April 24, 2012

Headlines
U.S. suspends controversial outsourcing training program
NY: Public kept in dark about sweet deals NYC charter schools
NY: Nassau County lease of sewer plant faces hurdles
PA: Anti-public education group funds gay, Muslim Dem as stealth candidate
OH: OSU advances $400M parking privatization
ID: Idaho among states pushing private school credits
CA: Occupy the Farm activists reclaim agricultural land in SF Bay Area

U.S. suspends controversial outsourcing training program
The U.S. Agency for International Development has suspended funding for a program under which Filipino nationals were trained to work in offshore, English language call centers that serve U.S. companies. The program drew heavy criticism from lawmakers who said it posed a threat to American call center workers….Congressman Tim Bishop (D-NY) and fellow Congressman Walter Jones (R-N.C.) on Friday wrote to USAID administrator Rajiv Shah to complain about the program, known as JEEP (Job Enabling English Proficiency). JEEP used USAID funds to train students in the Philippines troubled Mindanao region, which has seen unrest by Muslim activists, to work in call centers and other industries. Feinstein said JEEP was initially conceived as a way to help students in the region integrate into Filipino society. “The intent of the program is to enable these youth to make productive contributions to society, and to reduce alienation and marginalization that may make them vulnerable to the influence of terrorism and extremism.”  Information Week

NY: Public kept in dark about sweet deals NYC charter schools
SUNY trustees are rushing to approve a whopping 50% increase in the annual per-pupil management fee the state pays to one of the city’s biggest and most controversial charter school operators. Under the plan, the Success Charter Network, run by former City Councilwoman Eva Moskowitz, will see its management fee jump from $1,350 to $2,000 for each pupil enrolled at its five schools in the Harlem area. Moskowitz, who currently runs 11 charter schools throughout the city, has made no secret of her plans to expand that number. The jump in her network’s management fees from 10% to 15% of total state aid per child, however, would place it nearly on a par with fees charged by the city’s few for-profit charter operators…The increase for the Success Network is being carried out in a stealth manner, as is an accompanying proposal to reorganize its five Harlem schools — Harlem Success Academy 1 to 5 — under a single nonprofit corporation, even though they are located in three separate community school districts. Moskowitz submitted a formal application in March to both the state and the city to amend her charters for the five schools.  But it was not until a week ago, on the evening of April 17, that the DOE informed local parents and community education councils by email that a hearing to solicit comments on the proposal would be held three days later. “When we asked to see the actual proposal, we were told we would have to file a Freedom of Information (Act) request,” Noah Gotbaum of the District 3 Community Education Council on the upper West Side said. “How can the public respond when we can’t even see the real documents?” New York Daily News

NY: Nassau County lease of sewer plant faces hurdles
A long-term lease of Nassau’s Sewer and Storm Water Finance Authority, outlined in September by Republican County Executive Edward Mangano, has drawn interest from Severn Trent Services, Veolia Environment VE SA and United Water, a unit of Suez Environment Company SA. However, it is not clear if and when any lease contract might be approved. State control board officials and Democratic legislators have criticized the proposal. Credit agencies say public assets – from roads to parking garages – should not be leased to private companies if the cash raised from them just papers over deficits.
About $115 million of the money raised by a long-term lease of the sewer system would be spent closing deficits in 2013 and 2014, according to Fitch. It views this strategy “negatively.” Reuters

PA: Anti-public education group funds gay, Muslim Dem as stealth candidate
How far is the school privatization juggernaut willing to go to disguise and promote their agenda?  The Betsy DeVos-led American Federation for Children, through its PA affiliate Students First and its funding recipients, is financing the campaign of Fatimah Muhammad. She is an openly gay, African American, Muslim candidate for State Representative in Pennsylvania’s Democratic primary in the 188th District. The primary is on Tuesday, April 24. Adding to the irony, a 2012 recipient of Students First funding has sponsored fliers touting 27-year old candidate Muhammad’s liberal credentials and her willingness to challenge Governor Tom Corbett’s “War on Women.”  Daniel Denvir wrote in the Philadelphia City Paper,     “This is politics at its most cynical: major funders of the pro-choice, pro-Muhammad ad are anti-abortion Republican extremists.” If you follow the money trail, it shows that Students First has been funded solely by American Federation for Children in the 2012 election cycle. Gov. Corbett was the keynote speaker at the American Federation for Children’s national conference last year. (I was outside with protesters from Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and D.C.) Betsy Prince DeVos’ family and that of her husband Dick DeVos, have been leading funders of Focus on Family, Family Research Council, Crisis Pregnancy Centers, Proposition Eight, and other anti-abortion and anti-gay rights organizations.  AlterNet

OH: OSU advances $400M parking privatization
Ohio State has sent out an official request for proposals (RFP) to private companies interested in managing campus parking operations, hoping for a bid of at least $375 million…Companies interested in bidding must include a bid amount, a 50-year commitment and a cap in the annual parking rate increase that is consistent to historical increase. Gee also said in the email that no current Transportation and Parking employee would lose his or her job from a new contract….In a survey sent out to faculty, 92.4 percent of participants said they do not support the university’s consideration to privatize parking. Gee, however, said the survey was flawed and the accuracy of it should be questioned. Several cities such as Chicago, Pittsburgh and Indianapolis have moved toward parking privatization, but no public universities have made the switch.  The Lantern

ID: Idaho among states pushing private school credits
Idaho is among the states where lawmakers are debating tax breaks for people who donate to private-school scholarships. It’s a big issue in the Louisiana Legislature right now, with a final package in the works. Idaho’s proposal, debated during the 2012 Legislature before the session ended, is smaller than even a scaled-back Louisiana program…Idaho’s plan, touted by Rep. Bob Nonini of Coeur d’Alene, proposed a $10 million credit. Detractors fear this is just another way for religious schools to undercut public education.  The Idaho Statesman

CA: Occupy the Farm activists reclaim agricultural land in SF Bay Area
Hundreds marched yesterday from the Earth Day rally in Berkeley, California to an empty tract of land to establish a new occupation. Occupy the Farm, a coalition of local residents, farmers, students, researchers, and activists are planting over 15,000 seedlings at the Gill Tract, the last remaining 10 acres of Class I agricultural soil in the urbanized East Bay area. The Gill Tract is public land administered by the University of California, which plans to sell it to private developers. For decades the UC has thwarted attempts by community members to transform the site for urban sustainable agriculture and hands-on education. With deliberate disregard for public interest, the University administrators plan to pave over this prime agricultural soil for commercial retail space, a Whole Foods, and a parking lot. Occupy the Farm seeks to address structural problems with health and inequalities in the Bay Area that stem from communities’ lack of access to food and land. Today’s action reclaims the Gill Tract to demonstrate and exercise the peoples’ right to use public space for the public good. This farm will serve as a hub for urban agriculture, a healthy and affordable food source for Bay Area residents and an educational center. OccupyWallStreet