Advocates of privatization of public schools, please take note:
Governor Butch Otter of Idaho announced that the state was taking control of “the largest privately-run prison in the state after more than a decade of mismanagement and other problems at the facility.”
“Nashville, Tenn.-based Corrections Corporation of America has contracted with the state to run the prison since it was built in 1997. Taxpayers currently pay CCA $29 million per year to operate the 2080-bed prison south of Boise.
Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter has long been “a champion of privatizing certain sectors of government, including prisons.”
“In 2008, he floated legislation to change state laws to allow private companies to build and operate prisons in Idaho and import out-of-state inmates. In 2008, he suggested privatizing the 500-bed state-run Idaho Correctional Institution-Orofino.
“The CCA prison has been the subject of multiple lawsuits alleging rampant violence, understaffing, gang activity and contract fraud by CCA.
“CCA acknowledged last year that falsified staffing reports were given to the state showing thousands of hours were staffed by CCA workers when the positions were actually vacant. And the Idaho State Police is investigating the operation of the facility for possible criminal activity.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
California spends about $47,000 per inmate while spending about $9,000 for every student. New York state spends about $56,000 per inmate and about $16,000 for every student in its school system. Michigan pays about $34,000 per prisoner while spending about $11,000 per student.
This by Jeff Doyle, a former California Correctional officer and retired state correctional agent. [He has many other honors attached to his name.]
Fareed Zakariah states: 760 of every 100,000 Americans are incarcerated, more than 7 times the rate of most European nations. Those high incarceration rates have forced states across the nation to spend more on prisons than on education.
Years ago I heard that it cost more to house a prisoner than to give that prisoner a Harvard education. I cannot find now the documentation for that but believe it to be true, at least at that time. My guess is that it probably still is.
There have been several studies showing percentage rates of incarceration of prisoners in America vs that of countries with which we do not wish to be compared. Etc etc.
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So, Gordon, with this irrelevant comparison your point is . . . ?
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You have to be willfully blind to buy the privatization argument. Privatizers start with the premise that government workers (or their unions) lobby and capture politicians and so that’s why we have to turn sectors over to private interests. This is what Michelle Rhee’s rants are all about, boiled down, stripped of all the marketing language and edu-babble. “The adults” versus “The Children”
But the moment they privatize the for-profit interests simply lobby and capture politicians, as has happened with ed reform lobbyists in my state, Ohio.
You really have to be a dope to believe that charter lobbyists in Ohio are somehow working for the public interest, especially if, like ed reformers, you started with the premise that teachers who belong to unions are self-interested. If teachers who belong to unions are self-interested, then why aren’t charter lobbyists ALSO self-interested? It’s just a dumb argument.
It’s an ideological preference, privatization, and that’s all it is. Has nothing to do with “better”.
The only reason they backed off it in Idaho is they had some horrendous incidents where inmates were brutalized because the private contractor cut costs on staffing.
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And your belief is that public schools by definition are working for the “public interest”? Do public schools teach capitalism? Do public schools teach freedom? What’s your conception or image of the “public interest”? Is the EPA working for the public interest? Is the Education Department working for the public interest? In NOT signing the Keystone Pipeline is the President working for the “public interest”? I am skeptical that you actually know the difference between the “public interest” and “my job.”
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I learned about capitalism in a public school, as well as communism and socialism. I’m not sure what you mean by teaching freedom, but I did learn about freedom of speech, the bill of rights, and American history in public school. I remember teachers having us bring topics for current events in social studies class, and I don’t remember them teaching me what to think about the topic. I remember being able to write about whatever topics I wanted for speech and debate. As a matter of fact, I remember a teacher in high school pushing Jesus, and I wrote an essay about how, as a non-Christian, I didn’t appreciate that. I earned an A. Perhaps he didn’t want to battle me. So the one teacher who tried to indoctrinate me wasn’t able to, thanks to all the teachers before him who taught me to think.
I don’t know what kinds of schools you are familiar with, but they weren’t the ones I attended or taught in. Good teachers teach students how to think, not what to think.
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So, Harlan, with these irrelevant comparisons your point is . . . ?
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Governor Otter still has not connected prison privatization problems with education privatization. The legislature is intent on expanding charter schools and the governor in his State of the State mentioned $21 million for charter school facilities. At the same time local districts must go to the voters with hands out. While the Idaho constitution addresses thoroughness and equality, it has become clear that charter schools are more equal than local public schools. Questions about SBAC testing and Common Core are becoming more frequent. However as this link will show, the legislature is determined to control and restrict public comments. http://blogs.idahostatesman.com/time-ground-rules-set-for-statehouse-common-core-showdown/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=time-ground-rules-set-for-statehouse-common-core-showdown
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“While the Idaho constitution addresses thoroughness and equality, it has become clear that charter schools are more equal than local public schools.”
This happened in Ohio, too. Public schools take hit after hit after hit, while the entire state focus is on expanding charters and vouchers.
It won’t get better. We’ve had ed reform for more than a decade in this state, and public schools have really suffered, from outright hostility to “government schools” from Republicans or “agnostic” neglect from Democrats. The only time public schools are mentioned at the state level is when they’re putting some new measurement or punishment scheme or expensive mandated gimmick in.
