In the years since fiscal 2018, when the MBTA last balanced its budget without state contract assistance or federal funds, operating costs have been rising at an alarming rate, culminating in an increase of nearly 15 percent from FY 2023 to FY 2024 alone, according to a new policy brief published by Pioneer Institute.
The Institute of Justice and PNELF filed a federal constitutional challenge to Massachusetts’s denial of special education services to children whose parents exercise their fundamental right to enroll them in private school.
In this week’s episode of The Learning Curve, co-hosts U-Arkansas Prof. Albert Cheng and Walter Blanks interview Dr. Michael Fitzpatrick, who has served as superintendent-director of the Blackstone Valley Vocational Regional School District since 1994. A leader in vocational-technical education, Dr. Fitzpatrick reflects on his own educational journey and offers insights into leadership that puts students first. He discusses how Massachusetts’ voc-tech schools used the 1993 Education Reform Act’s accountability tools like MCAS, standards, and school choice, to drive achievement, particularly for students with diverse learning needs.
Two major education provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB), signed into law on July 4, 2025, garnered a lot of ink and debate—a federal School Choice Tax Credit and an excise tax on the investment income of private universities with large endowments.
In this week’s episode of The Learning Curve, co-hosts Alisha Searcy and Massachusetts civics teacher Kelley Brown interview Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Jack Rakove, Coe Professor Emeritus at Stanford University. Prof. Rakove explores the origins of the American Revolution and U.S. Constitution through the lives of the nation’s Founding Era figures. Reflecting on young John Adams’ vivid depiction of his schoolhouse in colonial Massachusetts, Rakove offers context for the political and social landscape of the 18th-century America.
In this special episode of The Learning Curve, guest co-host Ian Rowe interviews Steven Wilson, a senior fellow at Pioneer Institute and founder of the Ascend Charter Network. Their discussion centers on Wilson’s new book, The Lost Decade, which concerns education’s shift away from liberal arts and toward social justice ideology and anti-intellectualism.
In this week’s episode of The Learning Curve, co-hosts Alisha Searcy and U-Arkansas Prof. Albert Cheng interview John Burt, the Paul Prosswimmer Professor of American Literature at Brandeis University. Prof. Burt offers rich insight into the life and work of one of the 20th century’s greatest American writers, Robert Penn Warren. Raised in rural southwestern Kentucky, Warren was deeply shaped by the legacy of the Civil War, which he explored in his influential 1961 work, The Legacy of the Civil War, and throughout his poetry and fiction.
BOSTON — Out-of-pocket drug costs for seniors may rise under President Trump’s Most Favored Nation (MFN) proposal if policymakers do not address the role of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), according to a brief released today by the Pioneer Institute.
Boston — June 24, 2025 — The Pioneer New England Legal Foundation (PNELF) has sent a formal notice to Massachusetts Department of Revenue Commissioner Geoffrey Snyder asserting that the City of Boston is unlawfully retaliating against commercial real estate owners who seek to challenge their tax assessments.
In this week’s episode of The Learning Curve, co-host Alisha Searcy and guest co-host Walter Blanks interview Shaka Mitchell, senior fellow at the American Federation for Children. Mr. Mitchell shares about his compelling personal and professional journey in education reform. Shaka discusses how his formative experiences shaped his passion for expanding charter public schools, school choice, and empowering families.
The Boston Policy Institute together with Pioneer Institute today announced the launch of Boston DataLabs, an online platform designed to empower Boston residents, journalists, researchers, and policymakers with clear, accessible insights into the city’s payroll and budget.
Despite Massachusetts families’ strong interest in alternative to traditional educational models, entrepreneurs seeking to establish innovative learning environments face significant challenges, according to a new study published by Pioneer Institute.
A new report from Pioneer Institute shows that Massachusetts has been in an economic slowdown since 2020, with the professional, scientific, and technical services sector (PSTS) exhibiting the greatest slowdown relative to competitor states since 2022. This sector includes scientific research and development, computer systems design, engineering, and scientific consulting firms.
In this week’s episode of The Learning Curve, co-hosts U-Arkansas Prof. Albert Cheng and Alisha Searcy interview Amanda McMullen, President & CEO of the New Bedford Whaling Museum (NBWM). Ms. McMullen explores NBWM’s remarkable mission, collections, and economic impact on the Southcoast of Massachusetts. She discusses NBWM’s historical roots in the 19th-century Yankee whaling industry that made New Bedford the wealthiest city in the world per capita.
This edition of The House Call discusses a pending bill in Connecticut that both requires municipalities to plan for more affordable housing and preempts local zoning rules on small multi-family buildings and parking requirements. The newsletter also explores the possible effects of banning landlords from imposing “broker’s fees” on residential tenants.
Pioneer Institute today announced the launch of US DataLabs, a groundbreaking online platform designed to empower citizens with the data needed to effectively engage with policy makers.
