This piece by ED Hirsch in the American Educator is a tour de force. (You can also listen to the podcast he did to publicize the book for NRO. I know many states have looked to choice as the single answer to educational challenges. In Massachusetts, we took a more comprehensive view of reform, which bundled choice through charters with accountability and setting really high academic standards goals. The results you know: In a decade we went from 11th in the country to 1st, and from mid-range on the international math and science tests to among the top 5-6 “countries” (along with Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan). Our charters also perform at a higher level than those in many other […]

Andrew Campanella passes on the good new that “a bipartisan team of U.S. Senators is calling on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to allow an up-or-down vote on the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program’s reauthorization bill.” According to a letter signed by Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), Susan Collins (R-ME), Robert Byrd (D-WV), George Voinovich (R-OH), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), and John Ensign (R-NV), the OSP has “provided a lifeline to many low-income children in the District of Columbia.” The Senators set a specific deadline for floor time to discuss the OSP: January 31, 2010. Our friends in DC are buoyed by this bipartisan call: “The time has come for Senators to stand and be counted,” said former D.C. Councilman Kevin P. Chavous. […]

Greg Peterson knows the development world and related environmental issues about as well as anybody I know. (Full disclosure: I often sought out his advice when thinking through puzzles at the state’s environmental affairs office.) I have been hearing an earful from folks involved in clean-ups as part of the 21E program run by the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). The short version is that that state in the 1990s moved to a partially privatized program where Licensed Site Professionals (LSPs) were allowed to audit and certify compliance with the state’s clean-up standards. The program allowed the state to turbo-charge clean-ups–something that is necessary if we are serious about revitalizing our older industrialized cities. Together with the 1998 Brownfields […]

Anthony Williams, the D.C. mayor from 1999 to 2007, and Kevin Chavous, former D.C. City Councilor and co-founder of Democrats for Education Reform, penned a powerful call for the President to show leadership in the Washington Post. Despite the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program’s five-year record of success in helping children from low-income D.C. families attend the best schools they have ever known, President Obama, Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) and Rep. José E. Serrano (D-N.Y.) are threatening to end it… Plain and simple, the position of Obama, Durbin and Serrano is to let the program die. Williams and Chavous are especially sour on Serrano: In his Nov. 28 Local Opinions commentary, Serrano said that the Opportunity Scholarships were “imposed” on […]

Nope, this is not directly related to Pioneer’s mission to promote great policies and big reforms in Massachusetts. But no matter what you think of the decision to send more troops to Afghanistan, it is worth highlighting two of the President’s speeches on the matter — one on March 27, 2009, when he announced “A New Strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan” and the speech this past Tuesday when, well, he announced a new strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan. The March 27th speech can be seen here and the December 1 speech can be seen here. Hint: He is very consistent. The only difference between the respective new strategies was the addition of troops with an 18-month window for withdrawal.

The State House News Service (subscription required) reports that The state will lay off more than 300 mental health workers over the next several days, with about 300 more opting to accept voluntary retirements and layoffs as the Department of Mental Health moves forward with its closing of Westborough State Hospital. The fact is the Governor has been cutting deeply into the safety for a long time, and at a rate that is alarming. See my blog on the Governor’s job cuts, which are 75% from safety net programs. In comparison, and I know this is counter-intuitive to some, Governor Romney’s cuts to safety net program jobs in 2005 and 2006 amounted to only 25% of the overall cuts to […]

Crossposting an interesting blog from EaBo Clipper at RedMassGroup: Here is your fourth installment of the Massachusetts Constitutional Office Money watch. There are 48 more to go. Wow can Charlie Baker turn on the money spigot when he needs to. Gubernatorial Race – Charlie Baker (R): $297,499 in nine deposits. That makes his monthly take in November over $400k for the third consecutive month. – Timothy Cahill (U): $0.00 in no deposits – Christy Mihos (R): $25,130 in four deposits including $10,000 from Christy himself. – Deval Patrick (D): $25,760 in 12 deposits Some big “ifs”, but if Christy keeps raising at $25K a month, it is going to be a short primary. If Treasurer Cahill raises no money or […]

For those of you who missed today’s Wall Street Journal, Dr. Jeffrey Flier, dean of Harvard Medical School, lays out one of the smarter takes on the mess in Washington: As the dean of Harvard Medical School I am frequently asked to comment on the health-reform debate. I’d give it a failing grade. Instead of forthrightly dealing with the fundamental problems, discussion is dominated by rival factions struggling to enact or defeat President Barack Obama’s agenda. The rhetoric on both sides is exaggerated and often deceptive. Those of us for whom the central issue is health—not politics—have been left in the lurch. And as controversy heads toward a conclusion in Washington, it appears that the people who favor the legislation […]

The Education Gadfly has a sting today on the Senate bill that got passed and the lack of action in the House. I’d give the Senate a “B” but I know there are lots of people (especially charter operators) who are shaking their heads at the “backfill” provisions. From the Gadfly: The education bill that made it through the Massachusetts state senate, replete with a whopping 95 amendments, late Tuesday is being lauded as the biggest reform bill since the 1993-wonder that brought charters and much else to the Bay State. And it does have some fine features: The rule limiting charter attendance to 4 percent of Massachusetts students was scrapped, and the 9 percent cap on local spending on […]

From Jamie Vaznis of the Globe’s Metro Desk comes one of those stories that just makes you shake your head. State Inspector General Gregory W. Sullivan made an unusual appearance before the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education today to inform members that his office had launched an investigation of the process that led to the approval of a controversial charter school in Gloucester. Seems Sullivan notified Secretary Reville of a formal investigation Friday and was troubled because the board had not discussed the inquiry last night during a meeting on the Gloucester charter, which is at the center of the controversy. Vaznis reports that It is unclear to what extent, if any, other board members knew of the […]

The bill that we saw last week looked very good. By the weekend we found that the Senate President had tasked the Senate Ways and Means Chair with redrafting portions of it. We have four major issues with the bill. There is an additional major issue that the Charter School Association has, which is related to language requiring three charter approvals in urban areas before other charters would be considered. A lot of theatrics yesterday, with an unexpected amendment by Senators Pacheco and Buoniconti, who want each charter application to be voted on in a local referendum. It was approved and then un-approved by almost identical votes. I tell you this because it points to three things: (1) It is […]

So the unions and superintendents tried the argument that charters do not serve as many disadvantaged students. We dismantled that argument. While charters don’t serve as many special needs kids and English Language learners, both categories designated by adults, they serve many more minority and poor students. So, then the Mass Teachers Association cries out about high attrition in a handful of high-powered charter schools in Boston. But they forget that choice schools are about parents making choices. And, oops, they forget that in fact there is more attrition in the Boston Public Schools. And, uh, ooh, ah, they forget that in the charters they are pointing fingers at there is only a dropout rate of 10 percent, which is […]