Entries by Editorial Staff

Chester plan for Lawrence falls short on ideas, options

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http://www.lowellsun.com/oped/ci_19718547 In November, state Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester announced he will  name a receiver with “all the powers of the superintendent and school committee”  to right Lawrence’s troubled schools, where about 80 percent of students score  in the two lowest categories on MCAS exams. The announcement is hardly reassuring on at least two counts. First, research  demonstrates that school turnaround efforts across the country have yielded  meager results and aren’t a scalable strategy for fixing troubled urban  districts. Second, the state’s education leadership doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.  In his very first budget, Gov. Deval Patrick proposed defunding the state’s  independent educational accountability office. Is it any wonder that the  Merrimack Special Education Collaborative flouted financial controls and misused  more than […]

Health Reform May Lessen Sting of Charity Care for NJ Hospitals

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http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/12/0110/2345/ New Jersey hospitals, feeling the strain of nearly $2 billion in uncompensated care, are hoping the Affordable Care Act will be more than a band-aid to help alleviate huge debts hospitals carry for treating uninsured patients. Studies by the Rutgers Center for State Health Policy have estimated that an additional 444,000 New Jerseyans will be covered in 2014, whether through an expansion of Medicaid or through the new health care exchanges, where low and moderate income individuals will be able to buy subsidized health coverage. “It is always positive to have more people insured, but we don’t know what will be the impact,” said Suzanne Ianni, president of the Hospital Alliance of New Jersey. “The burden on hospitals is […]

MBTA nixes takeover, ponders next rail contract

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20120107/us-commuter-rail/ MBTA management has ruled out the possibility of taking over direct operation of the state’s commuter rail network. Instead, it may seek a longer-term contract with a private operator to spur investment in an aging system that has become increasingly prone to breakdowns. Who runs the trains and for how long is undoubtedly of less interest to 70,000 or so daily commuter rail passengers than whether the service is reliable and on time. But the cash-strapped Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s ability to provide consistently reliable service may well hinge on a series of crucial decisions it faces over the next 12-18 months. Comprised of 394 miles of track stretching from Boston west to Worcester, north to Merrimack Valley and […]

2012 Massachusetts State Spending Map

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In 2012, Pioneer Institute proudly reprised this exciting online tool — a spending map of Massachusetts’ state government — designed to help bring about more openness and accountability.   The map presents hundreds of government departments, agencies, and programs in a visual format, proportionate in size to their funding level. Looking at the whole map, viewers can ascertain the state’s spending priorities. You will also be able to scroll over and zoom into each component for a more in-depth examination of the number of agencies and departments that exist, and easily identify bureaucracy, inefficiency, and unnecessary duplication. Pioneer is pleased to provide this useful online map in an adjustable display format for all Massachusetts citizens interested in obtaining information about […]

‘The Mass Factor’ takes on state politics from Danvers studio

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http://www.salemnews.com/local/x1818106068/The-Mass-Factor-takes-on-state-politics-from-Danvers-studio A small cable TV show called “The Mass Factor” is taking on big topics and spreading its unfiltered half-hour interviews to dozens of communities, thanks to a politically minded producer, Linda Flaherty, and a well-known Boston radio personality, Todd Feinburg. Feinburg, a Beverly resident, serves as host of the semi-monthly interview show on politics. Produced at Danvers Community Access Television’s studios on Elm Street, “The Mass Factor” is the brainchild of Flaherty, a Danvers resident who was able to persuade Feinburg to host it. Feinburg is a conservative, but the show is not about the host’s ideological perspective, rather it is an attempt to create a dialogue with elected officials or ordinary people on topics of the day. “My […]

Can employers require job applicants to have a high school diploma?

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http://boston.com/community/blogs/rock_the_schoolhouse/2012/01/can_employers_require_job_appl.html BNA, a subsidiary of Bloomberg L.P., is a great source of reporting on legal and regulatory issues that matter to businesses.  In mid-December BNA shared the following item, which will be a shocker to most employers: Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, an employer’s requirement that applicants have a high school diploma must be job-related and consistent with business necessity, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission stated in an “informal discussion letter” posted on its website Dec. 2. I don’t know of many employers who think twice about requiring a high school diploma.  The EEOC letter “does not constitute an official opinion of the commission,” but rather is an indication that at a date not too far in to the […]

Education Reform in Massachusetts: Pioneer Institute’s 20 Anniversary Celebration

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Former Massachusetts Governor William Weld, Former Massachusetts Senate President Thomas Birmingham, Former Massachusetts Legislator and Pittsburgh Superintendent Mark Roosevelt, former state Education Commissioner David Driscoll, and former Secretary of Education Michael Sentance, Citizens United for Charter Schools co-founder Nancy Myers Coolidge, Neighborhood House Charter Headmaster Kevin Andrews, and former Pioneer Executive Director Jim Peyser discuss the instrumental role in advancing education reform played by Pioneer and its founder, Pete Peters.

