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McClellan: A parallel between privateprisons and vouchers for private schools

Posted: Sunday, February 23, 2014 1:01 pmGuest commentary by Mike McClellan

The private sector can always do a better job.

That is the belief of many Republicans in ourstate, which might help explain the number ofprivate prisons we contract with. Currently,those prisons house about one-sixth of ourinmate population.

Its a nice business -- here in Arizona, we even guarantee the private prisons a certain number ofprisoners, which, of course, ups their profits. In fact, according to a recent Arizona Republicarticle, one corporation, CCA, has an operating margin of about 30 percent, the differencebetween what we pay them and what it costs them.

Not bad.

But some believe that maybe, just maybe, the privately-run prisons dont do a very good job.

State-mandated audits showed just that. Corrections Department studies from 2008 - 2010reveal that it was cheaper to house inmates in state-run medium correction facilities than it wasto put them up in private prisons.

So maybe, just maybe, at least with prisons here in Arizona, the private sector -- motivated byprofit -- doesnt do a better job.

But going forward, we wont know that. Because two years ago, the Republican legislaturepassed a bill, signed into law by Jan Brewer, that repealed a statutory requirement to comparecosts.

Voila! Problem solved.

Today, theres another public sector that these same Republicans are attempting to privatize:public education.

The voucher system has been with us for several years, a plan that allows students to accesstuition vouchers to attend private schools. Advertised as a way to help poorer students, insteadits turned out to be mostly a subsidy for middle and upper class students private school costs.And made a nice living for the folks whose companies dole out the money for the vouchers.

In the last few years, public money for private schools has expanded through whats called anEmpowerment Scholarship Account. Again, taxpayer money is used by students to attend privateschools, along with a variety of other uses the ESAs allow.

Our private sector fans want even more, though. In this session alone, there are three bills that

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Mike McClellan is a Gilbertresident and former Englishteacher at Dobson HighSchool in Mesa.

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would continue the expansion of the ESA program, one even allowing individual school districtsto create their own plans.

But just like with the private prisons, our private schools are unaccountable.

And thats just the biggest of ironies with Republican support for private school vouchers.

These same Republicans tout themselves as fiscal conservatives, public-money penny pinchers,defenders of our tax money. They rightly want public agencies to be under the microscope whenspending our hard-earned money.

But curiously, they dont have that same fervor when sending millions of dollars off to privateschools.

Of course, private schools cant be forced to account for that money -- theyre private, after all.We have no clue, though, if we are getting a bang for our taxpayer bucks.

And our Republicans dont seem to mind.

Nope, these schools get the money with no strings attached, not even academic accountability.

We dont know how the kids getting the vouchers test in private schools; no state testing isrequired of them.

We dont know where that money goes when it is sent to private schools; no auditing is requiredof them.

But the Republicans, enamored with privatizing, continue on their merry way.

Which begs the question: Are they that dumb, or do they simply want to dismantle publiceducation in our state?

Mike McClellan is a Gilbert resident and former English teacher at Dobson High Schoolin Mesa.

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