Entries by Editorial Staff

Lawrence’s Failed Public Pension System

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by Guest Blogger Rohit Chaparala Pioneer’s newest transparency tool, MassPensions.com reveals a pressing need for reform in Lawrence’s public pension system. Launched earlier this month, the site allows Massachusetts residents to view details of public pension plans throughout the state, providing access to performance indicators including a plan’s financial condition, investment performance, and asset allocation.  From this data, the site then generates an overall composite grade for the plan. The City of Lawrence’s plan ranks among the worst in the state.  Over the past five years (2008-2012), Lawrence’s public pension system has yielded a D, F, C, D, and an F. Here’s a statistical breakdown:  From 2009 to 2010, Lawrence’s funded ratio, the percentage of pension assets available to cover […]

Announcing the Winners of the 2013 Better Government Competition

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Financial Publisher Steve Forbes to Deliver Keynote at 2013 Better Government Competition Awards Dinner Two Massachusetts Firms Among Winners, Recognition Ceremony to Be Held on September 30th Contact: Shawni Littlehale, Director of the Better Government Competition 617-723-2277 BOSTON, MA – Steve Forbes, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of Forbes Media and Editor-in-Chief of Forbes magazine, will deliver the keynote address at Pioneer Institute’s 2013 Better Government Competition Awards ceremony on September 30th, from 6-9 pm, in Boston. [message_box title=”Please Note:” color=”red”]We are at or near capacity.  If you would like to attend the 2013 Awards Dinner, please contact Shawni Littlehale (slittlehale@pioneerinst.wpengine.com 617-723-2277 ext. 217).  We are pleased to place you on our waiting list and will confirm our ability to host you […]

2013 BGC Winner: “Manufacturing Revitalization”

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Author: Michael J. Munday, CEO of Arwood Machine Corporation, located in Newburyport, Massachusetts [message_box title=”Please Join Us in Recognizing the 2013 Better Government Competition Winner and Runners Up at the Annual Awards Dinner, on September 30, 2013″ color=”red”]Purchase Tickets Today[/message_box] After years of decline, manufacturing is reshoring to the United States. Foreign labor costs are rising to levels at which they can no longer completely offset the shipping costs produced by longer supply chains or the growing concerns over the quality of the parts and products being assembled in foreign factories. At the same time, unemployment in the wake of the recent recession persists at stubbornly high levels. Unfortunately, the workers still seeking jobs are currently not qualified enough to […]

2013 BGC Runner Up: “Evaluating State Incentives for Business”

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“Evaluating State Incentives for Business” Author: Ben Zimmer, Connecticut Policy Institute, New Haven, Connecticut [message_box title=”Please Join Us in Recognizing the 2013 Better Government Competition Winner and Runners Up at the Annual Awards Dinner, on September 30, 2013″ color=”red”]Purchase Tickets Today[/message_box] To one degree or another, every state, and even the federal government, does it: provides incentives to private companies to create or import jobs or to keep them from moving jobs offshore or out of state. Annually, the collective cost to our state and federal governments in direct benefits paid to companies and foregone tax revenues is $80 billion. Recently, a number of high profile cases has demonstrated the, at best, intermittent success of government incentives as a tool […]

2013 BGC Runner Up: “Reinventing the Local Economy Through Sustainable Urban Redevelopment”

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“Reinventing the Local Economy Through Sustainable Urban Redevelopment” Authors: Keith West and Ryan Johnson, City of North Charleston, South Carolina [message_box title=”Please Join Us in Recognizing the 2013 Better Government Competition Winner and Runners Up at the Annual Awards Dinner, on September 30, 2013″ color=”red”]Purchase Tickets Today[/message_box] In 1996 the Department of Defense closed the Charleston Naval Base. At its peak, the base had employed more than 40,000 military and civilian workers. As expected, the result was an increase in unemployment and crime and a decrease in the size of the tax base for the nearest municipality, North Charleston. To offset the base’s closure, North Charleston undertook a comprehensive redevelopment planning process that would incorporate everything from basic streetscape improvements […]

2013 BGC Runner Up: “Promoting High-Impact Startups to Create a More Robust Economy”

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“Promoting High-Impact Startups to Create a More Robust Economy” Authors: Jibran Malek and Veronica del Rosario, MassChallenge, Inc., in Boston, Massachusetts. [message_box title=”Please Join Us in Recognizing the 2013 Better Government Competition Winner and Runners Up at the Annual Awards Dinner, on September 30, 2013″ color=”red”]Purchase Tickets Today[/message_box] Historically, from the light bulb to sustained powered flight, American innovation was an essential catalyst for entrepreneurial activity. But innovation does not automatically translate into entrepreneurism. Novice entrepreneurs need guidance and resources to help them turn an idea into a product. In the current economy, there is a gap between available resources and what is needed. The world’s largest accelerator program and startup competition, MassChallenge helps fill the gap between idea and […]

