TAKE NOTE: THE PRIVATIZATION REPORT’S NEW PUBLISHING DAY IS NOW TUESDAYS.
HIGHLIGHTS
JUMP: EDUCATION | INFRASTRUCTURE | PUBLIC SERVICES | THE REST
First, the Good News
1) National/Ohio: Writing in Ohio Capital Journal, Shelly Johnson explains how Medicaid enables fulfilling livelihoods in Ohio and across America. “Many think Medicaid is simply government-subsidized health insurance, but for me, and millions of others like me, it is so much more. It allows me to live independently in a home that I own. It pays for modifications like a ramp and roll-in shower that make life’s routines easier. Most importantly, Medicaid pays the wages of my caregivers who support my personal care needs and household tasks. As a 59-year old, it enables me to stay employed, leave the house, and live a fulfilling life. Without it, these things would be impossible because I would be stuck in bed with no one to care for me.” Medicaid is facing budget cuts, although Politico reports that President Trump is “deeply wary” about doing so.
2) North Carolina: A compelling commentary in NC Newsline by Michael Davis reflects on recovery and resilience in western North Carolina. “As a public affairs specialist for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, my job is to help tell the story, but I’ve never been one to make myself part of it. In fact, I’ve never written a commentary before. But after spending the last month deployed to western North Carolina as part of the Hurricane Helene recovery mission, I realized that sometimes the most honest way to tell the story is to share the view from the ground, through my own experience and perspective. My goal is to help the public understand the scale, complexity and humanity behind this mission. With my deployment soon coming to an end, and another public affairs professional rotating in to continue telling this story, it felt like the right time to reflect on what I’ve experienced and why this work matters.”
3) National: If you missed it, last Thursday MSNBC had a town hall that included interviews with federal workers who have been forced out by the Trump administration. “After the town hall, both Ruhle and Soboroff stuck around to hear even more stories with forced out workers from agencies across the government including the FDA, NOAA, and NIH. “I think it’s an enormous hit to the American public, and that’s why I’m here,” one forced out worker told Ruhle.” [Video, about 10 minutes]
4) West Virginia: The Logan County Commission voted unanimously during a special meeting Friday not to sell two public service districts to West Virginia American Water. Public input made the difference. “commission president Diana Barnette said that she was a little behind on making the decision, but she listened to the public and all of the feedback and made a decision she felt was right for now and for the future. ‘I wanted to be sure that the decision I made, which would affect everybody, and futures to come, would be the right decision for me,’ she said. Commissioner Billy Dickerson said that it definitely wasn’t a decision they took lightly. ‘We have spent countless hours discussing, looking, trying to decide what is best for the county,’ Dickerson said.”
5) New Report: The Committee to Protect Journalists is staying on top of the many stories about fears for freedom of the press and democracy. In a new special report, “CPJ is calling on the public, the media, civil society, and all branches, levels, and institutions of government—from municipalities to the U.S. Supreme Court—to safeguard press freedom to help secure the future of American democracy. (Read the full list of CPJ’s recommendations here).”
6) International/Canada: Trying to make sense of how the Canadian elections might affect privatization-related issues that are rarely covered in the mainstream media but are an important aspect of Canadian policy and politics, with useful lessons for the U.S.-based public interest community? Have a look at the many independent Canadian media sources.
7) National/Oklahoma: Luke Anderson, a Constitutional Litigation Fellow at Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, was on the ground in Oklahoma as the U.S. Supreme Court heard the landmark religious public school case last week. “I spent the week in Oklahoma, where the mood was apprehensive. I met with faith and community leaders, each of whom expressed grave concerns about the erosion of church-state separation. We discussed several assaults on Oklahomans’ religious freedoms: a public-school Bible-education mandate; a disastrous new set of Christian Nationalist social-studies standards; and of course, a case that was argued before the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday involving an attempt to establish the nation’s first religious public school, St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School. The case, Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board v. Drummond, could fundamentally alter our nation’s longstanding system of secular public education.”
The issue of privatization is at the heart of the case. Anderson writes, “During oral arguments, the lawyers for St. Isidore and company argued that, despite being defined and treated as public schools and governmental entities under state law, Oklahoma charter schools are actually private entities. And the justices’ questions focused primarily on the distinction between private and public entities.”
Listen to the oral argument on C-SPAN. It’s about 2 hours and 15 minutes.
