Consequences of Privatization: School Districts and Their Relationships With Private Financial Consultants

• In Event: 73.045 - New Approaches for Funding Schools: Illustrations From Australia, China, and the United States

Abstract

This paper describes the consequences of privatization when school districts enter into contracts with private financial consultants. It situates district debt financing within the broader educational privatization movement and describes a portion of the qualitative results from a broader mixed methods study. Through investigating the contractual relationships between districts and the private organizations they hire to conduct debt financing transactions in California, this work reveals the extent to which realities on the ground reflect theorists’ predictions about the consequences of contracting and educational privatization. Through analyzing how school districts enter into and maintain contractual relationships over time, this paper describes how the actual consequences of privatization through contracting impact not only school district resources and operations, but also democratic accountability.

Author

• Marialena Dawn Rivera, University of California - Berkeley