HIGHLIGHTS
JUMP: EDUCATION | INFRASTRUCTURE | PUBLIC SERVICES
First, the Good News
1) National: A must-read two-part interview by Jon King with Josh Cowen, author of The Privateers: How Billionaires Created a Culture War and Sold School Vouchers, has been published in Michigan Advance. Cowen traces the growth of the billionaire-funded crusade to privatize public education from a movement focused on vouchers and charter schools to one led by a Christian Nationalist movement bent on creating a separatist educational system. He says, “at the end of the day, what I hope to see happen is an understanding that this is not really about fundamentally improving education outcomes for the vast majority of people. This is a separatist movement in American education, trying to take dollars to separate, isolate out into cordoned off spaces based on what they call religious values. I would say it’s Christian nationalism. I think others would say so too.”
As we head into what could possibly be a new, authoritarian era after November 5, however, it is important to consider where this Christian Nationalist movement intends to take the country as a whole. It is important to bear in mind that Christian Nationalism is not a new phenomenon, globally speaking, and is not an exclusively American phenomenon. Perhaps the clearest example of what a Christian Nationalist politics—and legal and educational order—looks like is apartheid South Africa. In the 1950s, at exactly the same time as Milton Friedman was sketching out his ideas to destroy public education, the Nationalist Party was setting up an educational system that was not to be parallel to public education, but to replace it completely, not as a libertarian, anti-government project, but as an essential component of a state totalitarian system intended to secure complete racial, gender, cultural, economic and social control.
There are obvious parallels with what is going on in the U.S. today. There is actually an excellent book on this history which people should read, Brian Bunting’s The Rise of the South African Reich, which has two detailed chapters on the legal and political edifice of Christian Nationalist educational (“Indoctrinating the Young”) and ideological (“The Control of Ideas”) systems. .
2) National/New Report: Carol Burris of the Network for Public Education recommends Doomed to Fail: An Analysis of Charter School Closures from 1998-2022, “the most comprehensive research on charter school longevity to date. Using an innovative cohort design and data obtained from the Common Core of Data (CCD), research analyst Ryan Pfleger measured the average lifespan of charter schools at the three, five, ten, fifteen, and twenty-year mark. Between 1998 and 2022, more than one million students were affected by charter shutdowns.” Burris led the development of the report and is its author.
“With a carefully crafted marketing campaign,” the report says, “a new charter school offers something different, promising something better than the neighborhood public school down the block. However, as hundreds of thousands of families have found, enrolling your child in a charter school comes with enormous risk. Charter schools close at far higher rates than public schools. And unlike public school districts where infrequent closures are orderly with the district finding a new school for the child, charter school closures are often chaotic and abrupt, taking parents by surprise. As this report shows, that risk is far from negligible.”
3) National: State and local guaranteed income programs are setting the stage for federal action, says Route Fifty. “More than 100 cities across the U.S. have implemented or are implementing the no-strings-attached cash initiatives, through which participants temporarily receive regular cash payments to use at their own discretion. And the body of research showing that they work to address poverty and improve outcomes is growing. (…) Burnside also pointed to theGuaranteed Income Pilot Program Act of 2023, sponsored by U.S. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-N.J., last September. The act would create a three-year nationwide program to provide monthly payments—equal to the rent of a two-bedroom apartment in the recipient’s ZIP code—to 20,000 people aged 18 to 65 across the country. If passed, the act could also help create comprehensive, nationwide data on guaranteed income programs, she said.”
4) National: In an email, Worth Rises says we may be looking at the end of privatized correctional healthcare. “Recently, we’ve delved into the dark world of privatized correctional healthcare, and we’ve unearthed an interesting trend that may bring hope. For-profit prison healthcare corporations are entering a financial crisis, and it presents an opportunity to return correctional healthcare to public options that increase public transparency, oversight, and accountability. (…) This gravely reckless business model is backfiring. Prioritizing profits over care has led to countless malpractice lawsuits that may be the industry’s downfall. Here is a list of industry events that may signal the beginning of the end of privatized correctional healthcare, paving the way for a better system with improved health outcomes for incarcerated people.”