2013 BGC Runner Up: “Freeing Entrepreneurs from Overreaching Government Regulations”

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“Freeing Entrepreneurs from Overreaching Government Regulations” Authors: Shira Rawlinson and Dana Berliner, Institute for Justice, in Arlington, Virginia [message_box title=”Please Join Us in Recognizing the 2013 Better Government Competition Winner and Runners Up at the Annual Awards Dinner, on September 30, 2013″ color=”red”]Purchase Tickets Today[/message_box] Arbitrary licensing and permitting laws foreclose many immigrants and people of modest means from entry into areas of occupation that could otherwise offer legs up in the American economy. Specifically, these areas include transportation, commercial kitchens, and home-based businesses. Municipally set caps on the number of cabs that cities license through restrictive medallion and franchising systems drive up the cost of purchasing a medallion. In Boston, the cost of a taxi medallion can run as […]

Introducing MassPensions.com – New Site Rates MA’s 100+ Pension Systems

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User-Friendly Online Tool Provides Easily Accessible Data, Rates Performance Of Commonwealth’s 100+ Public Pension Systems Pioneer Institute is unveiling the MassPensions data accessibility tool that provides year-by-year comparative data and ratings for the performance of each of the commonwealth’s more than 100 retirement systems. “This low-cost, easily updatable Internet tool is a straightforward way to grasp the fiscal status of each public pension system,” said Pioneer Institute Executive Director Jim Stergios. “It also demonstrates just how easy technology makes it to share government information with the public in a transparent way.” The tool is available at MassPensions.com (as well as .org) and includes most of the data provided in the annual reports of the Public Employee Retirement Administration Commission (PERAC) […]

Pioneer’s Public Statement on the Conference Committee Budget

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LEGISLATURE’S FY 2014 BUDGET IS THE STATUS QUO, JUST MORE OF IT: YES TO NEW SPENDING, NO TO REFORM Public Statement on the Conference Committee Budget The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Massachusetts’s 2014 Status Quo Budget The legislature produced a budget for FY 2014 as it began last week. The budget does not address persistent structural deficits. In a year during which baseline revenues have grown because of a slowly recovering economy, we have set ourselves on a course to raise taxes and, remarkably, also to withdraw hundreds of millions of dollars from the rainy-day fund. The budget blueprint is projected to increase spending by more than 5 percent in FY 2014. With tax revenue rising just under […]

From Rum to Musket Balls: The Fourth of July in History

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By Guest Blogger Ellen M. Nye As people across the country gather for fireworks displays, reenactments, and parades, we celebrate our country’s history and discover again the joys of learning about the United States’ past. Independence Day was only declared a federal holiday in 1870, and it was not until 1941 that it was designated as a paid holiday for federal employees. Yet people have been celebrating the official adoption of the Declaration of Independence in a variety of ways since 1776. Many cities and towns marked the schism with Britain by reading the Declaration of Independence aloud before a crowd. On July 9th, 1776 George Washington himself read the document in New York City, not far from the British […]

Celebrating 20 Years of Education Reform in Massachusetts

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Birmingham, Weld Oppose MA Adopting Common Core, Call for Lifting Charter School Caps Pioneer forum celebrates 20th anniversary of education reform with Weld, Birmingham, and panel of contributors to Bay State’s historic reforms Two of the three primary authors of Massachusetts’ landmark 1993 Education Reform Act questioned Massachusetts’ decision to jettison its academic standards in favor of national standards known as Common Core, and called on state leaders to lift the cap on charter public schools in the commonwealth’s lowest performing school districts at a June 20th forum to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the law’s signing. Today, Pioneer is pleased to release a video of the forum, at which former Senate President Tom Birmingham and former Gov. Bill Weld […]

The Honorable William F. Weld, Former Massachusetts Governor

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This video features the Honorable William F. Weld, former Massachusetts Governor and co-author of the 1993 Massachusetts Education Reform Law. Governor Weld gave one of the two Keynote addresses at the forum, “20 Years of Education Reform: 1993 MERA, Its Legacy, and Its Future.”