8) National: Is Brown v. Board, the landmark 1954 case banning racial discrimination in schools, under the axe? The Associated Press reports on the U.S. Justice Department’s lifting of a school desegregation order in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, last week. “Dozens of school districts across the South remain under court-enforced agreements dictating steps to work toward integration, decades after the Supreme Court struck down racial segregation in education. Some see the court orders’ endurance as a sign the government never eradicated segregation, while officials in Louisiana and at some schools see the orders as bygone relics that should be wiped away.”
ProPublica is asking for help on how racial discrimination complaints are currently being handled by the U.S. Department of Education. “Since President Donald Trump took office, his administration laid off nearly half of theDepartment of Education division that handles civil rights investigations and shifted its focus. The administration halted work on thousands of pending discrimination cases while ordering investigations aligned with its priorities. Some people have spoken out about their cases being in limbo or about not receiving updates. We know there are thousands of other people who are affected. We need your help to see the full picture of how the dismantling of the Office for Civil Rights is affecting students, parents, school employees and their wider communities.”
9) California/National: California schools are at risk of losing funds that could be used to improve HVAC systems in classrooms, abc7.com reports. “School districts like the Huntington Beach City School District have applied to access more than $190 million collected from utility ratepayers through the California School Healthy Air, Plumbing and Efficiency program, also known as CalSHAPE. The money is designated to upgrade heating, air conditioning, ventilation and plumbing systems in public schools. (…) However, applications for the HVAC and plumbing grants abruptly closed. ‘The legislature said it was going to go to schools, and yet it’s sitting there and not going to schools now,’ said Harris.” There is an HVAC crisis across the country, with students, teachers and staff either sweltering in dangerous heat or wearing overcoats in class to fight freezing temperatures, as in Baltimore (measures are being taken to address Baltimore’s problem).
10) Indiana: More than 200 employees are to be laid off after South Bend Schools end their maintenance contract and move to insource those jobs to save money. “‘It is in our best financial interests that we hire people on our own, we take care of our buildings on our own,’ [Ahnaf Tahmid, SBCSC’s chief financial officer] said, adding that the contract with SSC is currently worth approximately $20 million.”
11) Pennsylvania/New Report: Teach Plus has a new report out on how Pennsylvania school districts are putting state adequacy investments to good use. “Research has shown that increased school funding leads to improved student outcomes and that students—including low-income students—do better academically when they attend better-funded schools. Additionally, national school funding data shows that when school districts are given more money, they tend to spend it in ways that the research shows increases student outcomes. However, in the wake of this historic adequacy investment, many Pennsylvania lawmakers have wanted more specific and localized information: How are school districts putting the first installment of this new money to good use to benefit students?”
According to reporting by the Pennsylvania Capital Star’s Peter Hall, “educators and advocates say excessive payments to online-only charter schools threaten to negate the progress those districts have made. As lawmakers square up to negotiate the next state budget by the end of next month, they also hope to pass legislation to set a statewide tuition rate and require accountability, following an audit that found five cyber charters, including state’s largest, amassed excessive reserves of state tax dollars. ‘If there is no cyber charter reform this year and the rest of the dollars go through, there will be districts that will be further behind, starting in the fall, than they were last year. 100%. Absolutely, no question about it,’ Susan Spicka, executive director of Education Voters PA, said during the news conference this week held by Teach Plus, a teacher-led education policy group.”
12) National: Popular Science reports on what would happen if Amtrak gets privatized, as Elon Musk has proposed. “All of this suggests that efforts to spin off Amtrak—dating back to the Nixon administration—may once again have a receptive audience.
‘This is a real threat,’ Donald Cohen, founder and executive director of In the Public Interest, told Popular Science. ‘We have an administration now that wants to strip [Amtrak] down, sell it off, and make money off of it. We’re not in normal times.’ But what exactly would a fully privatized Amtrak look like—and what could that mean for travelers who rely on it for everyday transportation? While proponents of privatization argue it would boost Amtrak’s efficiency and reduce its reliance on taxpayer subsidies, experts speaking with Popular Science warn the move could do more harm than good. Passengers booking trips on a privatized Amtrak, they note, would likely face higher ticket prices, less reliable service, and a reduction or elimination of routes serving rural or low-population areas. And while a privately run national passenger rail system might generate more revenue, past evidence suggests it would still likely require government subsidies to operate reliably…
“Cohen told Popular Science he believes Amtrak offers a collective public benefit—even if individual riders don’t use it regularly. ‘It’s in our [national] interest for people to be able to move around, whether you’re the one moving or not,” Cohen said. “It’ll help the economy, it’ll help the environment, it’ll help people’s lives.’ Ironically, the renewed calls for privatization come during some of Amtrak’s best-performing years on record.
