THE PIONEER BLOG

Charlotte Emslie

Community College Presidential Pay Raises Not Necessarily Based on Merit

/1 Comment/in /by Charlotte Emslie

Last year saw some of the highest recorded salaries for presidents of Massachusetts community colleges. The presidents of Greenfield, Bristol, Massasoit, Quinsigamond, and Mt Wachusett Community Colleges receive the highest, with annual earnings in the mid-$200,000 range.  These salaries are the result of rapid growth in the last five-to-six years. Compensation is generally based on more than performance; experience and institutional characteristics factor in to determine a president’s salary. Salaries also tend to increase over time due to factors like inflation and a changing economy. However, some presidents have seen dramatic pay raises that far outpace the expected norm. For the six-year period (2016 is the last year for which data are available), Greenfield Community president Robert Pura saw his […]

Rebekah Paxton

Spending on Students: How Does Groton Compare?

/0 Comments/in , , /by Rebekah Paxton

Massachusetts is known for the strength of its K-12 education.  US News & World Report recently ranked the commonwealth’s public-school districts.  Having grown up in Groton, I wanted to see the correlation between educational expenditures and school district performance in the town. How does Groton’s education spending compare to Massachusetts towns with similar demographics? How about neighboring towns?  To find out, I used MassAnalysis, a free, online transparency tool offered by Pioneer Institute. MassAnalysis uses financial information provided by the municipalities to the Department of Revenue (DOR). MassAnalysis has two simultaneously useful features, the first is a peer analysis tool which compares a town of interest with other municipalities that are similar based on certain parameters. To analyze Groton and […]

Josh Beck

How You Can Audit Massachusetts’ Pension Boards

/0 Comments/in , /by Josh Beck

Just recently Kathy Curran led an investigation into Massachusetts retirement boards’ wasteful use of public funds. Her investigative team found that while nearly all public retirement boards in Massachusetts are not on track to be fully funded for at least another decade, numerous boards have been treating themselves to expensive dinners, five-star hotel visits, and other indulgences paid for on the public’s dime. In the past, it has been challenging for the public to assess and compare the finances of their local retirement board to other such boards. It would take countless hours to comb through the hundred or so page financial statements in order to identify a trend that would point to potential excesses or mismanagement, never mind doing so […]

Mary Connaughton

Closing Catholic Schools in Massachusetts Can Be Avoided

/3 Comments/in , , /by Mary Connaughton

The Archdiocese of Boston recently announced that after operating for 93 years, the Saint Clement School in Medford will be closing its doors at the end of this school year due to a persistent decline in enrollment.  That means a multitude of students who believed they would be following the thousands before them as Saint Clement’s graduates will instead be tearfully giving up the maroon for colors unknown. Saint Clement High School is part of the Central Catholic League and I’ve enjoyed watching the players compete against my son’s school, Marian High School, in Framingham.  The school’s closing hits close to home. Saint Clement’s closing does not represent an isolated example.  Enrollment in Boston Archdiocese schools has dropped 21 percent […]

Rebekah Paxton

Groton’s Tax Base Dilemma

/0 Comments/in , /by Rebekah Paxton

Among 15 peer municipalities, Groton’s commercial tax yield makes up a relatively small percentage of its total tax revenue and general government expenditures. In Groton and similar towns, how does developing a commercial tax base fare in terms of supporting local expenditures and moderating residential and personal property taxes?             MassAnalysis.com provides town-by-town data on an extensive range of parameters, including municipal expenditures, demographics, tax rates and revenue information. The database allows comparative analyses with “peer municipalities,” that rank similarly to a particular city or town across a variety of metrics that can be selected to provide robust, dynamic insight into municipal governments and their differences across Massachusetts. A pressing issue for Groton residents has been a perception that taxes […]

Charlotte Emslie

MA Colleges Spend Tens of Thousands in Taxpayer Money on Celebrity Commencement Speakers

/0 Comments/in /by Charlotte Emslie

Graduation season is in full swing, and as a hotbed of higher education, Greater Boston sees hundreds of thousands of students matriculate each spring. These festivities bring visiting parents, landscaped campuses, and, of course, commencement speakers. Celebrity speakers have long been a high-point at commencement ceremonies. Each year, politicians, academics, actors, musicians and CEOs get tapped to address graduating classes. In addition to the publicity they gain from such appearances, speakers often enjoy honorary degrees conferred upon them and the opportunity to impart wisdom on the newest generation of workers. The speaking fees these school pay are also increasing rapidly. In the last decade, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has spent close to $700,000 in honoraria for visiting speakers and lecturers […]

