CMS Privatization Tap Dance
Or more accurately, the district’s continued privatization tap dance, which has been ongoing for nearly a decade with few demonstrable gains.
Recall that way back in 2005 the vaunted CMS Citizens Task Force unveiled what was at the time hailed as bold and sweeping recommendations for improving CMS operations and management. Chief among them was a push to outsource or privatize non-academic operations like transportation, printing, janitorial and food services, which the Task Force, chaired by former mayor Harvey Gantt and BAC executive Cathy Bessant, opined could save the district millions of dollars. Annually.
Fast forward to last night’s school board meeting and we find the district still wallowing on the dance floor, with the school board narrowly voting to appoint – wait for it – a citizens advisory committee (dare we say task force) to explore the prospect of privatization. This from News 14:
Tuesday night, board member Tim Morgan talked to the group about privatizing or outsourcing some operations, mainly magnet school transportation and food service. Morgan took the lead on gathering information on how the whole thing would work and proposed rolling out a pilot program at certain schools in 2012-2013 school year. But not everyone was on board with the idea.
“It appears we’re trying to find a way for some private company to make money off of our kids,” board member Joe White said. “Folks, that irritates me.”
Along with White, Richard McElrath, Joyce Waddell and Tom Tate voted against moving forward with the proposal. McElrath said he wasn’t particularly opposed to outsourcing additional functions, but he did not believe it was the right time to consider it as an option. When asked, Superintendent Dr. Peter Gorman said district staff did not have time to take on additional responsibilities, but would do it if directed to by the board.
So it irritates Coach Joe that the district could potentially save millions of dollars a year by outsourcing non-academic services to be provided by private business for a better value, allowing CMS to use those saved dollars to, I don’t know, prevent having to fire scores of teachers or scuttling other core academic services.
It’s nice to see privatization back on CMS’ dance card; but without a change in board majority leadership and more than just begrudging lip service from the superintendent, history suggests the latest spin will end in another tangled tango.
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