5) Michigan: The state has launched a grant program for rural sustainability and growth. “‘The Rural Development Grant prioritizes sustainability for land-based industries and provides the crucial infrastructure needed for our rural areas to grow and thrive for years to come,’ [Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Director Tim Boring] explained. The grants are funded by the Nonferrous Metallic Minerals Extraction Severance Tax. The fund itself was created under PA 411 of 2012 and revenue from the severance tax is in accordance with PA 410 of 2012. The grants are available for projects addressing expansion and sustainability of land-based industries.”
6) Think Tanks: The State Innovation Exchange suggests that the right wing’s Project 2025 can be effectively countered by coordinated and forward looking action at the state level. “state legislators and our communities in states across the country remain on the front lines to push back against these attacks and, against all odds, build people-centered policies to create an equitable, resilient, healthy, and prosperous future for all. This webinar seeks to align state legislators and partners to the organized threat from extremists and redirect our movement from a rapid response orientation to an approach of building toward a future that works for everyone through collaborative governance.” [Watch the video, about 30 minutes]
7) National: So is Wall Street now making the rules on charter school “best practices”? A first-of-its-kind loan pool for charter schools, The Equitable School Revolving Fund LLC., will hit the market this Wednesday with $300 million of A-rated social bonds, The Bond Buyer reports. “ As part of its portfolio management, the fund offers best-practices training and seminars to schools and early intervention to manage any issues, according to the investor roadshow. (…) The portfolio has 90 loans to 80 charter school organizations and obligated groups across 23 states. The pool has a balance of more than $1.5 billion that’s pledged to $1.3 billion of senior-lien bonds plus debt reserve funds, according to the investor road show. The financing is divided into two offerings: $200 million that will price through the Arizona Industrial Development Authority, which will offer loans to schools across the country, and $100 million that will price through the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank, which will fund loans only to California schools.(…) The fund’s structure as a nonprofit with no link to a government entity is a limiting factor, S&P said. The road show said the loan pool can withstand a 38.4% default rate and still make debt service on the senior bonds assuming loan repayment recoveries of at least 46%, according to the road show.” [Sub required]
8) National: National Review, the right wing magazine founded by the late William F. Buckley, Jr. (who denounced the Brown v. Board decision aiming to desegregate America’s public schools) feels compelled to deny that the “conservative school-board movement” is dead. “Energized by frustrated parents, the movement had some early wins, but recent headlines have painted a grimmer picture. A Washington Post headline in November read “Voters drub Moms for Liberty ‘parental rights’ candidates at the ballot.” Others reported that conservatives were licking their wounds after a string of losses in November, which could “mark the end of the anti-woke ‘parents’ rights’ movement.‘”
9) Arizona: In a state with school vouchers for all, low-income families aren’t choosing to use them, ProPublica reports. “In one West Phoenix ZIP code where the median household income is $46,700 a year, for example, ProPublica estimates that only a single voucher is being used per 100 school-age children. There are about 12,000 kids in this ZIP code, with only 150 receiving vouchers.
Conversely, in a Paradise Valley ZIP code with a median household income of $173,000, there are an estimated 28 vouchers being used per 100 school-age children.”
“Zavala said that another reason that she didn’t ultimately submit those forms to send her daughters to private school using vouchers was that what she could provide materially was less than what she predicted the other kids at the private school would have. She worried that her little girls, if not equipped with the latest cellphone, laptop and other indicators of wealth, would feel left out or be bullied. Velasquez, meanwhile, wondered if she would be received in the same way at a private school as she is as a public school parent leader.”
10) Illinois: As seven charter schools plan to close, the Chicago Teachers Union asks the district to step in. “Thousands of students and hundreds of teachers were left in a lurch Wednesday after the Acero Charter Schools Board of Directors voted unanimously to close seven of Acero’s 15 schools, the latest turn of events during a week of turmoil for Chicago Public Schools,” the Chicago Tribune reports. “Following Wednesday’s announcement, Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates sent a letter to school district CEO Pedro Martinez, urging CPS to assume management of the schools Acero proposes to close. ‘You and the Board must move quickly to establish a transition plan to ensure that these Acero schools remain open as district-managed schools, with seats guaranteed for all current students and jobs guaranteed for all current staff members,’ Gates wrote in the letter.”
11) Nebraska: More Perfect Union’s Paul Blest explains how Nebraska voters are organizing to block school privatization. “In Nebraska, as in some other conservative states like Texas, there’s also the question of how this will impact rural students. ‘The impact on vouchers on rural communities can be particularly devastating because they have very few outside options,’ Wething said. ‘In a rural area, there will not be enough students to provide the conditions to create a second school.’