20 Years of Education Reform Roundtable Panel Discussion

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This video presents the panel discussion from the Pioneer forum: “20 Years of Education Reform,” featuring Tripp Jones of New Profit, Inc., Sandra Stotsky, Emerita Professor of Education Reform at University of Arkansas, Michael Sentance, former Massachusetts Secretary of Education, and David Driscoll, former Massachusetts Commissioner of Education

Why Common Core’s Math Standards Don’t Measure Up (by Guest Blogger Ze’ev Wurman)

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Guest Post by Ze’ev Wurman (biography below)  Last year William Schmidt and Richard Houang published a paper in the Educational Researcher that claimed to have explored the coherence of the Common Core state standards in mathematics (CCSSM) and their similarity to those of other high achieving nations. The study (Schmidt & Houang, “Curricular Coherence and the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics,” 41(8), 2012) has received significant attention, and defenders of the Common Core started to use it in support of their claims of CCSSM’s high quality. Schmidt himself testified before the Michigan House Education Committee last March and made the following claims. Common Core’s standards are very consistent with the standards in the world’s top-achieving countries; States with standards […]

The MBTA’s Out-of-Control Bus Maintenance Costs

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Pioneer Institute Study Highlights Overspending on MBTA Bus Maintenance A new study from Pioneer Research Director and former Massachusetts Inspector General Greg Sullivan finds that the MBTA spends more than twice as much maintaining its buses than comparable transit agencies do, and that simply running its bus maintenance operation as efficiently as other agencies would save at least $250 million over six years. The MBTA’s Out-of-Control Bus Maintenance Costs The policy brief, “The MBTA’s Out-of-Control Bus Maintenance Costs,” coincides with deliberations by the Massachusetts Senate and House of Representatives over an expected $500-800 million tax increase for transportation funding. The state currently has a half-billion dollar annual transportation operating deficit. The report calls for closer scrutiny of the MBTA’s bus repair and […]

Improving the Charter School Authorization Process

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NEW STUDY FINDS ABOLISHING CAPS AND A MORE AUTONOMOUS CHARTER PUBLIC SCHOOL OFFICE WOULD IMPROVE CHARTER SCHOOL AUTHORIZATION PROCESS Event to feature noted education reformer Dr. Howard Fuller, Edward Cremata of Stanford’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes Massachusetts should abolish charter public school caps, create a more autonomous Charter School Office and explore the creation of additional charter authorizers, according to a new study published by Pioneer Institute. Looking Back to Move Forward: Charter School Authorizing in Massachusetts “Charter schools have been a success story in Massachusetts,” said Cara Stillings Candal, author of Looking Back to Move Forward: Charter School Authorizing in Massachusetts, “but the charter authorizing process has become more politicized and is being used to subject charters […]

Better Government Competition Internship

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BETTER GOVERNMENT COMPETITION INTERNSHIP Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research Job type: fall internship Duration: flexible in the range September 2013-January 2014 Location: 85 Devonshire St, Boston, MA Pay: n/a About Pioneer. The Pioneer Institute is an independent non-partisan privately funded research organization that seeks to improve the quality of life in Massachusetts through civic discourse and intellectually rigorous, data-driven public policy solutions based on free market principles, individual liberty and responsibility, and the ideal of effective, limited and accountable government. We are a leading state policy think-tank, a resource for legislators on Beacon Hill and staff in the State’s executive offices, and attract more press than any other research institute in Massachusetts. Job description. The intern will work with […]

Video: Exiting the National Standards Bandwagon

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Heritage Foundation Panel – April 17, 2012 “The Obama Administration, intent on furthering federal intervention in education, has spent billions incentivizing states to adopt national standards and tests. Adopting national standards means ceding control of the content taught in local schools to national organizations and distant bureaucrats in Washington. Nationalizing the content taught in local schools further removes parents – those with the most at stake in their children’s education – from the equation. With little public notice, too many state leaders have jumped on the national standards bandwagon, despite tremendous costs in terms of dollars and liberty lost. But it’s not too late to reverse course. Conservative state leaders who want to regain control of standards, testing, and curricula […]

What Anti-Common Core Activism in Tennessee Portends

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Across the country, from Florida to Michigan, Colorado to Alabama, and many states in between, legislators and governors are taking steps to withdraw from Common Core. Nationally, US Senators Ted Cruz, Chuck Grassley, Rand Paul and others are working to de-fund it, citing federal law prohibiting the government from directing education standards and testing at the state level. Opposition is growing among a broad spectrum.  Randi Weingarten, president of AFT, the second largest teachers union in the country, said earlier this week: “The Common Core is in trouble. There is a serious backlash in lots of different ways, on the right and on the left.” On Tuesday, Pioneer Institute participated in a rally in Tennessee, a public hearing about the major […]

