HIGHLIGHTS

• Counterpunch on Election Results
• Wall Street Banking on Mass Round-Ups
• Teen Vogue on the Education Wars

JUMP: EDUCATION | INFRASTRUCTURE | PUBLIC SERVICES 

First, the  Good News

1) National: Looking broadly at the results of the election across the U.S., it appears the electorate didn’t reject progressive ideas. “Voters in both Alaska and Missouri approved increasing the minimum wage to $15. Voters approved paid sick leave in Alaska, Missouri and Nebraska. Voters in Oregon approved a measure protecting marijuana workers’ right to unionize. Alaska voters banned anti-union captive audience meetings. Arizona voters rejected a measure that lowered the minimum wage for tipped workers. Massachusetts approved the right of rideshare workers to organize for collective bargaining. New Orleans voters approved a Workers Bill of Rights.  Voters in Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nevada and New York approved measures granting a state constitutional right to abortion.”

2) National: Despite Trump’s win, school vouchers were again rejected by a majority of voters, ProPublica reports. “Coming into this week’s election, Donald Trump and Republicans had hoped to reverse that sort of popular opposition to “school choice” with new voucher ballot measures in several states. But despite Trump’s big win in the presidential race, vouchers were again soundly rejected by significant majorities of Americans. In Kentucky, a ballot initiative that would have allowed public money to go toward private schooling was defeated roughly 65% to 35% — the same margin as in Arizona in 2018 and the inverse of the margin by which Trump won Kentucky. In Nebraska, nearly all 93 counties voted to repeal an existing voucher program; even its reddest county, where 95% of voters supported Trump, said no to vouchers. And in Colorado, voters defeated an effort to add a “right to school choice” to the state constitution, language that might have allowed parents to send their kids to private schools on the public dime. Expansions of school vouchers, despite backing from wealthy conservatives, have never won when put to voters. Instead, they lose by margins not often seen in such a polarized country.”

3) New Jersey: Gloucester Township in Camden County has sent privatization down the pipes. “A ballot question that affected only Gloucester Township in Camden County provided some of the most interesting results Tuesday. Some residents mounted an active campaign against the township-government-endorsed pending sale of the township’s sewage collection system to New Jersey American Water Co., for a whopping $143 million. Yard signs opposing the sale popped up across the sprawling township of about 67,000. The ballot question was defeated, perhaps unsurprisingly, although N.J. American waged its own reported $1 million “yes” campaign. Some see the result as backlash against these deals, which companies like Camden-based N.J. American and Aqua America, from Pennsylvania, have pursued actively. The jaw-dropper was the size of the rejection. Preliminary results were 4,720 in favor, 20,178 opposed. Not even close.”

4) National: Leaders in Democratic states are planning to fight Trump’s policies. “As Donald J. Trump savored a sweeping victory in the presidential race, Democratic leaders in at least three state capitals have begun mobilizing to push back against potential Republican policies on issues like reproductive health and the environment. In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom called lawmakers on Thursday into a legislative special session next month “to safeguard California values and fundamental rights in the face of an incoming Trump administration.” In Illinois, Gov. JB Pritzker said on Thursday he would ask his state’s legislators, possibly as soon as next week, to address potential threats from a second Trump term. “You come for my people,” Mr. Pritzker said at a news conference, “you come through me.””

5) Wisconsin:  Wisconsin voters passed 78% of school funding requests last week, the Wisconsin Examiner reports. “A total of 121 school districts put funding referendum questions on the ballot that combined sought more than $4.2 billion. According to the Department of Public Instruction, of the 138 referendum questions, voters approved 108. Wisconsin Public Education Network leader Heather DuBois Bourenane said the organization was ‘thrilled’ with the approvals. She said there were worries ahead of Election Day that voters were feeling ‘referendum fatigue’ after about 60% of school funding requests passed in April. ‘Voters spoke loudly and clearly, and they said, ‘we’re here to support our kids in their public schools, and yes, yes, we will pay that bill,’ DuBois Bourenane said. DuBois Bourenane said the passage rate reflects that schools made responsible requests of voters and that school administrators and local teams formed to campaign for the referendum questions made sure voters knew what was at stake and the reasons for the requests.”