“Nearly 90 percent of Nebraska’s towns and cities are home to fewer than 3,000 people, and 21 of the state’s 93 counties have options for private schools from kindergarten through 12th grade. Eric Garcia-Mendez, a school board member in Grand Island, Nebraska who is backing the referendum, said that the successful campaign to put the law up for a vote shows that the campaign has support across geographical divides.”
12) North Carolina: The state’s new, massive voucher program for private schools may damage charter schools, the Raleigh News & Observer columnist Ned Barnett reports. “Chris Heagarty, chair of the Wake County Board of Education, pointed to vouchers’ threat to charter schools during a recent news conference where he and other Wake school officials opposed the expansion of the voucher program. ‘If you think about the parents that have looked for an alternative to our traditional school systems and have enrolled in charters, how many of them will then go to private schools once these vouchers are available?’ Heagarty asked. ‘What sort of destabilization will you see in some of these programs that have been operational for decades and produced good results?’ Public schools advocates say charter schools should ally with traditional public schools to oppose giving more public dollars to private schools. Heather Koons, communications director for the group Public Schools First NC, said, ‘I wonder when the charter school folks are going to start sounding the alarm.’”
13) Ohio/Think Tanks: Policy Matters Ohio has a brief rundown on what’s wrong with school voucher programs. “Vouchers hurt everyone by increasing school district dependence on local tax levies. Many communities struggle with high property taxes, inadequate resources or both, resulting in part from the legislature’s long-term failure to meet its obligation to the public. Residents have to make up the difference, which will only grow as vouchers siphon more state dollars. Vouchers also threaten local communities’ biggest assets: the great education they should be able to provide for all children, no matter where they live or how much money they have in the bank. That impacts everyone, whether they have kids in school or not.”
14) Washington/National: In a letter to the editor of the Mountlake Terrace News, Lee Gresko pushes back against Medicare privatization and Project 2025. And Gresko’s got the numbers. “This proposal by the far right (conservative) Heritage Foundation would make ‘privatized Medicare’ the default option for new beneficiaries with automatic enrollment, without your consent and eliminating your choice for ‘traditional Medicare.’ If implemented, this costly (nationwide) plan would speed up Medicare’s insolvency to six years sooner (2030) than currently projected. Medicare Advantage plans receive 122% more funding than traditional Medicare for covering similar beneficiaries, costing an additional $83 billion in 2024 alone! More than 24 million enrolled in Advantage plans would face limited provider networks with 70% of area doctors unavailable through these plans. Fifteen million people would be under-insured due to reduced benefits in many of these plans.”
15) Washington: Amid resistance from parents, Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Brent Jones “plans to announce his latest school closure proposal by the end of October,” The Seattle Times reports. “The resolution passed with a 6-1 vote, with Director Sarah Clark casting the dissenting vote. ‘Our community clearly doesn’t want this,’ Clark said. She said Jones failed to draw a connection between closures and student outcomes, and he’d also told the School Board that there were other options—though challenging—to cut the deficit without closing schools. ‘I want to encourage us to seek as many alternatives as we can,’ she added.”
“The resolution passed after several parents and students asked the district to reconsider closures next year. Some cited the lack of transparency in the process, an erosion of trust and the district’s failure to engage parents and families meaningfully. Several Native American speakers asked the district to keep Licton Springs K-8, which had 119 students last year and focuses on Native American experience and culture. Others asked the district to harness parents’ willingness to help solve funding challenges. Several parents said the closure proposals were at odds with the district’s pronouncements of supporting equity and students furthest from educational justice because the initial proposals landed heavily on those students. Albert Wong, whose child attends Cascadia Elementary School, questioned why the earlier plans affected schools with a large share of Asian American students.”
Meanwhile, “angry” parents protested the idea of school closures, “Rather than closing schools, the coalition wants to see the state fully fund them. The board talked about a possible lobbying trip to Olympia; closure opponents implored them to make use of the community energy. Before the rally, we talked with a Gatewood Elementary parent who said their PTA is circulating an open letter to the governor, calling for a special legislative session ‘to fully fund public schools.’ You can see the letter–and add your name if you want to—by going to gatewoodpta.org/openl.” [Watch the protest video, about 4 minutes].
