school services privatization resources and tools shar habibi march 3, 2015
TRANSCRIPT
School Services PrivatizationResources and Tools
Shar HabibiMarch 3, 2015
Agenda
• Problems with school services privatization– What have you seen?
• Successful Strategies• Research and Tools• Responsible contracting ideas• ITPI – what do we do?
Privatizing support services hurt workers, children and families
• Lower wages and benefits for workers• Cutting corners• Fewer neighborhood workers, higher turnover weaken
the connection between students and school community
• Overstated cost savings or no cost savings• Confused accountability, but ultimate responsibility
with district• Lack of administrative capacity to oversee contractor• Loss of control over school services
Successful strategies
• Don’t wait for the proposal to happen– Monitor rumors, and contracting process– Responsible Contracting Policies (The TEA)
• Ask the Right Questions: Delay and defeat outsourcing proposals
• Don’t fight alone – involve parents, communities, students, allies
• Tell the stories– Loss of control message– How school service staff go above and beyond– How public service provision differs from what the RFP will require
Ask the Right Questions: School Services Guide
• Important questions that decision makers should consider when faced with a proposed privatization effort
• Framework for examining and evaluating school services privatization
• Meetings with school administrators, in testimony at school, board hearings, and in meetings with allies
Tell the story: Duties outside the RFP
• Set up & take down for assemblies
• Monitor kindergarten toilets where kids don’t know how to flush
• Identify & deal with asbestos and mold problems
• Service & repair boilers and furnaces
• Deal with locker problems
• Lunchroom & playground monitoring
Careful analysis of proposed contract
• Scope of Service. “Following award of the Contract, the Contractor shall conduct a Service Study and provide a comprehensive analysis of proposed and existing service standards.”
• Enforcement Standards. Sodexho will provide “an operational model [and] staffing plan…[including] a methodology for verification and compliance with service standards and method of adjustment of the fee if/when standards are not met.”
• Quality Review. Sodexho will distribute standards of cleanliness to school staff and teachers and conduct periodic “customer satisfaction surveys” for teachers to evaluate performance.
How to talk about privatization effectively
Terrain to Navigate
Business “Effectivenes
s”Public/Private Blur
“Give it a try”
Budget Worries
Government “Inefficiency”
Distrust of Government
Terrain to Navigate
Business “Effectiveness”Public/
Private Blur
“Give it a try”
Budget Worries
Government “Inefficiency”
Distrust of Government
Messages that Miss the Mark
– Business Motives: We’ve all seen how corporate greed is breaking this country.
– Bad Outcomes: This deal will reduce services, increase prices.
– Corruption: Politicians reward their friends with private contracts.
– Accountability: Private business isn’t accountable to the people.
– Employees: It is the workers who will suffer with reduced wages.
A Message that Works
Privatization means HANDING OVER CONTROL of X to a private business.
For Example
The main reason to be wary about handing over a service to a private company is that we are giving up control over how it is operated. Once we hand over control, or even outright ownership, if the private company starts running the operation into the ground, or charging exorbitant fees, we have very little say. When the public is in control, it can demand that operations be open to public review, accountable to the people, and run in the public interest. Privatization means giving control to people who may have entirely different goals and priorities.
Why this Message Works
• Sticky• Compelling• Transcends political
affiliation
Selected Proposals from TEA
– Regularly post online how much taxpayers are spending on private contracts and how many workers are employed by those contracts (62% support)
– Prohibit any company that has evaded taxes or broken the law from taking over public services (68% support)
– Require companies that privatize public services to pay their employees a living wage and provide reasonable benefits (78% support)
– Require a study to determine how privatization would affect the larger community and post the results online before any contract is signed (69% support)
Other Useful ITPI Research
1. “Ask the right questions”2. Race to the Bottom3. Oversight Report4. Privatization Myths5. The High Costs of Privatization backgrounder
Other Useful Research
• Runaway Spending: Private Contractors Increase the Cost of School Student Transportation Services in Pennsylvania Keystone Research Center, 2012
• Pushing Working Families into Poverty: Assessing the New Haven Plan to Privatize the Public Schools’ Custodial Services PERI, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 2011
• AAPS and the Privatization of School Support Functions Roland Zullo, 2010
• Hard to Swallow: Do Private Food Service Contractors Shortchange New Jersey Schools? Clarion Group, 2010
• Serving Students: A Survey of Contracted Food Service Work in New Jersey's K-12 Public Schools Rutgers University, 2009
What ITPI does
• Research and resources• Coalition-building• Policy• “Help desk”
www.InThePublicInterest.org.
If you have questions, please email [email protected] or call
202-429-5091.