Public school advocates need to change this conversation, from one about charter schools and vouchers to one that asks if ed reform in any way benefits or supports existing public schools. This is a lose-lose for public schools. They’re weakening stronger public school systems and completely destroying weaker systems. Parents of public school students should be aware of that.
It’s remarkable to me that state actors have turned their backs on the schools that 90% of kids in this state attend, but that’s what’s happened, and it’ll happen in your state, too, if refrormers manage to dominate the debate. It’s 10% driving policy and practice for 90%. It’s outrageous.
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Unfortunately, your predictions for Idaho are probably accurate. We’ve recently inherited one of Ohio’s primary cheerleaders for charters, Terry Ryan, formerly VP for Ohio Programs and Policy at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute. He’s now the president of the Idaho Charter School Network.
http://www.idahoednews.org/news/ryan-plans-to-speak-out-for-charters/
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CCA is powerful lobby in TN.
http://knoxblogs.com/humphreyhill/2014/01/11/lobbyists-lead-way-haslams-pre-session-fundraising-breakfast/
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Also in AZ. The governor’s top political advisor is a lobbyist for CCA. Adding more private prisons in order to house undocumented people was directly related to SB1070. A new CCA contract for 5000 beds was just awarded by the legislature. The legislature also passed a budget bill eliminating the requirement for a cost and quality review of private prison contracts, so we don’t know how they spend our dollars.
http://www.thenation.com/article/167216/arizonas-private-prisons-bad-bargain#
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There should be NO FOR-PROFIT jails. This is another Ka-Ching for big business. Keep ’em in jail. Thus the repressive and unjust laws for the poor and the rest of us chumps. Guess who gets very little penalities for doing HUGE DAMAGE. Answer: Wall Street and the Politicians. If ya got money, well…. If ya don’t have money, it’s another story Guess we are still under the reign of King George of England and those repressive Mayflower folks.
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This kind of response in defense of public schools makes public schools indefensible.
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And this kind of response makes no sense.
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This is very significant, I think, but as Mary Ollie notes the implications of it for the general ‘more private is always better’ narrative, including education has not been noticed. The narrative of the worshipers of the free market, led by Milton Friedman’s proposals, still hold sway, in the face of masses of refuting evidence. This is true even of Democrats: Al Gore also bought into it in his ‘reinventing government’, and Bill Clinton in refusing to regulate derivatives. And Obama has never attacked it as false.
In fact Friedman’s faith was never based on economic analysis, and so-called ‘market imperfections’ of less than perfect competition have proven to be pervasive. Furthermore, it has been show that even in economic models, moving to a somewhat more competitive system may worsen rather than improve efficiency. This is known a the ‘theory of the second best’: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_the_second_best This is exactly what has happened with charter schools and vouchers, but the irrational faith in the market still gets journalists and politicians to bow and say ‘yes, yes’ to the privatizers.
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And the alternative to the market generally speaking is . . . ?
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That comment from Anthony Soong was from me, William Berkson. I guess he used the computer i am posting from.
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Sorry about posting problems. Here is my post:
This is significant as it is finally a conservative seeing that the ‘freer market’ isn’t always better, but can be worse. In fact, when there are ‘market imperfections’, which is always, going more private can make things worse, rather than better. This is known as the ‘theory of the second best’: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_the_second_best
Unfortunately the irrational faith in the “free market” is so powerful that people ignore contrary evidence. Note that Al Gore held to the myth in his ‘reinventing government’ and Bill Clinton refused to regulate private derivative funds. And Obama has never criticized the privatizers in any sphere that I know of.
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Privatization per se is not the problem but dishonest people.
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The privatization of prisons is, per se, the problem. The state ought to be committed to jailing the fewest people possible to maintain public order. A for-proft prison OTOH is motivated to jail as many people as possible in order to maximize profit. It is an insurmountable conflict of interest.
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Please don’t file this reversal by Governor Otter under the heading “a conservative seeing that the free market isn’t always better, but can be worse.” He has come to no such realization.
Otter resisted severing ties with CCA as long as he possibly could, but when CCA began *stealing* from the state by filing fraudulent overtime and staffing reports, Otter had no choice but to cut them loose. About his decision, Otters said, “It’s disappointing because I am a champion of privatization. . . . It’s the right thing to do. Is it the desirable thing to do for me? Not necessarily.”
Those are not the words of a man who has seen the error of his ways.
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A few more multi-million dollars thefts like the one in the prison industry, and maybe Governor Otter will see the light.
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Thank you for the correction Kevin. Still, the rejection of privatization in practice is an opening to debate the privatization movement.
Harlan, the alternative to privatization is having public oversight of publicly spent money. That is the traditional and in my view sound principle: if you are going to spend the people’s money—taxes—you need oversight to see that it is well spent.
Harlan, often markets are the best method of production. And often they are not, and government is better. This includes spending on infrastructure, research, and universal education. You write about ‘corrupt people’ as if there is no way to reduce corruption. But there are many methods used by government to reduce corruption, and they are very often successful, though never completely so.
The point is that with these Milton Friedman-inspired bastard children of the public and the market place, such as ‘privatized’ prisons and schools supported by public monies, you get the worst of both worlds. Different institutional arrangements produce different incentives, and the result is much better or worse depending on these.
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