Entries by Editorial Staff

Are teachers changing their unions?

http://boston.com/community/blogs/rock_the_schoolhouse/2012/07/are_teachers_changing_their_un.html The recent deal brokered by Stand for Children with the Massachusetts Teachers Association (and at the end supported by the AFL-CIO and the Massachusetts chapter of the American Federation for Teachers) made some progress in making student performance a larger consideration in evaluating teachers and lessened the role of seniority. The Globe editorial board put it this way: Stand for Children was plowing ahead with a tough ballot initiative that would have eliminated nearly all aspects of teacher seniority in the state’s public school systems. It went so far as to put non-tenured teachers with three years or less experience — so-called provisionals — on par with the most senior teachers during layoffs. With the 107,000-member Massachusetts Teachers Association […]

Massachusetts Tackles Health-Care Reform (Again)

http://www.governing.com/blogs/politics/gov-massachusetts-tackles-health-care-reform-again.html Now that the Supreme Court has closed the book on the first phase of health-care reform with its decision to uphold President Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), Massachusetts is poised to kick off phase 2 — and like the first time, this could have implications for other states. Before the Massachusetts Legislature adjourns on July 31, chances are good that lawmakers will pass a bill to enact cost controls on health care in the state, according to a series of interviews in Boston’s Beacon Hill. The measure — which Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick is expected to sign — would be the long-awaited follow-up to the health-care overhaul approved in 2006 by the Democratic-dominated Legislature and signed […]

Full house hears panel’s criticisms of Common Core

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865558845/Full-house-hears-panels-criticisms-of-Common-Core.html SANDY — Concerned residents filled the auditorium of the Salt Lake Community College Miller Campus Tuesday for a panel discussion on the failures of the Common Core State Standards. The standards are a set of achievement benchmarks in   mathematics and English language arts that were developed by states and are voluntarily adopted. Utah has been involved with a consortium of states in developing the benchmarks for more than two years, but the issue has gained notoriety in recent months as many Utahns view the program as a federal intrusion into state sovereignty. One-third to one-fourth of Tuesday’s crowd of approximately 300 self-identified as home schoolers, but frequently joined their public education peers in applauding the remarks by panel members […]

Health-care reform: How has the individual mandate worked in Massachusetts?

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2012/0710/Health-care-reform-How-has-the-individual-mandate-worked-in-Massachusetts There was a moment some 5-1/2 years ago when Peter Kastner looked at his monthly health-insurance bills and wondered whether breaking the law might make more sense. He and his wife were using a high-deductible plan with a $400 monthly premium, but it didn’t comply with the landmark 2006 law that transformed health insurance in Massachusetts. Paying the tax penalty for not complying was almost more economical than the policies he found through the state-run insurance exchange program. After three months, the Kastners decided that the risks associated with catastrophic insurance were too much, and they opted for coverage through his former employer at $800 a month. When that coverage ran out, monthly premiums under a new, state-approved policy […]

What would Jesus do?

Published in CommonWealth Magazine Boston cardinal seán o’malley condemns the Obama administration’s requirement that all employers, even religious ones, offer insurance covering the cost of birth control, even after the president backtracked and offered a compromise. “It is important that Catholics not be deceived into thinking that this issue is simply another battle in the ‘culture wars,’” O’Malley wrote on his blog in February. “Rather, it is an attack on the right of all people of faith to live their faith in freedom.” Yet O’Malley appears to have no First Amend­ment qualms about a legally questionable real estate practice by the Boston Archdiocese that seeks to impose the church’s religious mores and anticompetitive mandates on those who buy surplus church […]

“Common Core” Education Standards Forum to Address Backlash Against Federal Takeover

http://ceo.ulitzer.com/node/2309642 WHAT: “Common Core State Standards” (CCSS) Forum WHEN: Tuesday, July 10, 2012 Media interviews: 6:00-7:00 p.m. Panel Discussion: 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. WHERE: Larry Miller Auditorium, SLCC Campus 9750 South 300 West Sandy, Utah 84070 WHO: Utah Education Coalition Utah State Representative Keith Grover, Chairman Alisa Ellis, Event Chairman Panelists to include: Dr. Bill Evers, Research Fellow, Hoover Institution; member, Mitt Romney’s Education Policy Advisory Group; former United States Assistant Secretary of Education under George W. Bush Kent D. Talbert, co-founder, Talbert & Eitel, PLLC; former General Counsel, United States Department of Education under George W. Bush Emmett McGroarty, Esq., Director of Education Policy, American Principles Project; author, ALEC anti-common core legislation; founder, www.truthinamericaneducation.org network James Gass, Director, Center […]

