Entries by Editorial Staff

MetroWest Daily News: Chieppo and Gass: More charter schools to close the education gap

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Chieppo and Gass: More charter schools to close the education gap By Charlie Chieppo and Jamie Gass/Guest columnists GateHouse News Service Posted Feb 10, 2013 @ 12:23 AM http://www.wickedlocal.com/millis/news/opinions/x1522319352/Chieppo-and-Gass-More-charter-schools-to-close-the-education-gap?zc_p=1#axzz2KcHjqCyz It’s easy to become desensitized to the plight of students in our lowest-performing school districts. We routinely read about the latest efforts to turn around a failing school or, as in Lawrence, an entire district. But the problem never seems to go away. One stark fact should reinvigorate concern for the students who toil in the 29 school districts that rank in the bottom 10 percent statewide: They account for nearly 30 percent of Massachusetts’ public school population. That’s why recently filed state education reform legislation that would eliminate all caps […]

New Guide to Starting Online Schools

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Online or virtual learning is growing rapidly across the United States, but those interested in starting an online school should first define their mission and target audience, because the size and nature of the student body will dictate subsequent decisions, according to a new study published by Pioneer Institute.

Study Calls for Reinstating Passage of U.S. History Test as Graduation Requirement

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The Massachusetts Legislature should require the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to reinstate passage of the U.S. history MCAS exam as a high school graduation requirement and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education should provide teachers in grades 6-10 with examples of specific texts that could be assigned to prepare students to read a seminal historical text such as Federalist #10 in grade 11 or 12, according to a new study published by Pioneer Institute.

Dr. King and America’s Destiny

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This week, we honor the legacy of Civil Rights leader, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., whose life and work helped fulfill the promise of the American Founding in extending equal rights and liberty to all.

$1B a Year More for Transportation?

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Pioneer’s Jim Stergios spoke with Transportation for Mass.’s Kristina Egan about MA Gov. Deval Patrick’s proposal to increase transportation spending by $1 billion a year. Watch this great “Face to Face” clip via our friends at MassINC

Beware of Mitt, say Bay State conservatives

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http://www.salon.com/2011/12/31/beware_of_mitt_say_bay_state_conservatives/singleton/ Mitt Romney’s Iowa surge coincides with a new Iowa TV spot in which he touts himself as a genuinely conservative businessman who will shrink and streamline the federal government. But some Massachusetts tax watchdogs and small government advocates who remember Romney’s days in the governor’s chair say: Iowa buyer beware. They note that Romney promised leaner government when he sat atop Beacon Hill from 2003 to 2007, only to leave the state largely unchanged. Rather, they say his legacy is thick with tax and fee hikes that should make conservatives do a double-take, a big-government proposal for what amounted to a “revenue czar,” and, of course, Romney-care, which bears no small resemblance to President Obama’s Afford Healthcare Act. “Did […]

Westwood residents get around $2K if House GOP OKs payroll tax cut

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http://www.wickedlocal.com/westwood/features/x1157706591/Westwood-residents-get-around-2K-if-House-GOP-OKs-payroll-tax-cut?zc_p=2#axzz2OHGE6ymJ Bay State workers have reaped thousands of dollars in savings from a one-year  cut to a federal payroll tax whose expiration looms Dec. 31. Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress have agreed broadly on  extending the temporary cut to the Social Security tax withheld from workers’  paychecks, but they disagree on how to pay for the measure. The Senate on Saturday passed a two-month extension of the tax cut rather  than a full year, along with a renewal of unemployment benefits. But the House  rejected the bill after the Senate adjourned for the holidays. For a Westwood resident earning the town’s median household income of  $114,250, the payroll tax cut will yield about $2,136 in savings by the end […]

Medfield residents get around $2K if House GOP OKs payroll tax cut

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http://www.wickedlocal.com/medfield/news/x1157706593/Medfield-residents-get-around-2K-if-House-GOP-OKs-payroll-tax-cut?zc_p=2#axzz2OHGE6ymJ Medfield residents have reaped thousands of dollars in savings from a  one-year cut to a federal payroll tax whose expiration looms Dec. 31. Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress have agreed broadly on  extending the temporary cut to the Social Security tax withheld from workers’  paychecks, but they disagree on how to pay for the measure. The Senate on Saturday passed a two-month extension of the tax cut rather  than a full year, along with a renewal of unemployment benefits. But the House  rejected the bill after the Senate adjourned for the holidays. For a Medfield resident earning the town’s median household income of  $114,250, the payroll tax cut will yield about $2,136 in savings by the end of  […]