13) National: “The new budget proposal from President Donald Trump would reduce the budget for the nation’s national parks, monuments, historic sites, seashores and trails by nearly 25% and hand over many of those to the states,” according to USA Today. “The Center for Western Priorities called the budget ‘a bleak vision for America’s parks and public lands.’ The park service has lost 2,400 to 2,500 employees, more than 10% of its staff, including probationary employees who were fired and others who accepted voluntary buyouts and early retirements, according to the Parks Conservation Association. The cuts have forced parks to cut hours, close visitor centers, suspend tours and limit camping reservations…
“The proposal suggested the park service’s Historic Preservation Fund is duplicative, and often funds projects of ‘local, rather than national, significance.’ The budget accused the Biden administration of ‘wasting federal funding’ on construction projects at sites that would be more appropriately managed at the local level. It also stated the reduction would complement the administration’s agenda of ‘federalism and transferring smaller, lesser visited parks to State and tribal governments.’”
14) National: The number of new apartments is at a 50-year high, Michigan Advance reports. “But there has been a steep slowdown in construction starts, as the newly completed apartments come online. The increased supply has lowered rents and increased vacancy rates, making new development less profitable. Some experts also say tariffs on construction materials and labor shortages caused by dips in immigration will create headwinds for new construction. Apartment starts were down 27% in 2024 compared with 2023, and down 37% from a recent peak of 531,000 in 2022, despite the historic rate of completions. Apartment starts were at their lowest ebb since 2013.”
15) Michigan: The Michigan government reports that its Statewide Infrastructure Workforce Plan will train 5,000 new infrastructure workers by January 2030. On Thursday, Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II and the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity (LEO) “released the Michigan Statewide Infrastructure Workforce Plan, a framework for creating and enhancing job opportunities and training programs to meet Michigan’s critical infrastructure needs. Michigan is undergoing an unprecedented infrastructure transformation, with more than $16.7 billion in federal funding driving projects in transportation, rail and transit, clean energy, water, broadband and more. This federal funding is estimated to create approximately 11,000 new jobs each year, representing a historic surge in demand for skilled labor. Delivering these projects on time, on budget and safely will require a highly skilled workforce in every region of the state.
“This strategic plan—developed by LEO in partnership with their Michigan High-Speed Internet Office (MIHI), the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT), Michigan Department for Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE), and Michigan Infrastructure Office (MIO)—will help facilitate the training of at least 5,000 new infrastructure workers by Jan. 1, 2030, as required by Executive Directive No. 2024-1 issued by the governor last year.”
16) North Carolina: Are utilities commissions, which exercise great power over decisions ranging from electricity rates to service oversight to infrastructure planning to consumer protection—democratically appointed? A political and legal tug of war has broken out between Gov. Josh Stein and state legislative leaders over appointments to the NC Utilities Commission. “‘[T]his case presents important questions concerning the separation of powers and the appointment of a member to the Utilities Commission — questions to which the Treasurer is a central figure in light of the challenged legislation. Given the Treasurer’s unique interest in this important case, intervention is especially appropriate,” Briner’s lawyers argued. Stein’s lawyers filed paperwork on April 21 seeking a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against the appointment change.”
17) Pennsylvania: The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that legislation has been proposed to privatize the state public transportation system’s bus operations. “‘What’s clear is that doing the same thing over and over again is not going to fix SEPTA’s problems, and other currently proposed options only serve to patch over the problems of a system chronically in crisis,’ [State Republican leader Jesse Topper] said in a statement. He wants SEPTA to enter into a public-private partnership to operate its 125 bus routes, saying a contractor would save money. SEPTA faces a $213 million structural deficit and says it must make drastic cuts starting this fall without more state dollars. The transit agency brushed aside the proposal while thanking Topper for acknowledging its progress. ‘By almost every metric … SEPTA is one of the most efficient transit agencies in the country,’ spokesperson Andrew Busch said in a statement, citing 2023 numbers from the National Transit Database.”