Education

6) National: There’s a must-read banger of a piece in Teen Vogue by multiple authors laying out the key issues that will dominate the education wars under the Trump/Vance administration. Just look at this list of issue areas they address:

• Early childhood/Child care
• Family leave and tax credits
• K-12 Artificial intelligence
• Immigrant, Native and rural students
• LGBTQ+ students and Title IX
• School “choice”
• School meals
• School prayer
• School safety, student mental health
• Special education
• Teachers unions, pandemic recovery
• Teaching about U.S. history and race
• Title I
• Higher education Accreditation
• Affirmative action
• Community college
• DEI
• For-profit colleges and universities
• Free/hate speech
• Pell grants
• Student loan forgiveness
• Workforce development

7) National: A message from Carol Burris of the Network for Public Education (NPE): “The election of a new Administration and Senate will bring a new era of federal hostility toward public schools. Policies will likely be aligned with Project 2025. If you have forgotten its education agenda, our short video explains it.

Despite the rhetoric of Donald J. Trump, the U.S. Department of Education is unlikely to be dismantled. However, the new Senate will most likely confirm a Secretary hostile to “government schools.” We expect Ryan Walters, Oklahoma’s superintendent of public instruction, and Mom’s for Liberty’s Tiffany Justice to be top contenders.

What can we expect as federal initiatives?

• Proposed deep cuts to Title I and IDEA.
• More funding for charter schools.
• Advocacy for religious charter schools.
• A federal voucher program.
• Threats to children’s health by eliminating mandatory vaccines.
• A rollback of rights for gay and transgender children.
• Attempts to eradicate so-called “woke” curriculum and reward book bans.
• Efforts to introduce prayer and bible readings in schools.

You can count on the Network for Public Education to stand strong for public schools and their students and teachers. We will mobilize advocates, network grassroots groups, inform the public, and fight with courage and conviction.”

8)  Oklahoma: Layoffs and pay cuts are affecting hundreds of Epic Charter School employees. “Oklahoma’s third-largest school district, Epic Charter School, has laid off 144 employees, including 42 teachers, and implemented pay cuts amid a financial shortfall from lower-than-expected enrollment. Epic announced the reductions on Oct. 25 after 4,000 fewer students enrolled this school year than administrators anticipated, communications director Rob Crissinger said. The public, online-based charter school educates about 30,000 students across the state and receives state funds for every child enrolled. Epic revealed the extent of the layoffs in a notice issued Thursday. The district said it reduced its total staff by 6.17%. That includes a 2.86% reduction to its teaching corps. It employed 2,335 people, including 1,471 teachers, before the layoffs. About 50 employees accepted new positions within the district.”

Two years ago, “the founders of Epic Charter School were charged in a charter school scheme that defrauded Oklahoma’s largest school system out of tens of millions of taxpayer dollars by enrolling ghost students, falsifying invoices, and using credit cards paid for with school funds to cover personal and out-of-state charter school expenses, the Tulsa World reported. The charges came after an investigative audit in October of 2020 by the state auditor and inspector initiated a years-long probe by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.”

9) Oklahoma: Republican Governor Stitt has filed a federal brief to fund a Catholic school with Oklahoma state taxpayer dollars. “Stitt’s brief asserts that Oklahoma can fund St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Charter School, making it the first publicly-funded religious charter school in the country. Filed Friday, Stitt’s brief argues against a ruling in June from the Oklahoma State Supreme Court which said that using taxpayer dollars to fund a religious school is a violation of the U.S. and Oklahoma Constitutions. ‘We hold that the St. Isidore Contract violates the Oklahoma Constitution, the Act, and the federal Establishment Clause,’ the court ruled. ‘…(T)he Oklahoma Constitution and the Establishment Clause…both prohibit the State from using public money for the establishment of a religious institution. St. Isidore’s educational philosophy is to establish and operate the school as a Catholic school. Under both state and federal law, the State is not authorized to establish or fund St. Isidore.’”

