As someone who grew up in Connecticut and someone who rode the big yellow school bus for years, I can’t imagine those big yellow buses out of business. When students were transitioned to remote learning, buses remained idle for months. Even though the virus created a budget deficit, state and local governments should have required all Connecticut public schools to pay private bus companies.
Student Voice
CT Mirror’s Student Voice initiative aims to bring college student perspectives to readers across Connecticut. CT Viewpoints welcomes rebuttal or opposing views to this and all its commentaries. Read our guidelines and submit your commentary here.
To deliver or not deliver: Facing privatization and long-term impacts on the U.S. Postal Service
Throughout the global pandemic, many Americans began to understand the magnitude and impact of the United States Postal Service within their daily life. Many Americans experienced drastic mail and package delays during this pandemic. The biggest critiques faced by the USPS concern the agency’s accountability and true efficiency. However, the USPS cannot operate efficiently amid the loss of funding.
Connecticut charter schools take advantage of PPP funding, while traditional public schools are left behind
Amid the coronavirus pandemic, charter schools in Connecticut accepted loans from the Small Business Administration Payment Protection Program (PPP). The paycheck protection program is a federal program, implemented during the coronavirus pandemic, that provides loans to small businesses to incentivize them to keep their workers on payroll. They come with low interest rates, two to five years to pay back the loan, and no small business fees. None of these loans were available to traditional public schools, as they are not considered businesses.
School boards should help keep private school bus companies afloat
School boards around the country may be trying to save public funding due to budget cuts made during the pandemic, but in return, are not paying all of their contractors who provide services to the schools.
The reprivatization of Fannie and Freddie will blunt improvement of racial wealth gap
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac perform a significant role in the housing market, controlling nearly half of the $10 trillion U.S. home loan market. The Trump administration has vowed to end the Fannie and Freddie conservatorship relationship, directly causing mortgages to become more expensive and harder to receive. This will destabilize the economy and pause any improvement in the racial wealth gap.
Outsourcing elections materials has its risks
If you received an absentee ballot application in September for the upcoming election, it may have come from New York. Mine was mailed by a private mail house, Fort Orange Press in Albany, NY. For the August primary, the Connecticut Secretary of the State’s office contracted with a private mailing house to send out absentee […]
Make your vote count and protect the USPS
An individual’s right to vote in the upcoming national elections may be compromised if the Trump Administration’s push for privatizing the United States Postal Service (USPS) succeeds. Millions of Americans, including Connecticut residents, will send their ballots by mail this year to avoid any unnecessary and potential exposure to the coronavirus, but undermining the USPS may delegitimize crucial votes.
Corporate immunity in a pandemic; ALEC v. coronavirus
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), an organization where corporate lobbyists and legislators co-write model bills, works in direct opposition to the accountability ideal as it strives to protect corporations from COVID-19 related lawsuits.