ObamaCare more taxing than RomneyCare? Laws’ differences debated

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/07/09/obamacare-more-taxing-than-romneycare-two-laws-differences-debated/ President Obama’s camp chafes at the notion the health care law’s individual  insurance mandate packs the threat of a tax. One way Democrats have been  responding to to such criticisms is to point the finger at Mitt Romney and the  health care law he signed as governor of Massachusetts. “Let’s get down to the bottom line here: Mitt Romney is the ObamaCare daddy,”  Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., said on CBS’s Face the Nation. “He gave birth to  this baby up in Massachusetts, and now he doesn’t recognize it.” President Obama made the same argument while on a bus tour last week, saying,  “when you hear all these folks saying, oh, no, no, this is a tax, this is a  […]

Local bans proliferate from plastic water bottles to swearing to leaf blowers

Future archeologists who stumble upon the annals of local government, circa 2012, may find this era remarkable for the things we tried to get rid of: enormous sodas, small plastic water bottles, public swearing, fatty food, loud leaf blowers. Chelsea, Lynn, and Brookline have joined Cambridge and made the news, with the coverage sometimes favorable and sometimes mocking, for passing bans that tried to make their residents healthier, quieter, more environmental. But the expanding list of potentially prohibited food, drink, and noise has spawned its own debate: Do the bans work? And are they necessary? “The best thing you can say for them is that they are inefficient and amount to little more than symbolic actions,” said Jim Stergios, executive […]

Hollywood’s in town

http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2012/07/07/hollywood_arrives_in_small_massachusetts_towns_cash_in_hand_and_stars_on_location/?page=2 When the state started doling out tax breaks to attract big-name films in 2006, it seemed natural that Boston would take a star turn in the flurry of movies that followed, including “The Town” and “Gone Baby Gone.” The city has the cachet, dramatic locations, and technical talent needed to support such large productions. But this summer, Hollywood crews are also deployed across the suburbs, with three major projects currently filming in smaller Massachusetts communities. For businesses and residents in those towns, playing host to a movie production offers more than the chance to glimpse a star or two – it can also provide an economic boost on a hyperlocal level. “It’s like a little green shamrock,” said Nancy […]

What Neighborhood Are You From?

http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/blog/2012/07/06/boston-neighborhood-borders-crowdsource/ For a select group of Boston residents, there’s nothing more important than their neighborhood and its identity.  And there are many places, where you are absolutely, positively in a specific neighborhood — Broadway in South Boston, Blue Hill Ave in Mattapan Square, Adams Park in Roslindale. But head out from those places and you run into lots of a grey areas — probably in one neighborhood, but possibly in another.  And the definitions may shift depending on whom you talk to — the Boston Redevelopment Authority, the Boston Transportation Department, realtors, long-time residents, or newcomers. Some places even get to shift neighborhoods.  One particular area moved from Roslindale to West Roxbury after the West Roxbury post office got the […]

GOP pushes carrot approach to insurance, over ObamaCare mandate’s stick

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/07/06/gop-pushes-carrot-approach-to-insuring-americas-over-obamacare-mandate-stick/ Part of the the effort to repeal and replace the President Obama’s health  care law, as Republicans see it, is to find a way to entice the uninsured to buy  insurance rather than force them to do so. The existing law that the Supreme Court recently upheld relies on the  proverbial stick — the individual mandate, which requires people to buy  insurance or face a fine. Republicans argue for a carrot approach, to help more people voluntarily buy  insurance, including by offering broader tax incentives. “I think that many on the other side see that there is an alternative,” Nina  Owcharenko of the Heritage Foundation said. “If we actually use carrots and  provide the right incentives for people who […]

Spinning the Supreme Court’s healthcare decision

http://www.cjr.org/united_states_project/spinning_the_supreme_courts_he.php?page=all In the days before and after the Supreme Court’s decision, spin doctors were hard at work peddling their experts, positions, and takes on what might happen, and then what did happen and what might happen next. This is all to be expected, but the scope and the volume of the spin was extraordinary. “I have never seen so many lawyers and experts ready to comment,” said Allan Ripp, whose company, Allan Ripp Public Relations Inc., represents law firms and other healthcare stakeholders. “I’ve never seen a piece of news generate this much media responsive messaging. Anyone, aside from entertainment lawyers, had something to say. It was a quotable or teachable moment.” One of Ripp’s clients, the Washington-based law firm […]

