In school transportation, in 1997 the largest private contractor, Laidlaw Transit, Inc. operated 38,180 buses, transporting 2,171,000 pupils each day. In real life, less is rarely the same - usually less is less. If this work were performed by school employees, all of the funds would pay for services. Once a school district makes a decision to privatize work, it can be extremely difficult to reverse that decision, especially if the school district has divested itself of essential equipment, like its school bus fleet. This makes it easier for the private contractor to raise its fees in later contracts.
Quality suffers when work is privatized.
Not only are the private employees less likely to feel a connection to the school district, but the contract they are working under is unlikely to include all the jobs the employees they are replacing did. One of the ways that private contractors seek to save money is by providing lower wages and fewer benefits than those received by school employees. Since ESP live where they work, this takes money out of the local economy. The bottom line is that privatization is being sold under the guise of increased accountability, economy, and efficiency. But all too often, the results are just the opposite.