Common Core’s Race to the Middle in Colorado

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Common Core’s Race to the Middle in Colorado. Introductory. Introductory remarks by the Honorable Bob Schaffer, Chairman, Colorado State Board of Education/former U.S. Representative. Featuring: The Honorable Robert Scott, former Texas Commissioner of Education Dr. Bill Evers, Research Fellow, Stanford University’s Hoover Institute Dr. Sandra Stotsky, Professor of Education Reform, University of Arkansas Theodor Rebarber, Founder & CEO, AccountabilityWorks, Washington, D.C. Jim Stergios, Executive Director, Pioneer Institute, Boston

Improving the Bay State’s Public Pension Fund Investment Policies

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While current policies provide a solid basis for preserving assets in Massachusetts’ 105 public pension funds, improvements and updates would boost flexibility and investment returns, while promoting accountability and limiting unnecessary risks, according to a new study published by Pioneer Institute.

Exploring Jewish Day Schools in Massachusetts

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A new Pioneer Institute study of Jewish day schools in Massachusetts calls for the creation of an education tax credit program to ensure that children have the widest possible access to the schools their parents choose for them.

Make Your End-of-Year Gift to Pioneer Today!

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Pioneer played a pivotal role in the most momentous public policy debates of 2012. In both education and healthcare, we commissioned research from the country’s top experts and elevated the conversation in support of state-based reforms. Our analysis informed the conversation nationally, on the Affordable Care Act and the Common Core national education standards, and in Massachusetts, on health care payment reform and school choice in Lawrence. As you plan your year-end giving, please make a secure, online contribution to Pioneer today! [button color=”#6699FF” background=”#DDDDDD” size=”medium” src=”https://secure.piryx.com/donate/ejE4rJvm/Pioneer-Institute/”]Contribute[/button] In the months leading up to the Supreme Court’s decision on the constitutionality of the ACA we published a healthcare policy book, The Great Experiment, and aggressively promoted its message in print, on […]

Jewish Day Schools in Massachusetts

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Jason Bedrick provides a brief overview of his new research, commissioned by Pioneer Institute, “And You Shall Teach them Diligently: The History and Status of Jewish Day Schools in Massachusetts,” (http://bit.ly/VqYM0U) describing the schools’ mission and values, enrollment trends, and tuition crisis.

Unrealistic Investment Return Assumptions Mask True Cost Of Retiring Unfunded Pension Liabilities

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Pension boards across Massachusetts must use more rigorous actuarial assumptions about pension fund investment returns and accelerate the rate at which they pay down unfunded liabilities to meet the 2040 statutory deadline for fully funding public pensions in the Commonwealth according to a new study published by Pioneer Institute, The Fiscal Implications of Massachusetts Retirement Boards’ Investment Returns.

2012 Lovett C. Peters Lecturer, Dr. Deepak Srivastava, Gladstone Institutes

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On November 13th, 2012, Pioneer’s core supporters gathered for our 15th annual Lovett C. Peters Lecture in Public Policy, an event that embodies the spirit of Pioneer Institute’s founder by recognizing our country’s leading innovators and entrepreneurs. This year’s honored speaker was Dr. Deepak Srivastava, Director of the Roddenberry Center for Stem Cell Biology and Medicine at the California-based Gladstone Institutes. Dr. Srivastava is an incomparable medical researcher, whose team has made extraordinary advances with adult stem cells, identifying ways to alter them to regenerate complex organs in test animals. An engaging and fascinating speaker, Srivastava’s work in regenerative medicine is focused on understanding the causes of heart disease to treat human cardiac disorders. His pioneering research may help doctors […]

NECN Interview: A123 becomes latest ‘green energy’ failure

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Jim Stergios, executive director of the free-market-oriented Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research, called A123’s bankruptcy filing “just one more piece of evidence that this a failed jobs strategy. The government is not good at picking winners and losers, and it’s not working for Massachusetts.”

The Great Experiment

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The Great Experiment: The States, the Feds, and Your Healthcare is a six-author book published by Pioneer Institute in 2012, offering analysis of the federal health care law and state-led solutions to health care policy’s greatest challenges.