16) National: States own lands on reservations. To use them, tribes have to pay, Route Fifty reports. “State trust lands, on and off Indian reservations, make up millions of acres across the Western United States and generate revenue for public schools, universities, jails, hospitals and other public institutions by leasing them for oil and gas extraction, grazing, rights of way, timber and more. The state of Montana, for example, manages 5.2 million surface acres and 6.2 million subsurface acres, a term pertaining to oil, gas, minerals and other underground resources, which distributed $62 million to public institutions in 2023. The majority of that went to K-12 schools—institutions serving primarily non-Indigenous people.
“States received many of these trust lands upon achieving statehood, but more were taken from tribal nations during the late 19th and early 20th centuries through a federal policy of allotment, in which reservations were forcibly cut up into small parcels in an effort to make Indigenous peoples farmers and landowners. The policy allowed for about 90 million acres of reservation lands nationwide to move to non-Indigenous ownership. On the Flathead Reservation, allotment dispossessed the CSKT of a million acres, more than 60,000 of which were taken to fund schools…”
“The state trust lands that came from sanctioned land grabs of the early 20th century helped bolster state economies and continue to underwrite non-Indian institutions while infringing on tribal sovereignty. ‘The justification for them is very old. It goes back to, really, the founding of the U.S.,’ said Miriam Jorgensen, research director for the Harvard Project on Indigenous Governance and Development. The goal, she said, was to help settlers and their families gain a firmer foothold in the Western U.S. by funding schools and hospitals for them. ‘There’s definitely a colonial imperative in the existence of those lands.’”
17) Arizona: An election for a little-known agency could dictate the future of renewables in Arizona, Inside Climate News reports. “Those decisions by the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) have drawn an outcry from environmentalists and the state’s attorney general, spawned lawsuits and prompted public campaigns by climate advocacy groups to hold the commission and Arizona Public Service Co., the state’s largest utility, accountable for continuing to use fossil fuels for electricity generation in Arizona. In previous years, APS has invested tens of millions of dollars in influencing ACC elections. But this November, the ACC’s actions and the responses to them will play a pivotal role in determining who will be elected to the commission, which advocates say has the potential to dictate Arizona’s climate and renewable energy future more than any other vote for office holders in the state.”
18) Maine: The Maine Supreme Court is to rule on whether beachfront property owners can privatize beaches. “Because of rising sea levels, if the court rules beachfront owners only own to the high tide mark, it would, in essence, reopen the beach to the public. The court’s ruling will likely come after Election Day. That means York voters won’t know the decision until after they vote on whether the town should buy 42 acres of Long Sands Beach for $4 million”
19) New Jersey: A pending $143 million sewer sale in South Jersey “has ignited a battle of lawn signs and campaign ads ahead of Election Day, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. “When Gloucester Township residents make their way to the polls on Nov. 5, like the rest of the country, they’ll cast their votes in the pivotal presidential and Congressional elections. But another item on the ballot is taking over lawn signs and campaign ads in the South Jersey township: whether the municipality should sell its public sewage utility to New Jersey American Water for a resounding $143 million. The referendum has initiated a grassroots group to take action in the form of Teamsters-backed lawn signs, a website, a podcast, a Facebook group, and residents making their own signs and fliers, all urging votes against the sale. Even the local Girl Scouts troop is on their side. In response, New Jersey American Water has launched its own campaign, spending more than $830,000 on mailers; paid canvassing; and digital, outdoor, and some television advertising in favor of privatizing the utility currently overseen by the township. Tensions remain high as seven advocates working against the referendum say they are frustrated by the whole affair, citing fears of increased sewage payment costs and a lack of transparency from their local government—allegations the township vehemently denies.” [Sub required]
20) Wisconsin: Despite intense public opposition, the Milwaukee Housing Authority, in a “special” meeting, has proceeded with its plan to privatize voucher management. “The board, led by acting chair Brooke VandeBerg, stopped short of approving a five-year agreement. Instead, it directed HACM leadership, including director Willie Hines, Jr., to continue negotiating with CVR to ‘hone in a final contract’ on the multi-million deal. Common Ground Southeastern Wisconsin and Council President José G. Pérez have opposed the board moving forward, citing the fact that the majority of the board’s seven seats are vacant or filled by members with expired terms.”