10) South Carolina: The Post & Courier says that after the latest lawsuit, it’s time to start over on SC charter school law. “Things are getting pretty heated in the legal battle between Erskine College’s Charter Institute and a for-profit company that runs some of the charter schools that the institute allowed to operate with our tax dollars. The Charter Institute sued the for-profit Icelaven Development Group this spring, claiming Icelaven’s charter management company Reason & Republic owed Erskine $1.2 million. Erskine had provided that money to Icelaven, possibly for a stake in Reason & Republic, which makes its money selling non-academic services to charter schools. You might want to read that again before we move on. This month, The Post and Courier’s Anna B. Mitchell reports, Icelaven filed a counterclaim, accusing the Charter Institute of plotting to put Reason & Republic out of business so the college’s own charter management company — Teach Right USA — could take over its business running back-shop operations for schools that the Charter Institute is supposed to oversee. Yeah; that’s a lot to digest, too.

“The lawsuit calls Erskine’s institute a criminal enterprise and accuses it of public corruption, blackmail, criminal coercion, breach of contract and defamation. Potentially hotter is this question: Why would anyone think it was acceptable for Erskine to pay or loan $1 million to a business that was profiting from the schools Erskine is supposed to regulate? Also hot is all the rest of the tail wagging the dog that seems to be going on in South Carolina’s charter school space.”

11) Tennessee: The Tennessean has a useful play-by-play on the legislative jockeying among Republicans and between them and voucher opponents over voucher legislation, a battle that will come to a head when the legislature convenes. “The Tennessee House and Senate, both controlled by Republican supermajorities, had vastly different versions of a school voucher expansion bill during the regular legislative session earlier this year. The measure ultimately failed. The new bills, filed as SB1 and HB1, signal a willingness from both chambers to work together. The new legislative session is expected to kick off in early 2025. (…) Outside groups supportive of school choice have also endorsed the proposal. Americans For Prosperity, a conservative network founded by the billionaire Koch brothers, campaigned heavily on behalf of the previous voucher expansion proposal.”

Opponents aren’t buying the maneuvers. “State Democrats have staunchly opposed vouchers from the start, including the passage of the state’s existing Education Savings Account program. House Minority Caucus Chair John Ray Clemmons, D-Nashville, called the new bill the “same scam, different language.” He criticized the proposal and, in particular, took issue with one-time teacher bonuses tacked onto it. He argued educators should be given bonuses without strings attached, along with more pay. ‘It’s offensive that he’s trying to attach teacher bonuses and school construction funds that are badly needed to this scam,’” Clemmons said. ‘We all knew the governor’s voucher scam would resurface in one form or another. Bill and Republicans have made too many promises to special interest groups and education privatization donors to walk away from it after we beat him last year.’” [Sub required]

12) Tennessee: Undocumented students have been excluded from the renewed Tennessee school voucher plan. “John C. ‘JC’ Bowman, the Executive Director & CEO of Professional Educators of Tennessee, argues that this section is unconstitutional. In the case of Plyler vs. Doe, protection was placed for undocumented children to access education.  ‘So if it’s a voucher bill as well with public money,’ Bowman explains, ‘You’re excluding a group of people that I think is going to come back and actually be found unconstitutional, so I think that’s going to be a point of contention, the law is pretty clear on this Plyler vs. Doe.’ Both the Senate and House versions of the bill include this denial of scholarship application. Governor Bill Lee pushed for school vouchers last session, and since this is his last term as governor, Republicans believe he will fight hard for this bill to pass this session.” Read Understanding Plyler v. Doe.

13) Texas: Far right Lt. Governor Dan Patrick says that passing school vouchers is his top legislative priority. “The proposal for school choice has been made five times since 2015. The Senate would pass it, but once it reached the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, it would be shut down every time. (…) For the last two years, Gov. Abbott has made school vouchers his top priority, teaming up with other Republicans who support using public funds to pay for education in private schools. The bill has been shut down several times because Democrats and some Republicans think the plan would negatively affect funding for public schools. ‘Texas can have school choice without undermining the public school system [Patrick says]. In 2023 (last session), the legislature appropriated $39 billion per year on public education. Last session, the school choice bill the Senate passed three times was $500 million. It died in the House every time.” The legislative session begins on Jan. 14, 2025, and ends on June 2, 2025.