In this week’s episode of The Learning Curve, co-hosts U-Arkansas Prof. Albert Cheng and Alisha Searcy interview Benjamin Moynihan, Executive Director, and, William Crombie, Director of Professional Development, for the Algebra Project, Inc. Mr. Moynihan and Mr. Crombie reflect on the life and legacy of Civil Rights era icon, and math educator, Bob Moses. They trace Moses’s journey from a Harlem upbringing and elite liberal arts education to his transformative grassroots activism in 1960s Mississippi, organizing Black voter registration and co-directing the Freedom Summer Project 1964. They discuss his collaboration with Mississippi sharecropper and Civil Rights era legend Fannie Lou Hamer, and his principled departure from the U.S. to raise a family and teach math in Tanzania, where his educational vision deepened.
In this special episode of The Learning Curve, co-hosts U-Arkansas Prof. Albert Cheng and Charlie Chieppo interview New York Times bestselling American sportswriter, biographer, and author Jane Leavy. Ms. Leavy offers a vivid exploration of Babe Ruth’s life and towering legacy. Leavy sheds new light on Ruth’s difficult Baltimore childhood, his formative years at St. Mary’s Industrial School, and his remarkable early success as a star pitcher with the Boston Red Sox.
The Pioneer Public Interest Law Center (Pioneer Law Center) today announced its strategic alliance with the New England Legal Foundation (NELF), as the Pioneer New England Legal Foundation (PNELF). Building on a common mission of advancing educational opportunity, government transparency and free enterprise, PNELF will expand services to defend and promote these freedoms across and beyond New England.
In this episode of The Learning Curve, co-hosts U-Arkansas Prof. Albert Cheng and Ret. MN Justice Barry Anderson speak with Wilfrid Prest, Emeritus Professor and Visiting Research Fellow in History and Law at the University of Adelaide in Australia, and biographer of Sir William Blackstone, among the most influential figures in the history of English common law. Prof. Prest discusses Blackstone’s formative years in mid-18th-century London and at Pembroke College, Oxford, where a classical education, Enlightenment thought, and legal scholarship shaped his intellectual path.
In this episode of The Learning Curve, co-hosts Alisha Searcy and U-Arkansas Prof. Albert Cheng, speak with Michael Duffy, President of GO Tutor Corps, a nonprofit dedicated to closing achievement gaps through high-dosage tutoring in low-income communities. Mr. Duffy shares insights from his distinguished career in public service and education reform, beginning in Massachusetts state government under Governor Bill Weld and later in Boston’s charter school movement.
Pioneer Institute has released a new Urban Voc-Tech Toolkit aimed at helping Boston’s Madison Park Technical Vocational High School reach its full potential as a driver of opportunity for high-need students. Drawing on the successes of vocational-technical schools in Worcester, Springfield, and across Massachusetts, the toolkit outlines strategies based on high academic standards, strong industry partnerships, and increased school autonomy. The toolkit was coauthored by a group of five nationally recognized education leaders.
In this episode of The Learning Curve, co-hosts Alisha Searcy and Kelley Brown, a Massachusetts U.S. history and civics teacher, interview Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Rick Atkinson, author of The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777. Mr. Atkinson explores the rise and fall of British imperial power in North America, the radical leadership of the American patriot Samuel Adams, and the early military struggles of General George Washington and the Continental Army. He discusses the brutal battlefield realities faced by Continental soldiers, the pivotal roles of Lafayette and the French alliance, and the ideological stakes of America’s War for Independence. As the nation marks the 250th anniversary of the April 1775 Battles of Lexington and Concord, Atkinson reflects on the Revolution’s lasting lessons about civic sacrifice, liberty, and the meaning of American democratic ideals.
This edition of The House Call dives into the 2024 results from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Building Permit Survey, including that Massachusetts permitted fewer new homes than it did in each year from 2013-2022. The newsletter also explains why the state’s efforts to increase production of small, owner-occupied “starter homes” have thus far resulted in no new starter homes under official programs.
A new data tool from Pioneer Institute reveals that federal drug price controls—intended to reduce out-of-pocket costs for seniors—are instead making many prescription drugs more expensive for Medicare beneficiaries.
In this episode of The Learning Curve, co-hosts U-Arkansas Prof. Albert Cheng and Pioneer’s Mary Connaughton interview Ambassador Mary Ann Glendon, Harvard Law professor emerita and former U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See. Ambassador Glendon reflects on her formative education, mentors, and how law and faith have shaped her worldview. She discusses her admiration for Western Civilization’s intellectual and spiritual heritage—especially Cicero, Edmund Burke, and the harmony of Catholicism with reason.
A new Pioneer Institute study finds that while rent control can lower rental housing costs and help vulnerable tenants remain in their homes, it also carries steep long-term consequences—including reduced housing quality, lower property values, fewer new housing units, and higher rents for non-controlled apartments.
While nearly every state has expanded private sector employment since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Massachusetts is an outlier in experiencing a net decline in private sector job growth, posing significant risks to the state’s economic health and long-term prosperity, according to a new policy brief published by Pioneer Institute.
Pioneer Institute Executive Director Jim Stergios submitted testimony highlighting the success of Massachusetts’ vocational-technical high schools and urging policymakers to focus on expanding capacity rather than altering existing admissions policies.
New report urges maximizing tax-credit value to expand educational opportunity and boost private contributions