18) National: Concern grows over the future of Section 8 housing assistance, on which millions of people rely to secure affordable housing. “Local advocates are sounding the alarm over leaked plans to cut Section 8 housing vouchers, warning the move could push millions into homelessness. Leaders and Organizers for Tenant Empowerment (LOFTE) spoke out against the Trump administration’s proposed plan to replace 2.3 million Section 8 vouchers with block grants. Michael Kane, Co-Chair of LOFTE, says the national tenants organization wants to ‘communicate strongly that this is not acceptable and that there should be no cuts to HUD rental housing assistance—they should be increasing it.’ He continued, ‘If you cut them, more people will be homeless.’”
19) National: Writing in The New Republic, Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling suggests Elon Musk could benefit from a public contract to replace NASA’s space launch system. “The White House envisions that the future of the country’s space funding should be spent on Mars—an idea that isn’t too difficult to trace back to the SpaceX CEO. Musk has been a vocal opponent of NASA’s Artemis campaign. In January, Musk posted on X that the moon is just a ‘distraction’ and that his company would be looking to go ‘straight to Mars.’”
Gabriela León, writing in MSN.com, says “the intricate web of privatization and government contracts has unveiled a complex relationship between Elon Musk and the ongoing reforms in the Social Security Administration (SSA). A recent investigation by Rolling Stone highlights how Musk’s business empire is indirectly benefiting from the radical changes spearheaded by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Although Musk does not directly profit from the SSA trust fund, the report suggests that his companies are gaining significantly from the restructuring efforts. Antonio Gracias, a key player in this scenario, is a business partner of Musk and the director of Valor Equity Partners, a private equity firm. This firm has secured over $1.7 billion in investment commitments from public pension funds belonging to American teachers, police officers, and firefighters. One of their recent funds, which raised $800 million, has invested directly in SpaceX and xAI, companies founded or controlled by Musk, indicating a flow of public retirement money into Musk’s ventures.”
20) National/Louisiana: Slate features writer Alex Sammon takes us inside the privately-operated Central Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Jena. “Visibility into the facility is extremely limited, but its conditions are notorious. In 2016 three immigrants died in detention within the first six months of the year; a year later, CLIPC was among the top five immigration jails nationally for sexual assault complaints. In 2019 government-oversight agency inspectors at CLIPCfound expired and nonlabelled food in the kitchen. In 2023 a 42-year-old Nicaraguan asylum seeker, detained at CLIPC for an additional seven months after ICE had recommended his release, died after being found unresponsive at the facility. Things had improved slightly of late: A congressional delegation had recently traveled to the facility. So, too, had a group of committee staffers. In advance of that national attention, said multiple people familiar with the operation, the facility had brought in a cleaning crew, replaced numerous windows, and repainted. The center even staged a ‘sanitation contest’ among inmates; whoever did the best job of cleaning was to be rewarded with a pizza party.
(“GEO strongly disagrees with the allegations that have been made regarding the services we provide,” a company spokesperson said in a statement. “These allegations are part of a long-standing, politically motivated, and radical campaign to abolish ICE and end federal immigration detention by attacking the federal government’s immigration facility contractors.”)
Even so, life in the processing center remained punishing. Detainees are grouped by security risk and dressed in color-coded garb, with red uniforms for those deemed dangerous. The 1,000-plus inmates, all male, were housed in dormitory rooms with 70 people per room, sleeping on 35 double-decker bunk beds.
21) National/Utah: Reporting for Utah Public Radio (which along with other NPR stations and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is under a defunding threat), Alex Gonzales asks, “If [the] postal service is privatized, which Utah communities would pay the price?” The Institute for Policy Studies’ Sarah Anderson, who co-authored a recent report on postal privatization, said “more than 100 million Americans in rural areas, small towns and suburbs on less profitable routes would take the biggest hit. ‘Without competition from a public service that has a mandate to provide affordable delivery to every address in America, people in these areas in particular might lose their delivery at their homes altogether,’ Anderson warned. (…) She noted the Postal Service has historically provided good-paying jobs in Utah and across the country. ‘Doing work that really helps bind the nation together,’ Anderson asserted. ‘That was the original vision of the Postal Service. It’s in our Constitution that it should help connect rural to urban areas and level the playing field.’”
22) Rhode Island: Airport officials are considering privatizing TSA screening duties at Rhode Island T.F. Green International Airport. “The Rhode Island Airport Corporation (RIAC) filed a petition on April 25 to join the TSA’s Screening Partnership Program, which allows use of private screening contractors for airport security. Airport spokesperson Bill Fischer confirmed the application after the move was first reported by WPRI-12 Tuesday. A copy of the petition was not immediately made available. Fischer said the recommendation came from Virginia-based consultant Studdiford Technical Solutions after RIAC hired the firm last November to analyze increasing passenger numbers and ‘unusually long checkpoint lines’ officials noticed the month prior.”