14) International/New Zealand: Education HQ reports that “New Zealand’s largest teachers’ union has alleged the Government’s new charter school legislation violates international labour laws and teachers’ working rights. NZEI Te Riu Roa has laid a complaint with the International Labour Organisation (ILO), and contends two parts of the new legislation violate international law: one which ‘extinguishes the rights of educators to maintain their collective agreement’ if their public school converts to a charter school, and the second which it says prohibits unions from initiating multi-employer collective bargaining. The legislation puts profit-making ahead of both children’s education and teachers’ rights, according to Stephanie Mills, national secretary of NZEI Te Riu Roa ‘We fundamentally oppose this privatisation of public education because we, alongside most New Zealanders, believe that public investment and Government effort needs to prioritise building a quality public education system that benefits all mokopuna in Aotearoa,’ Mills said. The complaint is supported by PPTA Te Wehengarua, with global union federation Education International also backing the stance via a letter of support to the ILO this week. The letter cited the need to ‘shine a light on the erosion of New Zealand teachers’ working rights’”

Infrastructure

15) National: Investors are betting Trump will privatize Fannie and Freddie. “Shares in mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac soared Wednesday on expectations that Donald Trump’s return to the White House  — and potential Republican control of Congress — will revive efforts to privatize the companies. During his first term as president, Trump began the process of “recapitalizing” Fannie and Freddie, which were placed in government conservatorship in 2008 as mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures climbed during the Great Recession of 2007-09. (…) Congress would need to get on board, but the process could be fast-tracked if Republicans control both chambers of Congress. While the GOP wrested control of the Senate from Democrats on Tuesday, control of the House remains up in the air, with a number of races too close to call, the Associated Press reported Wednesday afternoon. Preferred shares in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which were delisted in 2010 but still trade over the counter, were up more than 70 percent Wednesday, while prices for Fannie and Freddie common stock climbed by nearly 40 percent.”

What the media outlets of the Wall Street cowboys aren’t telling everyone is that if Fannie and Freddie should face collapse as they did in the 2008 financial crisis, these same “investors” would be screaming for them to be put straight back onto the federal balance sheet. This mumbling even has a term: “implicit guarantee.”

16) National/North Carolina/Tennessee: In an article original to Scheerpost, Ellen Brown offers a deep dive on the disastrous effects of the hurricane on North Carolina’s and Tennessee’s infrastructure, and highlights how public banking can make a difference as the U.S. faces the climate crisis. “Leveraging available funds into new credit-dollars for disaster relief can also be done locally at the state level. The possibilities are illustrated by the century-old Bank of North Dakota, currently our only state- owned bank. The BND’s emergency capabilities were demonstrated in 1997, when record flooding and fires devastated Grand Forks, North Dakota.” (…)

“Besides property damage, flooding swept away many jobs, leaving families without livelihoods. The BND [a publicbank—ed.] coordinated with the U.S. Department of Education to ensure forbearance on student loans; worked closely with the Federal Housing Administration and Veterans Administration to gain forbearance on federally backed home loans; established a center where people could apply for federal/state housing assistance; and worked with the North Dakota Community Foundation to coordinate a disaster relief fund, for which the bank served as the deposit base. The bank also reduced interest rates on existing Family Farm and Farm Operating programs. Families used these low-interest loans to restructure debt and cover operating losses caused by wet conditions in their fields. The city was quickly rebuilt and restored. Remarkably, no lives were lost, vs. an official death toll to date in North Carolina of 98, thought to actually be much higher. Grand Forks lost only 3% of its population to emigration between the 1997 floods and 2000, while East Grand Forks, right across the river in Minnesota, lost 17% of its population.”