Tough Times on virtual learning?

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http://boston.com/community/blogs/rock_the_schoolhouse/2011/12/tough_times_on_virtual_learnin.html Back at the start of December, I blogged on the need for both an open door to online learning and also a greater focus on accountability for those who would operate in that space. Understanding the quality of the choices in the marketplace will have to be informed by more than giddy passion about the promise of virtual learning. A cursory look at the research done on virtual learning suggests that there has been to date more energy than light on the impact of VL on sustained student achievement. …We are just at the start of the virtual learning movement, and there is so much promise in the short term regarding access to high-quality content, targeted instruction, peer tutoring […]

Payroll tax cut means thousands in savings for Mass. workers

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http://www.wickedlocal.com/brookline/news/x550228243/Payroll-tax-cut-means-thousands-in-savings-for-Mass-workers?zc_p=1#axzz2OHGE6ymJ Congress has temporarily extended a contentious payroll tax cut that means  significant savings for Bay State workers, but another battle looms in early  2012 on whether to keep the cut in place all year. After weeks of debate, Congress continued the tax cut through February next  year, avoiding a Dec. 31 expiration date. But Democrats and Republicans still  disagree on how to pay for a full-year extension. The temporary cut to Social Security taxes withheld from paychecks will  yield about $1,290 in savings by the end of 2011 for a worker earning the  state’s median household income of $64,500. A worker earning the median household income of $34,236 in Fall River would  save $685 by the end of this […]

How to Fill the Salvation Army’s Red Kettles

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http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/blog/2011/12/21/how-to-fill-the-salvation-armys-red-kettles/ The Salvation Army is struggling to raise money this year through its traditional red kettle/bell-ringing campaign, with donations down 22 percent.  It might be due to a down economy.  I know that my dependence on electronic transactions frequently leaves me without bills or coins to donate. But new economic research suggests strategies to increase donations.  A team of economists conducted a four day experiment at a Boston-area supermarket using two different approaches to the red kettle campaign. The first approach was passive — just bell-ringing, no speaking, no eye contact.  The second was active — bell-ringing plus a direct ask for a donation. The result? People avoid being asked verbally (as opposed to the implicit, passive ask that the […]

Romneycare faces financial meltdown

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http://www.wnd.com/2011/12/379485/#Hyav3UGghAyuQWq5.99 According to several insurance and public-policy analysts, Massachusetts’  much heralded health-insurance reform plan, labeled “Romneycare” by its critics,  is facing a potential financial crisis and may have to be scaled back. A senior analyst at a Virginia-based think tank that has monitored  Massachusetts’ health care system says that Gov. Deval Patrick will have to take  the budget-cutting axe to the program because of a major stress on the state  health-care system. Citizens Council on Health Freedom President Twila Brase says the stress on  the system is no surprise. “With the economic downturn, what is happening is that people are losing  their jobs or that their employers have decided that one of the ways to cut  their own costs is […]

Why hold a grudge?: Ed czar won’t accept success of SABIS charter schools

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http://www.lowellsun.com/oped/ci_19584224 February will be decision time for another round of Massachusetts  charter-school applications. In 2012, the focus will be on “Gateway Cities” —  middle-sized cities outside the Boston area. As part of a successful bid to win federal grants, state leaders last year  doubled the number of charter seats in low-performing school districts. But the  additional seats are only available to “proven providers” that already operate  successful charter schools. No entity fits the bill better than SABIS, an  educational management company operating schools in Springfield and Holyoke. In Springfield, 30 percent more SABIS International Charter School students  scored advanced or proficient on 2011 English MCAS tests than did students in  the surrounding district. The difference was 31 percent in math. […]

Pioneer Institute Medical Malpractice Paper

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Josh Archambault, Health Care Policy Director, highlights the costs of medical malpractice and options for reform, as described in Pioneer’s report, Innovative Medical Liability Reform: Traditional and Non-traditional Methods.

2011 Hewitt Health Care Lecture

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Pioneer Institute’s 2011 Hewitt Health Care Lecture at Harvard Medical School focused on the passage of the federal health overhaul, and featured a debate between two of the nation’s preeminent health policy experts: Dr. Douglas Holtz-Eakin, former advisor to McCain for President, and Dr. Jonathan Gruber, advisor to President Obama.