other countries even when rates of mental illness were the same. ‘We have the same degree of mental health issues as other countries, but our firearm death rate is far greater and continuing to increase,’ said Dr. Archie Bleyer, a clinical research professor at OHSU and lead author of the study. ‘In most of the countries, firearms deaths are decreasing.’”

32) International/Honduras: In Honduras, libertarians and legal claims are threatening to bankrupt a nation. “Years later, Luisa Connor and Vanessa Cárdenas would look back ruefully on the day foreigners visited their beachfront village with plans for a development next door. They had no idea the effort was backed by Silicon Valley billionaires who wanted to build a “startup city,” or that a relatively new Honduran law would allow them to establish this semi-autonomous enclave. They could not foresee they would lead a fight against it that would launch their village into national politics and prompt an international legal dispute, threatening to bankrupt the country. They thought it was just another hotel.”

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