Meanwhile in Helene-ravaged Appalachia: “Publicly-owned state and federal banks are possibilities for future disasters, but they will be too late for the flood victims of Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee. Survivors’ moods have been lifted in the meantime by the extraordinary generosity of local and out-of-state volunteers, who were on the ground immediately with supplies, equipment and labor.

But it has been a month, supplies are falling off, and the need is still great. According to a podcast titled “Helene VICTIMS need THESE 5 things One Month Later!,” 98% of businesses are still open; but they are largely based on tourism, and tourists have been scarce because the news media have featured the disaster areas to the exclusion of the small surrounding towns that are still functional, beautiful and welcoming visitors.  First on that  podcaster’s list of needs was prayer.”

17)National: Support environmental journalism. Inside Climate News, in an email, says “There’s no mincing words: the re-election of Donald Trump will accelerate the planetary environmental emergency we call climate change; also the related modern mass extinction of species we call biodiversity loss; and the uncontrolled proliferation of toxic chemicals and plastics in the environment which we call pollution. Almost all of it is the collateral damage of hydrocarbon energy prosperity. (…) The environmental journalist is a relatively recent arrival to the free press. We date back roughly sixty years to the epoch of Rachel Carson, whose books and scientific research pointed to the unequivocal need for watchdogs to protect the natural world. Ever since, our kind has been working to sniff out human insults to the environment, because our health, our lives and the fate of future generations depend on it.”

18) Pennsylvania: Penn State is moving forward with a public-private partnership for student housing development, “Penn State is moving forward with a ground lease for a 1,500 bed housing project on its University Park campus as it looks to increase its enrollment in the coming years. The proposed real estate transaction was discussed during a Penn State board of trustees’ committee meeting Thursday and by the full board on Friday. The development, which was first made public in April, will have 1,500 beds intended for non-first year students at University Drive and College Avenue. The board approved it with one vote in opposition, Trustee Barry Fenchak.Sara Thorndike, senior vice president for finance and business/treasurer for the university, told the committee Thursday that they want to accommodate growth and knew they’d need more housing for students that is affordable.”

19) International/Canada: People are leery about what Alberta’s ‘All-Season Resort Act’ means for the wilderness. “Concern that act ‘further privatizes public resources’: Alberta Wilderness Association. Development approvals will be consolidated under a new ministry that will undertake public lands, water and environmental protection regulations — the act will also allow the public lands to be reclassified by the province into All-Season Resort Areas. The province also says it will undertake a public consultation process as it decides where resorts could be developed. “To have crowned jewels, you have to have a crown, so we’re going to build out that crown here in the province with more resorts around the entire area,” Tourism Minister Joseph Schow said on Thursday. The Alberta Wilderness Association is an environmental organization with a goal of increasing protections for Alberta’s wilderness areas and wildlife while ensuring proper management of public lands and resources. Phillip Meintzer, a conservation specialist with the Association, said the province shouldn’t prioritize the economy over environment. ‘On public land, this is land that’s for Albertans to use. We’re just concerned that it sort of further privatizes public resources,’ said Meintzer.”

Public Services

20) National: The new mantra: “Reprivatizing the economy.” MarketWatch reports that “a key adviser to Donald Trump previewed the economic playbook for a second term in a televised interview on Wednesday, listing plans for ripping up regulations and dominating energy. Scott Bessent, a hedge-fund manager who could be in the running for Treasury secretary under Trump, told CNBC “we’ve seen this massive government spending” and said a key would be ‘reprivatizing the economy.’ He also said a priority would be “turning off” the Inflation Reduction Act, which among other measures put in place a $7,500 tax credit for electric vehicles. Trump has railed against what he calls the “EV mandate” — although there is no requirement for Americans to buy the vehicles.” [Video, about four minutes]