The Authority previously delayed a decision on privatizing its voucher management operation. A federal audit finding deficiencies had triggered the issue, but it’s unclear if the board has a proper quorum to make such a decision. “Common Ground members repeatedly disrupted the meeting in an attempt to ascertain if Daniels has a health issue and to get a determination from the City Attorney’s Office about whether the board has a legal quorum. A response was not provided for either matter. In advance of the meeting, Common Ground and Pérez said they opposed the board moving forward given its state. ‘It is wrong to privatize public services, waste taxpayer dollars, and lose out on local jobs all because you failed at managing Section 8 in the first place,’ said Common Ground organizer Kevin Solomon in a statement emailed to the board and other city officials. His email advocated for one of the other six bidders, Milwaukee County, to be given the contract. Pérez also drew a line in the sand. ‘If the Board votes to grant this contract, I will explore all options to undo a decision I believe will have been made by a legally deficient body—a body lacking the two statutorily-required resident members.’ Daniels is the lone resident member.”
21) International: Yesterday, The New York Times published a major nearly 2,000 word article on Britain’s water privatization crisis, which has been covered in these pages for months (ITPI’s regular weekly newsletter has also covered it by way of a reprint from New Economy Brief). Instead of the usual handwringing about free markets and efficiency, the Times for once cuts to the chase and considers what type of nationalization might be best. Have we come full circle on mainstream media coverage of public asset and services privatization?
Not yet. The Times seems to be leaning toward, you guessed it, a corporate bailout, but recognizes the public pressure. “There is disagreement about how much nationalization would cost, but one estimate, using Ofwat’s capital value for the water industry, pegs the public bill to compensate shareholders and debt holders at £99 billion. Given that Britain’s public finances are already stretched and the government has warned of a ‘painful’ budget next month, this move seems unlikely. That has not deterred the calls for nationalization. As Mr. Reed was meeting with the investors in water companies last month, more than 80 lawmakers met in the Houses of Parliament with campaigners, including the Henley Mermaids. ‘We need to adapt our water supplies, and that means investment,’ said Mr. Lewis, the lawmaker who helped organize the event. It can’t be ‘siphoned off into private shareholding.’”
22) National: Understaffed private nursing homes, nearly all of which prosper with government support through Medicaid and Medicare, are waging a legal battle through conservative states against the Biden administration’s efforts to rein them in. Twenty states are suing the federal government to block mandated staffing levels in nursing homes. “In their petition, the 20 states and more than a dozen industry associations argue that the new staffing requirements pose ‘an existential threat to the nursing home industry as many nursing homes that are already struggling will have no choice but to go out of business. And the main victims will be the patients who will have nowhere else to go.’ The lawsuit is in response to CMS’ decision in April to finalize new minimum staffing standards that will require homes to conduct assessments of their residents’ needs and provide 3.48 hours of direct nursing care per resident, per day. The rule also requires the homes to have a registered nurse available 24 hours per day, seven days a week. Earlier this year, the Iowa Capital Dispatch reported that Iowa nursing homes have the sixth-worst record in the nation for staffing-level violations. Data from CMS show that 14% of the state’s 422 nursing facilities were cited for insufficient staffing in fiscal year 2023. That was more than double the national average, which was 5.9%.”
In February of this year, the U.S. H.H.S. Inspector General found that nursing home performance during the pandemic was basically disastrous, and issued a series of recommendations to begin cleaning up the industry.
23) National: As controversy heats up around the nation over how to deal with the homelessness crisis in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s greenlighting of coercive practices to target the homeless, a new survey has found that Americans think cities can’t arrest their way out of the homelessness crisis. “More than 80% of people said they did not think homelessness could be solved by increased law enforcement, such as prohibiting unhoused individuals from sleeping on public property, according to the alliance poll released last month. The survey of 4,049 U.S. adults was conducted between May and June 2024, before the Supreme Court ruling.
According to the survey, just over half of respondents said homelessness could be solved by policies that provide shelter, services and housing for unhoused people. And almost half of survey participants said they supported increased investments in mental health and substance use prevention efforts to help mitigate people’s risk of homelessness.”
