Headlines
IN: State, IBM go to court over welfare privatization effort
FL: Prison issues are far from settled
NC: Proposal pushes privatizing pre-K classrooms
TN: Privatized sanitation draws criticism
TX: 850 Texas A&M jobs could be outsourced

IN: State, IBM go to court over welfare privatization effort
More than two years after Indiana terminated a deal with IBM to run its welfare eligibility operation, a lawsuit over the breakup is going to trial. The state wants its money back for what it contends was a botched job. Indiana terminated a 10-year contract with IBM after less than three years. IBM contends it’s not to blame — and that the state owes the company $100 million in unpaid bills. Marion Superior Judge David Dreyer has set aside six weeks for the trial. There could be more than 100 witnesses, but Governor Daniels won’t be among them. Earlier this month, the Indiana Supreme Court rejected IBM’s attempt to put him on the stand. WIBC Indianapolis

FL: Prison issues are far from settled
..Sen. Ellyn Bogdanoff of Fort Lauderdale, who took over the law-and-order budget committee when Sen. Mike Fasano of New Port Richey was sacked for fighting privatization too well, promised that we’ve seen the last of it for this session. But she added that she can’t speak for Gov. Rick Scott, a privatization advocate who can have the DOC pursue contracting with companies promising to operate the prisons 7 percent cheaper than the state does it. Tallahassee Democrat

NC: Proposal pushes privatizing pre-K classrooms
A legislative proposal to overhaul North Carolina’s pre-K system would completely privatize pre-K classrooms by the summer of 2013, as well as leave fewer families eligible for state tuition assistance. The proposal is part of a draft report slated for debate and a potential vote Thursday at the statehouse in Raleigh. It was the result of several months’ work by a Republican-controlled legislative committee reviewing the state’s early childhood programs…Taxpayer-supported prekindergarten has long had a waiting list of eligible children who don’t get financial help because the state runs out of money before it runs out of families falling below annual income thresholds. That generates a waiting list, exacerbated this year by a 20 percent pre-K cut the Republican-controlled General Assembly approved to help balance the state budget. Winston-Salem Journal

TN: Privatized Memphis sanitation draws criticism
Huddled together in front of the hotel room where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, clergy leaders who have rallied for sanitation workers’ rights for decades met to decry privatization of waste management in Memphis. “It’s out of order even to consider privatizing (sanitation services) in this city,” said Rev. Dwight Montgomery, president of Southern Christian Leadership Conference Memphis. He was referring to the historical significance of the union, which was officially recognized by the city 12 days after King’s assassination. There’s a better option, representatives from SCLC, Rainbow PUSH, the Coalition of Black Pastors and Ecumenical Action Committee said Thursday. Dr. LaSimba Gray, president of the Memphis chapter of Rainbow PUSH, said he’d been in talks with civil rights icon Virgil Wood about a plan that would transform the department into a cooperative, in which workers would jointly own and run the operation and share in the profits. Gray said Wood could bring experience to the table and was ready to meet with city administration and union leadership if called upon. Memphis Commercial Appeal

TX: 850 Texas A&M jobs could be outsourced
Last week, the news broke that 850 jobs at A&M could be out sourced to a private company. Employees affected work in the facilities department which includes food services, landscaping, custodial services and maintenance. The chancellor wants to emphasize that no decision has been made to lay off anyone. What the university is doing is issuing request for proposals (RFPs) for companies to bid on contracts. Sharp says by doing this they are trying to make the services better and cheaper. KBTX