This article presents the author's response to Strathdee's "Reply to O'Neill: The privatisation of public schooling in New Zealand." Strathdee has alerted the editors to a basic arithmetic error in the author's paper (O'Neill 2011, 24). He also makes substantive criticisms. Strathdee's criticisms focus on the two cases that are used to…

In a recent contribution to this journal, John O'Neill (2011) argues that recent privatisation practices in New Zealand public schooling are evidence of a small, but growing, influence of neo-liberalism on New Zealand's public education. The focus in his paper is on the active enablement of non-government provision of public education through, for…

Today, public services are often delivered by purchase-of-service agreements, privatization, franchising, vouchers, or other alternatives to civil service. Public personnel managers must now deal with broader policy issues, relationships with external organizations, and tighter focus on cost control, requiring new knowledge, skills, and abilities.…

The Australian state of Victoria has adopted a privatization approach to human services that is destroying the infrastructure of community services. Without a dynamic community services core, it is difficult for social citizenship to flourish. (SK)

During its 1993 session, the Michigan legislature enacted two statutes for the organization and operation of public school academies, Michigan's name for charter schools. A circuit court judge declared the charter schools were unconstitutional. In response, the legislature amended its original enactment. Traces the short but curious history of…

This paper provides a detailed examination of "contracting," a type of privatization, and is intended to clarify the issues surrounding decisions to privatize public services. Privatization introduces competition among market participants as a means of generating revenue, spurring development of an industry, and/or improving the quality of…

Before signing on with a private firm to manage schools, school boards should consider whether privatization will save the school district and the taxpayers money, lessen bureaucracy, and lead to higher test scores or other objective measures of improvement. In addition, boards should ask whether the proposal is free of bias and whether the…

The goal of this report is to formulate a true alternative to the current form of governance for public education. Based on studies of governance in other large decentralized service organizations and of local educational reform efforts, the report concludes that there is a real alternative. The alternative allows the schools to be operated by a…

Examines background issues on privatization along with reviewing arguments regarding its adoption. Notes the vertical lack of governmental controls and regulation of privatization. Raises lingering legal questions that remain in the rush to privatization. (MLF)

Reasons why institutions of higher education might choose to acquire computer services from off-campus suppliers are identified and include the difficulty of maintaining a qualified technical systems group. The importance of careful management oversight from contract bidding to ongoing performance monitoring is stressed. (DB)

The privatization of schools and school services is strenuously opposed by trade unions representing school district employees. This paper examines the opposing arguments advanced by the National Education Association and finds that the objections involve two distinct points: (1) the economic role of profit; and (2) idealism in the schools. The…

The project manager for Educational Alternatives, Inc. (EAI) and the Hartford Public Schools summarizes the relationship between the two organizations; lists questions that an administrator should ask when considering purchasing services, and how EAI would have answered them; and describes lessons learned. (MLF)

Contracting for noneducational services is standard operating procedure in many school districts. Private contractors are involved in transportation, food service, maintenance, and even, in rare cases, instruction. Before deciding to contract out, school boards should examine improvement to school-run operations before making a final decision.…

To cut costs, some administrators are contracting with the private sector for such services as pupil transportation, facilities maintenance, and cafeteria operations. Proponents of competitive contracting assert that it can provide public schools with the kind of expertise, flexibility, and cost efficiencies not always available with inhouse…

Colleges and universities are privatizing various institutional components and are seeking greater autonomy from state government. In defining privatization, the paper makes the distinction between privatizing and contracting, and notes six areas where a good or service can be owned or managed by the government or by the private sector: ownership…