As US adopts health care fee, Mass. is in spotlight

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2012/07/06/44000_uninsured_massachusetts_residents_paid_penalty_in_2010/?page=2 Francisco Machado of Lowell had long gone without health insurance. Strong and healthy, he preferred to save the money or send it to family in Brazil, until pain and buzzing in his ear sent him to the emergency room. The $600 bill persuaded him to enroll in a plan offered by his employer, a cleaning company. Having coverage meant that the 45-year-old would no longer be hit with a state fine — he paid $406 in 2011 — for being uninsured. But this spring Machado moved to a part-time job and became uninsured again. Massachusetts had the nation’s highest rate of health coverage even before passage of a pioneering 2006 law requiring most residents to have insurance. Yet tens […]

Mass. health law may bode well for federal law

http://www.telegram.com/article/20120703/NEWS/120709902/1052/newsrewind BOSTON — Massachusetts has the nation’s highest rate of residents with health insurance. Visits to emergency rooms are beginning to ease. More residents are getting cancer screenings and more women are making prenatal doctors’ visits. Still, one of the biggest challenges for the state lies ahead: reining in spiraling costs. Six years after Gov. Mitt Romney signed the nation’s most ambitious health care law — one that would lay the groundwork for his presidential opponent’s national version — supporters say the Massachusetts law holds promise for the long-term success of Barack Obama’s plan. Like the federal law it inspired, the Massachusetts law has multiple goals, among them expanding the number of insured residents, reducing emergency room visits, penalizing those […]

RomneyCare by the Numbers

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2902104/posts -According to the Beacon Hill Institute the RomneyCare plan has increased total health insurance costs by $4.3 Billion. -The Kiaser Family Foundation recently found that Massachusetts health insurance premiums are now the highest in the nation. This has come about since the passage of RomneyCare. -Since the passage of RomneyCare, healthcare costs paid by the state have risen until they now account for 40% of the state budget. -According to current projections, the average median-income family will be expected to pay nearly a third of its income toward health insurance premiums by 2016. -According to the Pioneer Institute, total spending on Uncompensated Care and Commonwealth Care has increased by 38% since the passage of RomneyCare. -Since 2004, the average […]

Column: Supreme Court issues another head-scratching decision

http://www.eagletribune.com/opinion/x1483813422/Column-Supreme-Court-issues-another-head-scratching-decision In a nutshell (literally): In Kelo v. City of New London, five nutty justices ruled that government can take property from private owners who resist selling their homes and small businesses, and give it to private developers as part of a redevelopment plan that would achieve higher property tax revenues for the city. New London, Conn., paid some compensation to the owners, took the property, couldn’t get financing for the project, and abandoned it; the stolen land is now a dump. Three of those nutty judges — Anthony Kennedy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer — are still on the Court, deciding on our health care. Two sane dissenting judges from 2005 – Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas — […]

Control of costs a test for overhaul

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2012/07/01/court_approval_of_health_law_sets_national_stage_for_the_cost_limits_that_massachusetts_is_seeking/?page=3 Just as the health care overhaul in Massachusetts is widely accepted as the model for the national bill upheld as constitutional Thursday by the US Supreme Court, it is also seen by many as a model and a caution for the necessary sequel to much broader insurance coverage: cost control. Bringing almost everyone under the umbrella of health insurance is considered by advocates of the 2006 Massachusetts law, and of President Obama’s 2010 plan, as the essential precondition for reining in medical expenses. All consumers, employers, hospitals, and insurers now abruptly, with the law’s implementation, have a major stake in that goal. But nothing about the journey is easy — as six years’ experience in Massachusetts shows. Consumers should […]

Hospital leaders see little impact in Mass. from high-court ruling

http://www.sentinelandenterprise.com/local/ci_20971016/hospital-leaders-see-little-impact-mass-from-high While much of the country held its breath as the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to uphold President Barack Obama’s health-care law was handed down Thursday, hospital leaders in Massachusetts said the ruling would have little impact here. Massachusetts Democrats praised the decision, while Republicans criticized it. The heart of the law — an individual insurance mandate requiring nearly all residents to have insurance or face tax penalties — already exists in Massachusetts due to the state’s 2006 health care initiative. Massachusetts is currently the only state with an individual mandate. HealthAlliance Hospital President and CEO Patrick Muldoon said he was not surprised the law was upheld, although he thought the ruling on the individual mandate could have gone either […]

