This dissertation explores the complex dynamics and conflicts surrounding the privatization of public school services in New Jersey. Through detailed case studies of multiple New Jersey towns, this dissertation examines how local school districts, grappling with funding challenges, consider outsourcing educational support professional roles to cut…

Privatization, marketization, investment, and competition of education have become a global phenomenon with significant implications. While research on demand and patterns of shadow education are increasingly available across the world, very little is known about the scope of parents' investments, family burden, and students' workload. This paper…

We focus on describing some of the effects of austerity capitalism in the public educational sector in Poland, a country that was a part of the Soviet bloc from WWII and experienced dramatic transformation after 1989. This transformation from "communism" to "democracy" involved all spheres of the life of society and individuals…

The privatisation of state education in a variety of ways has introduced a range of risks to school governance and management which have not previously existed in the public service. State-funded education is in danger of losing its standing on the moral high ground as a public good delivered almost exclusively by individuals committed to ethics…

Michigan's School Aid fund increased once more this year, but many school administrators in the state continue to hunt for effective measures to reduce spending due to increased pension costs and phased-out stimulus money. Many options available for trimming costs, such as enacting pay-to-play for sports, are extremely unpopular for districts and…

Outsourcing has evolved into a strategic imperative at a growing number of community colleges, especially as administrators rein in spending and streamline operations in the face of shrinking budgets. Across the country, more colleges are outsourcing a range of functions, including information technology (IT), course instruction, food service,…

Key legislative objectives for the US Federal educational policy over the past several decades relied heavily on quasi-market strategies (such as school rating, school closure, the contracting out of schools) as central levers in "reforming" public schools. Using financial data on 11 national for-profit firms contracting with schools and…

If, as some have argued, private higher education is now the most dynamic segment of higher education, it is also the case that its growth, partly in response to the increasing mismatch between spiralling demand and limited state capacity, is often ad hoc. The article examines the contours of this trend in Indonesia, where the balance of public…

With Michigan's public school districts facing a decline in per-pupil funding, more districts are contracting out for at least one of the three major school support services--food, custodial and transportation--than ever before. This year's survey of school districts found that 44.6 percent of all Michigan school districts contract out for at…

Tainted by failure, rooted in myth, and marked by questionable practice, public-private partnerships in education are risky. Performance contracting failed miserably in the 1970s. Faulty privatization rationales include myths surrounding SAT test scores and the "bloated bureaucracy" and "money doesn't matter" arguments. Neither…

An independent study of Baltimore City's Tesseract schools analyzes why the privately managed program failed. Results showed no gains on Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills scores. Baltimore was paying about 11% more per student than in comparison schools. EAI has succeeded in establishing the supremacy of Wednesday afternoons for staff development…

The University of the District of Columbia's radio station, whose mission was to play jazz and report on local public affairs and whose black audience was the fourth-largest of the nation's public radio outlets, has been sold due to financial problems. Critics are concerned that this and other such sales undermine the core mission of public…

U.S. Roman Catholic schools, noted for their history of academic success and worried about rising costs and declining enrollment, have launched a nationwide marketing campaign called "Discover Catholic Schools 1992." Expenses are up because religious order membership is down. The campaign coincides with President Bush's promotion of privatization…

A former U.S. commissioner of education wonders if privatization and vouchers represent threats, annoyances, or utopias. Private contracting could hinder community involvement and the teacher professionalization movement. Profit-making goals might resolve class size policy in favor of economic efficiency, not student learning. Vouchers will reduce…

Debunks two fantasies: the feasibility of a free-market educational system and the idea that greater choice automatically means better schools. Public education is too labor-intensive and undercapitalized to be profitable. Communities need "skunk works" schools of choice to do research and development and smaller, collaboratively managed…