Chapter 18: The Undemocratic Side Of Private Contracting In Public Education

Privatization is a massive trend in governance both inside and outside of education circles. In this chapter, we argue that the rise and evolution of education privatization is part of a larger set of political and ideological shifts around the role of government, in particular neoliberalism, but it is accelerating in unprecedented ways with contracting policies at the federal and local level. The increase in contracting for education outpaces empirical research on how competition between and among government agencies and vendors leads to improved outcomes for students and particularly, at-risk students. Based on this analysis, we argue for continued attention to three cross cutting issues: who decides what vendors get contracts, how are vendors held accountable for greater transparency and accountability, and what are the risks when vendors are left unchecked and unregulated.