THE POLITICS OF PRIVATIZATION
2007 Politics of Education Yearbook

Edited by
Katrina Bulkley & Lance Fusarelli

Within the past twenty-five years (or since 1980), US education policy has gradually shifted to the political right and embraced a number of conservative reforms such as expanded accountability systems, school choice, privatization, merit pay, and the elimination of teacher tenure--many of which would have been unmentionable earlier. This yearbook will focus on one important result of this shift - the push towards privatization, including charter schools, school vouchers and tuition tax credits, and other forms of private sector involvement such as educational management organizations. A cross-cutting look at the politics of privatization will enhance our understanding of the new politics forming around privatization. This movement has not been a magic bullet that has saved public education; its successes are often matched with dismal failures. Yet the movement continues to gain momentum throughout the nation.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Politics Of Privitization
Katrina Bulkley & Lance Fusarelli

Section 1: Looking Broadly at the Politics of Privatization

Overview of the Politics of Privatization
William Boyd

The Politics of Charter Schools
Sandra Vergari

Irreconcilable Differences: Vouchers, Advocacy, and the Suburban Response
Luis Huerta & Chad d'Entremont

Tuition Tax Credits: Legal, Political and Policy Alternatives to Vouchers?
Luis Huerta & Chad d'Entremont

The Politics of Homeschooling: New Developments, New Challenges
Bruce Cooper & John Sureau

Restricted Choices, Limited Options: The Politics of Choice in NCLB
Lance Fusarelli

Section 2:  Case Studies of the Politics of Privatization

Bringing the Private into the Public: Changing the Rules of the Game and New Regime Politics in Philadelphia Public Education
Katrina Bulkley

The Future of Vouchers: Lessons from the Adoption, Design, and Court Challenges of Florida's Three Voucher Programs
Douglas Harris, Carolyn Harrington & Amy Albee

Moving Forward or Sliding Backwards: The Evolution of Charter School Policies in Michigan and the District of Columbia
Natalie Lacireno-Paquet & Thomas Holyoke

The Politics of Privatization Practice: An Analysis of State-Initiated Privatization via School Restructuring Statutes in Two Districts
Lauren Rhim

The Means to Modernize Public Services or ‘A Pot of Gold’ for Private Enterprise? Perspectives on the Politics of Privatization of Public Education in the UK
John Fitz & Thaker Hafid

Summary and Critique
Priscilla Wohlstetter & Gilbert Hentshke