Worcester Telegram & Gazette: “Lift Cap on Urban Charters”

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By Nina Rees and Gerard Robinson As former federal and state government education officials, we continue to be impressed by the performance of Massachusetts charter public schools. But we can’t help but wonder how a state that has opened some of the country’s highest-performing charters has failed to lift the cap on the number of urban schools that can open. Taking this simple step would create extraordinary new opportunities for families to benefit from the charter school experience. A new Stanford University study confirms that charter schools are a smashing success in Massachusetts. The study, from Stanford’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes, finds that Boston charter schools are doing more to close achievement gaps than any other group of […]

New Report: Medical Device Tax Will Cost MA Employers $422 Million+ Per Year

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New Report Estimates Medical Device Tax Will Cost Massachusetts Employers Over $422 Million Per Year Controversial Provision of Federal Health Law Impacts Hundreds of Companies, Will Lead to Research and Development Cuts, Layoffs, Higher Prices BOSTON – As part of the financing for the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), Massachusetts businesses face a 2.3 percent excise tax on medical devices that went into effect on January 1st, 2013. According to a new Pioneer Institute policy brief, First, Do No Harm: The Impact of the Affordable Care Act on Massachusetts’ Medical Device Industry, the estimated tax liability for this year will be more than $422 million for the 19 largest companies in the state. The first payment is due to […]

‘Runaway’ costs on rail & T

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http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2013/04/runaway_costs_on_rail_t http://boston.cbslocal.com/2013/04/12/report-mbta-spending-out-of-control-on-employee-pay/ http://www.myfoxboston.com/story/21951093/2013/04/12/report-mbta-salaries-far-above-other-state-agencies The state’s taxpayer-funded commuter rail service is lavishing extravagant raises, “signing” bonuses and other plum perks on its engineers and conductors, according to a scathing new report that also slams the debt-ridden MBTA for its own “excessive” labor costs that far outpace other state agencies. The report — compiled by the Pioneer Institute, a conservative fiscal watchdog, and obtained by the Herald — called on Gov. Deval Patrick and Beacon Hill Democrats to rein in Massachusetts Bay Commuter Rail and MBTA salaries and benefits before raising taxes to bail out the cash-strapped transit agency. Among the report’s eye-popping highlights: • 13.7 percent boost in salaries doled out by the MBCR to commuter rail engineers and trainmen in […]

New Report: Runaway Transportation Costs

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Pioneer’s new research director (former state Inspector General) Greg Sullivan is the author of the new policy brief outlining concerns with procurement of the MBTA’s commuter rail contract.  It’s the first in a series he will be releasing on this issue. Runaway Transportation Costs The brief argues that since labor expenses account for more than 70 percent of the costs of the commuter rail system, addressing that issue head-on represents a major opportunity for long-term savings. Greg includes information on “signing bonuses” for existing employees, employees being paid not to show up, receiving raises every six months, minimal health insurance co-payments, using overtime to game the system, and more perks that are way out of line with those received by their counterparts in both the […]

Sandra Stotsky Discusses Common Core

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Dr. Sandra Stotsky, Professor Emerita, University of Arkansas, former Senior Associate Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Education, describes some of the problems with the quality of the Common Core national education standards.

James McPherson, “The Legacy of Lincoln”

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Pulitzer Prize-winning Civil War historian and Princeton University Professor Emeritus James M. McPherson delivered the keynote address at “The Legacy of Lincoln: U.S. History in American Schooling,” a Pioneer Institute forum marking the 150th anniversary of both the Emancipation Proclamation and the Gettysburg Address, Tuesday, April 2nd at the Omni Parker House hotel in downtown Boston. Read the press release here. Video: Check out our Facebook photo album: Photo Album   Help us continue hosting free, public forums promoting US History and Civics education. Make your secure, online contribution today! Click the button to donate through PayPal, or scroll down to complete the form below: Questions? Contact Erin Blake Elefante, Development Director 85 Devonshire Street, 8th Floor, Boston, MA  617-727-2277 ext. […]

Gerard Robinson, Keynote Speaker

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Gerard Robinson, former Virginia Secretary of Education, was a keynote speaker at the Pioneer Institute’s Charter School Forum. Feb. 21, 2013 Omni Parker House Boston, MA