But “the head of the union representing New England’s TSA officers called RIAC’s justification for pursuing the possibility of privatizing screening ‘ridiculous.’ ‘That’s not a reason to privatize,’ Mike Gayzagian, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 2617 headquartered in Boston, said in an interview. ‘Wait times are fluid.’ Since the start of 2025, TSA spokesperson Daniel Velez said 100% of all standard lane screenings at T.F. Green remained under the agency’s projected peak wait of half an hour. The longest wait time in the last month was at 27 minutes, according to TSA data obtained by Rhode Island Current. The average maximum wait travelers experienced in April was 10 minutes. Travelers who used TSA Precheck had an average maximum wait time of five minutes last month.”
23) International/Canada: Will the public sector play a role in Canada’s restructuring policy under the new Carney government? That depends. “Mark Carney now talks about making public sector investments as a catalyst for private sector investment. He should not forget the big role the public sector, all on its own, can play in a medium-sized economy such as Canada’s. Historically the public sector, both provincial and federal, has been more important for Canada than for the U.S. Going back more than a century, Canadian public sector activity, not just in providing service but in managing the productive economy, has made a significant contribution to this country’s prosperity. Just consider the enormous importance of provincially owned electrical utilities, such Hydro Quebec or B.C. Hydro. A Conservative Ontario government established the first such public electrical utility in the very first years of the 20th century, more than a century ago. Tragically for Canada, a world-wide economic theology of untrammeled free enterprise coupled with economic globalization, championed by the likes of Britain’s Margaret Thatcher and the U.S.’s Ronald Reagan, took hold in the 1980s. To our detriment, we are still in its thrall.”
24) National/Maryland: Baltimore’s WYPR assesses the potential loss of Corporation for Public Broadcasting funding. “Here’s what that means—and what it doesn’t:
- This impacts federal dollars only. Private donations, business sponsorships, foundation grants, and member support continue to be the backbone of Baltimore Public Media, WYPR and WTMD. Simply put, YOU make our work possible and sustainable.
- This does not (yet) change overall federal funding levels for public media. How dollars are reallocated after removing NPR and PBS isn’t clear yet, but the ripple effect will be significant for all local stations, including ours, which rely on national-to-local partnerships to bring you trusted news, music, and educational programming.
- This does not close local public media stations. That said, Community Service Grants help fund our infrastructure, emergency alert systems, and local journalism — all essential, especially for smaller or rural stations. Losing this funding will have substantial consequences.
This executive order does not change who we are or why we exist. Our mission is to serve the metropolitan Baltimore area and the state of Maryland with trusted local journalism, educational content, music, and opportunities to connect and engage. We will continue to focus on elevating diverse voices, building connections, and enriching the minds and spirits of our audience.”
25) Texas: Here’s what you need to know about Texas’ new private school voucher law, according to The Texas Tribune. “The law will go into effect on Sept. 1, with the program expected to launch in late 2026. (…) If public demand for the voucher program exceeds the funding available, it will prioritize applicants in this order:
- Students with disabilities from families with an annual income at or below 500% of the federal poverty level, which includes any four-person household earning less than roughly $160,000
- Families at or below 200% of the poverty level, which includes any four-person household earning less than roughly $64,300
- Families between 200% and 500% of the poverty level
- Families at or above 500% of the poverty level (limited to 20% of the program’s budget)
The voucher program also prioritizes students exiting public schools over kids already in private ones. The priority system does not guarantee access to the program, however. The legislation does not require participating schools to change their admissions processes, meaning they can still deny entry to any student they determine does not meet their standards. Private schools are also not required to follow state or federal laws regarding accommodations for students with disabilities.”
26) Revolving Door News: D.J. Gribbin, the former Trump “public-private partnership” infrastructure Czar (and former Koch Industries and Macquarie staffer) has a new gig. “STV, a leading professional services firm that plans, designs and manages infrastructure projects across North America, today announced that DJ Gribbin has joined its Board of Directors. (…) STV is one of the top infrastructure-focused professional services firms in North America. Founded in 1912, STV advises, plans, designs, engineers and delivers the infrastructure that powers local economies, including transportation systems, buildings, water and other facilities. Headquartered in New York City, the company has more than 60 offices and 3,200 employees who reimagine the solutions and structures that connect our communities.”