Court decision may not disrupt implementation – High political stakes for SCOTUS ruling – ACA advocates on tenterhooks – Senate GOP won’t party if law is tossed

http://www.politico.com/politicopulse/0612/politicopulse775.html IT’S HERE – Today is THE day. No more waiting, no more “what ifs?” to ponder. Two years, three months and five days after the first lawsuits against the Affordable Care Act were filed — the same day it became law — the Supreme Court will meet at 10 a.m. today to render its verdict on President Barack Obama’s signature legislative achievement. –The justices still have two more cases to decide in addition to the ACA. Those will likely go first. And the ACA decision could come in multiple parts, so patience could be an especially important virtue this morning. But it should all be over by around 10:30 a.m. And then let the spinning begin. Happy Thursday and […]

Previous rulings stir skepticism of Supreme Court’s ability to resolve major issues

http://www.salemnews.com/opinion/x1058723505/Previous-rulings-stir-skepticism-of-Supreme-Courts-ability-to-resolve-major-issues I’d try to make an intelligent guess about what the Supreme Court will do about Obamacare, if not for the court’s 2005 Kelo decision. In a nutshell (literally): In Kelo v. City of New London, five nutty justices ruled that government can take property from private owners who resist selling their homes and small businesses, and give it to private developers as part of a redevelopment plan that would achieve higher property tax revenues for the city. New London, Conn., paid some compensation to the owners, took the property, couldn’t get financing for the project and abandoned it. The stolen land is now a dump. Three of those nutty judges — Kennedy, Ginsburg and Breyer — are still on […]

Supreme Court ruling also seen as win for Mass.

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-06-28/supreme-court-ruling-also-seen-as-win-for-mass-dot BOSTON (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to uphold President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul, including the individual insurance requirement at the heart of the law, is being hailed as a vindication for Massachusetts. Massachusetts laid the groundwork for the 2010 federal health law with its 2006 health care initiative and is currently the only state with an “individual mandate,” requiring that nearly all residents have insurance or face tax penalties. Gov. Deval Patrick hailed the court’s ruling as a victory for the role of government in helping people help themselves. He said the law gives families more security while holding insurers accountable. The Democratic governor also praised former Gov. Mitt Romney for signing the state law while […]

The Supreme Court Ruling on Obamacare: 16 Experts Weigh in

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2900718/posts It’s the end of liberty! It’s the beginning of freedom! Either way you slice it, the court’s ruling on Thursday was momentous. I Knew It! Donna Shalala: Health and Human Services Secretary (1993-2001) ?and University of Miami president “I expected it. I actually told my students at the end of the semester that I thought the Supreme Court would uphold the individual mandate and the rest of the provisions because it was carefully drafted in consultation with constitutional lawyers. I also had some confidence that Chief Justice John Roberts would not play politics on this one. I think we’ll be able to say to Americans, the president will be able to say, this helps you, if you have insurance […]

Obamacare’s Fate Lies In Anthony Kennedy’s Hands: System Failure

http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2012/06/27/obamacares-fate-lies-in-anthony-kennedys-hands-system-failure/ The fate of the federal health care law currently before the Supreme Court is likely in the hands of Justice Anthony Kennedy, who has already cast the swing vote in a number of contentious cases over the past decade.  True to form, his questions during oral arguments gave both proponents and opponents of the federal law reason for hope. Those who believe that it’s unconstitutional to force individuals to purchase health insurance and that the law should accordingly be struck down point to Kennedy’s statement that “the law changes the relationship of the federal government to the individual in a very fundamental way.” Supporters of the law point to his comment that young people who forego insurance (“sitting home […]

The Toughest State Government Job You’ll Ever Love

http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/blog/2012/06/25/wonks-wanted/ Interested in public policy?  And I mean real public policy, not the Twitter-Blogosphere-Message war of campaigns, but the nuts and bolts of how government provides services, allocates resources, and implements changes (or at least tries to). If so, I’d point you in the direction of the Fiscal Policy Analyst positions now open at the state’s budget office (the Executive Office of Administration and Finance for those proper name sticklers). These positions, although not hugely compensated, put you in the catbird seat for overseeing how state spending (a complex and multifaceted thing) is done at specific state agencies.  You get exposure to various state agencies and programs, developing a pretty deep understanding in a short time and (one hopes) becoming […]

