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.…

Many school boards have considered searching for their next superintendent in the ranks of the business community. Both Minneapolis (Minnesota) and Milwaukee (Wisconsin) have businesspeople as superintendents. Contains a number of comments concerning advantages a businessperson can bring to the superintendency, as opposed to the need for proper…

Educational Alternatives, Inc. (EAI), and others have formed a consortium, "The Alliance for Schools That Work," that seeks to manage the curriculum, maintenance and operation, and financial operations of individual schools or entire school districts. EAI's president describes how the alliance would handle the business affairs of a…

Like county governments, hospitals, and municipalities, superintendents must develop policies and protocols for requesting proposals, administering contracts, and ensuring desired results of private-sector services. Administrators should consider performance criteria, legal issues, cost and efficiency analysis, contractor evaluation criteria, and…

Suggests that the laissez-faire market principles have failed to provide quality schooling in Macau (China) and that education as a public good requires considerable state intervention. Explores schooling in Macau as a case study to indicate how public goods and private services are neither polar opposites nor mutually exclusive. (CMK)

A study investigated the attitudes of college and university employees concerning the recent privatization of dining services at three universities. Results indicate the employees saw the contractor, not the institution, as benefitting most from the changes. Employees had little understanding of the benefits of the arrangement to the university or…

In 2002, Marc Hall's principal denied him permission to take his boyfriend to his Catholic high-school prom. In examining the politicization of the ensuing prom predicament, we critique Catholicized education and what we perceive to be the Catholic Church's efforts to privatize queerness as it segregates being religious from being sexual. We…

This article starts by putting the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) into a general context of privatisation. It is noted that the privatisation process is in many cases complex and not only about full-scale privatisation of schools. The growing trade in education must be seen in this context. GATS is not an agreement which deals with…

This article uses an ethical audit framework proposed by Cribb and Ball to critically analyze the possible implications of the rapid growth of corporatized childcare in Australia. In particular, it seeks to examine how corporatization affects childcare service provision and whether it conflicts with other social goals. Noting the paucity of…

When budgets are tight, administrators have to find ways to provide and maintain facilities without draining their budgets. Fortunately, advancements in technology, new ideas in construction and design, and savvy management strategies are available that enable schools and universities to spend their money more wisely and efficiently. Here are 10…

This essay reviews the history of school commercialization in the USA and the forms that it has taken over time, with particular attention paid to research measuring the scope and variety of commercialization trends in US public schools. The implications of commercialization activities such as those that promote the consumption of nutritionally…

"Education Matters" is the monthly newsletter of the Association of American Educators (AAE), an organization dedicated to advancing the American teaching profession through personal growth, professional development, teacher advocacy and protection. This issue of the newsletter includes: (1) You Told Us What You Think of No Child Left…

The landscape of public education in Michigan has changed dramatically over the last 13 years. Most districts receive a majority of their operating money from state government, not local taxes. Charter schools and nearby districts lure students away from local schools and capture the state money that goes with them. Districts are even subject to…

This book describes how and why educational choice movements will affect public education. It uses a public-choice approach to argue that both the supporters and opponents of private and school choice have failed to address several critical issues. Following an introductory chapter, chapter 2 is devoted to the rationale for contracting out…

This document provides materials prepared for and discussed at a workshop to analyze the problems facing Central and Eastern European countries in the management of the vocational education and training (VET) system. Part I gives an outline of the major research findings and reflects the discussions of the workshop. "Management of Vocational…