21) National: Wall Street goes long on mass roundups in America. In the wake of Trump’s win, GEO Group and CoreCivic, the private prison profiteers, saw their stocks jump up over 70%. “Shindler’s List”? From The Democracy Labs: “Investors in private prisons think they’ve hit the jackpot with a second Trump presidency. GEO Group’s PAC maxed out on its contributions to Trump’s campaign and gave a pro-Trump super PAC a $500,000 contribution. The reason is obvious: The company views a second Trump term as a boon to its business, which relies on government contracts. And since Trump is planning a mass deportation campaign, that would likely mean the federal government will arrest and detain more migrants. In a recent earnings call with its investors, GEO Group executives suggested that if Trump won, his policies could bolster the amount of money being sent to its detention facilities that have contracts with ICE. – VOX Who benefits from more prisoners? Where are they locked up? Who makes money from private prisons? Can prisoners be forced to work for slave wages? Which corporations profit by using prison labor? How much to private prison operators and corporations donate to Republicans? How are prisoners mistreated and their human rights violated? What does this have to do with Schindler’s List? Follow the money made by prison profiteers from mass deportations with this relationship map.”

22) National: Government Executive has full coverage of what they say we need to know about the election results for public services.

“An agency-by-agency look at Trump’s plan to overhaul government. The president-elect’s vision will lead to sweeping changes at federal agencies and the employees who work in them.

• How Trump may shake up DOD: an insider’s view
• Will cyber suffer under Trump’s goal to slash federal budgets
• Federal employee unions sought to balance reassuring members that they will fight the return of measures undermining feds’ civil service protections with asserting their commitment to nonpartisan service.
• Harris concession opens agencies to Trump—if he opts in. The president-elect typically sends teams into federal agencies to receive briefings and set priorities, but Trump needs to take another step first.
• Few surprises in races for governor, ballot measures
• No seats flipped among state executives, while most voters approved protecting abortion rights and rejected some changes to how their elections are administered.
• What Trump’s win means for the federal workforce
• The Republican former president has vowed to remake the civil service in his image with the reinstatement of Schedule F.
• The knowns and unknowns of a second Trump administration
• Some priorities such as cyber and artificial intelligence are likely not changing, but we will watch the transition for what else might impact government contractors.
• Is Europe prepared for the U.S. election outcome?”

23) National: How do the private, for-profit prison companies view the coming year? What are their plans and how will they finance their expansion. Read the transcript of their investor call from last Thursday.

24) National: The new sheriffs on Wall Street will talk much more softly and carry much smaller sticks, The Wall Street Journal reports. “Executives are betting the new watchdogs will back off on efforts to make banks hold bigger capital cushions and strengthen consumer protections. A friendlier stance is expected toward crypto and bank consolidation, as well as new payment alternatives that could compete with banks. Bank stocks soared Wednesday, with the KBW Nasdaq Bank Index logging its best day in nearly four years. The index was down more than 2% on Thursday. Here are the big agencies likely facing shake-ups and the potential leaders Trump might name to head them. No decisions have been made, and his appointments could ultimately differ.”

The agencies discussed are the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Federal Housing Finance Agency. [Sub required]

25) National: The privatization of cancer clinical research has raised raises concerns for practice.  “‘Cancer clinical research has been largely privatized,’ explains Joseph Unger, PhD, MS, associate professor in the cancer prevention program at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle. Dr. Unger and colleagues recently assessed patient enrollment in industry-sponsored and federally sponsored clinical trials. They found an 8:1 ratio favoring participation in research backed by industry. This raises significant concerns, he tells Robert A. Figlin, MD, the Steven Spielberg Family Chair in Hematology-Oncology at the Cedars-Sinai Cancer Center in Los Angeles. Dr. Unger explains what he sees as the root causes for the current imbalance, potential negative effects, and possible solutions for how to ‘rebalance the portfolio.’ ‘I’m doing whatever I can to help illustrate what the issues are through my research,’ he notes.”

26) National: A key question is what will happen to Medicare and Social Security under another Trump where right wingers dominate all three branches of government? Here’s a brief overview of what health care policy might look like  under Trump and his sidekick Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (who has discovered his inner Birch Society hobby horse). Here it’s also critically important to remember the vast role that the Veterans Administration plays in delivering health care while being privatized; see this on Medicare privatization; and this on Social Security privatization.