24) Maine: The privatization of dining services at the University of Maine is hurting students. “In my second year, Sodexo took over UMaine dining. What was once run as a non-profit service by the University was taken over by a large corporation. We soon saw the results of a corporate takeover on campus. First was the Costa Coffee vending machines. While convenient, they don’t replace the quality of coffee made by real people. Then, the virtual dining concepts or ‘ghost kitchens’ were added, which are only accessible by ordering online. Fast forward to today, we have Sal’s pizza, Starbucks and eatNOW. Students have been hurt by the introduction of for-profit corporate dining.”
25) Maryland: WBAL-TV’s Tolly Taylor reports that “Baltimore City officials have received—but will not yet release— a much-anticipated report from a law firm that reviewed heat safety protocol and culture issues at the Department of Public Works, 11 News Investigates has learned. DPW Director Khalil Zaied exclusively told 11 News Investigates on Wednesday, after he was officially sworn in as the 17th director of the city agency, that Washington, D.C., law firm Conn Maciel Carey LLP delivered its report to the city on Monday. Zaied said the city intends to make the report public, but he couldn’t say when. ‘I am not really sure about that,’ Zaied told 11 News Investigates. ‘The intent at this point is to make it public.’ When asked why, Zaied told 11 News Investigates: ‘We need to debrief the mayor on the report,’ as well as City Council members and the local AFSCME union. (…) It has been a summer of turmoil for the city agency. The Baltimore City Office of the Inspector General issued multiple reports in July, calling on the city to take immediate action to address unsafe working conditions for some DPW workers during a heat wave. Read the OIG’s report (PDF).”
26) Georgia: More arrests and a possible privatization have emerged in the Columbus animal control investigation. “Columbus officials announced Tuesday the arrests of eight Columbus Animal Care & Control workers on 34 criminal charges. The investigation was called for by the Columbus Council in July following public outcry over a video posted to Facebook showing the euthanasia of a dog named Chai at Columbus Animal Care & Control, the Ledger-Enquirerreported. Charges against two CACC workers were announced Monday in posts by Councilor Toyia Tucker on Facebook, the Ledger-Enquirer reported. Those charged included Dr. Henry “Hank” Hall and Tennile Tolliver, according Tucker’s posts. Columbus officials announced Tuesday arrests made as part of the ongoing investigation.”
27) Tennessee: Tennessee Lookout’s Sam Stockard reports that “Tennessee’s private-prison operator has paid more than $29.5 million in liquidated damages since 2022 for failing to meet state contractual requirements, mainly for staffing shortages at four facilities, officials said Wednesday Department of Correction officials made the admission amid revelations of another lawsuit against CoreCivic involving an inmate’s death at Trousdale Turner Correctional Center, a facility facing a federal investigation for civil rights violations.”
28) Vermont: Charlotte town and library employees have voted to unionize with AFSCME. “According to an update from AFSCME Council 93, those workers voted 9-1 to join the union, citing the need for job stability, greater respect and a voice on the job. Judith L. Dillon, executive director of the Vermont Labor Relations Board, said that there is a 10-day period in which the interested parties can file an objection with the labor board. If none is filed, the board will issue a certification order. “The next steps will be trying to secure that first contract and to start preparing for those negotiations.” Jim Durkin, director of legislation and political action at AFSCME Council 93 said.”
29) Wisconsin: Can Wisconsin’s public nursing homes be saved? The American Prospect’s Robert Kuttner probes the issues. “The push to privatize is coming from conservative county boards that have become much more right-wing over the last six years. They use closed-door meetings, trying to sell these public facilities at well below market value. But a popular backlash against these schemes is playing to the advantage of progressives, in a year when Wisconsin’s vote for the presidency could be decided by one or two points. George Goehl, the former executive director of People’s Action who has been organizing in Wisconsin, reports that in the April election for county boards, conservatives in three counties who had pushed for selling county-owned nursing homes to private companies were ousted by voters in favor of candidates who opposed the privatization. In those elections, Goehl recounts, Portage County Board Chair Al Haga said, “Government should not be competing with privately owned nursing homes as they have taxpayers’ money to keep it going.” Haga had been leading the push to sell the Portage County senior living facility. He and five other privatization supporters were defeated. But that hasn’t stopped the privatization push. In September, the county board in Sauk County voted 18-13 to sell the county-owned nursing home to a notorious for-profit nursing home chain called Aria, which owns 12 nursing homes in Wisconsin and 16 overall.”