Indiana Common Core Adoption Facing Stiff Opposition

http://www.educationnews.org/k-12-schools/indiana-common-core-adoption-facing-stiff-opposition/ The fight over the implementation of Common Core Standards is getting particularly brutal in Indiana, since it will be replacing a set of state standards that is considered some of the best in the country. The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation said that the state’s language standards are superior to those offered by the Common Core, while Sandra Stotsky, a nationally-known education reformer and authority, said that Indiana “was trading a silk purse for the sow’s ear” in getting rid of its math curriculum. The opposition to Common Core even puts Republicans against their own party members, with some saying that the condition that makes the adoption of the standards a requirement in order to qualify for the Federal Race […]

Right-leaning? The states as laboratories of democracy?

http://runningahospital.blogspot.com/2012/06/right-leaning-states-as-laboratories-of.html I laughed a bit when I heard a local radio reporter refer to the “right-leaning” Pioneer Institute in her story about suggestions the organization made to the Massachusetts legislature during the current debate between the Senate and the House on their dueling bills.  I laughed because that same station never refers to liberal advocacy groups as “left-leaning.”  Only in the “people’s republic of Massachusetts” could one get away with applying an exclusive modifier like that and believe it to be journalistically correct. As I mentioned before, the Pioneer Institute offers excellent analytical work in this arena and, indeed, is one of few places to employ sufficient rigor that, even if you disagree with them, you are left respecting how […]

What Romney should do on health care

http://dailycaller.com/2012/06/21/what-romney-should-do-on-health-care/ Americans believe in second chances. Mitt Romney will get his if the Supreme Court rules to throw out part, or all, of the president’s federal health insurance law. Should Romney propose replacing it with a federal version of the Massachusetts health law or a federal mega-bill that mandates a one-size-fits-all free-market solution? The question is now central to the election — the high court has made that certain — and eclipsed in importance only by the debate over jobs and the economy. President Obama may cite Romney’s Massachusetts reform as an inspiration for his own efforts, but there are profound differences between the laws — the size and reach, financing, the underlying philosophy. Romney sought an open marketplace for […]

New questions surround ‘common core’

http://www.thestarpress.com/article/20120622/OPINION/306220009/New-questions-surround-common-core-?gcheck=1&nclick_check=1 A battle is brewing on the education reform front over Indiana’s embrace of Common Core – a set of math and English standards being implemented across the country to govern what is taught and tested from kindergarten to Grade 12. The debate is half policy, half politics. On both counts Indiana officials’ defense of the Core is perplexing. Leading policy experts on standards and curriculum have questioned why Indiana would abandon its previous standards, which were ranked among the best in the country. The Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a champion of Common Core, has called Indiana’s English and Language Arts standards “clearly superior” and our math standards of comparable quality. Nationally known reform expert Sandra Stotsky says Indiana traded […]

Tribe and tribulation for Indian gaming

http://www.commonwealthmagazine.org/The-Download/239-Tribe-and-tribulation-for-Indian-gaming.aspx Since Gov. Deval Patrick signed a law authorizing casino gambling last year, a giant contradiction has been hanging over the race for the state’s three casino licenses. The law carves out a license for the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe in the state’s southeastern region, provided the Legislature and the state gaming commission are confident in the ability of the Mashpee to enter the federal regime governing tribal gaming. But thanks to a 2009 Supreme Court ruling, the federal government has no power to take title to land for a Mashpee gaming reservation. So even as the Mashpee proceed with plans to construct a casino complex in Taunton, absent an act of Congress, they’re heading toward a federal dead end. An […]

Our View: Schools need to tighten, not ease oversight

http://www.gloucestertimes.com/opinion/x138781233/Our-View-Schools-need-to-tighten-not-ease-oversight Too often, education policy makers get so carried away with what’s new that they forget what works. Thankfully, new polling shows that parents, teachers and legislators are a lot better at keeping their eyes on the ball. A few years ago, Massachusetts education officials pushed to substitute “21st century skills,” such as “global awareness” and “cultural competence” for academic content. Next, they ditched Massachusetts’ best-in-the-nation K-12 academic standards for dumbed-down national standards that cut classic literature by more than 60 percent. In 2005, Massachusetts became the first state ever to finish first in every category tested on the National Assessment of Educational Progress. It has repeated the feat every time that the test has been administered. Results from the […]