Editorial Staff

Celebrating National Charter Public Schools Week

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Great charter public schools are about great leadership. Charters in Massachusetts are the best in the country at bridging achievement gaps for our neediest students. They were authorized through the 1993 Massachusetts Education Reform Act, authored by Bay State leaders like Governor William Weld, Senate President Tom Birmingham, and Representative Mark Roosevelt. They believe that access to a quality education is a civil right, as education is the steppingstone to a better life. Education reformers often hearken back to the civil rights movement, drawing inspiration from the bold leadership that changed the nation, from the plaintiffs in the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case, the Little Rock Nine, and MLK’s March on Washington. Pioneer Institute recently hosted an […]

Editorial Staff

Pioneer is critical because UMass is critical

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The University of Massachusetts system is critical to the future of the commonwealth’s economy, and that is why Pioneer started drawing attention to the finances of the five-campus system in the spring of 2016 through the release of its three-part series. With a deferred maintenance backlog of more than $3 billion, the UMass system is in the midst of an irresponsible capital expansion program that has neglected that backlog. Gov. Baker may have provided the Boston campus with an emergency bailout of $78 million in state funding to demolish its much-discussed parking garage, but this is a BandAid and not a cure.  After all, the infusion of state funds comes in addition to the $74 million state taxpayers have contributed […]

Editorial Staff

So you want to know something about pensions?

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Now anyone can become a local pension system expert…  A stitch in time saves nine. But how much will the hole unravel before the seamstress gets the call? We all know procrastination is a bad habit, but it’s far worse if the procrastinators are stewards of the public trust. For far too long, policy makers at all levels of government have avoided hard choices in favor of compromising the public’s future. One of the most blatant examples of this decaying stewardship is the failure of governments to adequately fund pension plans at the time employees earn benefits and the expense is incurred. Leaders and legislatures all know that a day of reckoning must come for such irresponsible behavior, but it […]

Michael Weiner

Green Line Extension gets approval from Feds, but is this really the end of the headache?

/0 Comments/in , , , /by Michael Weiner

The proposal to extend the MBTA’s Green Line from Lechmere into Somerville and Medford, which has been beset by obstacles at seemingly every turn, has finally taken an important step forward.  Part of an environmental mitigation commitment connected to the Big Dig, the Green Line Extension (GLX) initiative appeared to have been in serious jeopardy after construction delays continued to occur and cost estimates continued to balloon out of control.  Lawsuits and criticism regarding over-paid and possibly incompetent consultants threatened to torpedo the project before it could ever get going. New President Donald Trump has made cost-cutting a priority, so it seemed safe to assume that federal funding would be hard to come by for a project that would seem […]

Editorial Staff

Commemorating The 100th Anniversary Of U.S. Entry Into World War I

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On Tuesday, April 4th, at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the U.S. Senate in Boston, Pioneer Institute held a forum (see press release) with award-winning historians and history teachers marking the 100th anniversary of U.S. entry into the First World War. The event was co-sponsored by the United States World War I Centennial Commission, the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, the Massachusetts Historical Society, the International Museum of World War II, The Concord Review, the National Association of Scholars, and the Program on Education Policy & Governance at the Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government. Pioneer Institute was proud to hold this forum in conjunction with the Northeast Regional Conference on the Social Studies. Pioneer believes […]

Editorial Staff

Finance Committee & Town Meeting Members: Benchmarking Tools for the FY2018 Budget Season

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Understanding how your community performs relative to its peers is critical in effectively scrutinizing municipal budgets. Pioneer Institute has reintroduced its FREE online tool, MassAnalysis, with the most up-to-date information available from the Department of Revenue and FBI to help you do just that. With a couple of clicks, you can develop a dashboard for your community based on its revenues, expenditures, demographics, employment, crime, debt, education, financial strength, taxes, and transportation. For example, the image below is a graph of the Town of Natick’s expenditures. On MassAnalysis, you can generate a peer group based on the metrics you choose to enter. The program will then display the most closely matched peer communities based on your selection. In this example, we picked peers […]

Editorial Staff

“The War to End All Wars”: Teaching the First World War in Schools

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Please join Pioneer Institute, the United States World War One Centennial Commission, the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, the Northeast Regional Conference on the Social Studies, and other co-sponsors, at a forum with award-winning historians and history teachers marking the 100th anniversary of U.S. entry into the First World War. America’s first engagement as a major global actor, the rise of German militarism and the Soviet Union, and the geographic boundaries of the Middle East, are only some of the reasons why World War I is often considered the most influential event of the 20th century. Learn why we have a duty to ensure students know about our shared past. Featured Speakers: Cost: Free When: Tuesday April 4, 2017 from 10:00 AM to […]

Editorial Staff

2017 Hewitt Healthcare Lecture: “Evolving Healthcare Delivery Models”

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Paul F. Levy, former President & CEO, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, will moderate a panel discussion on the changing face of the healthcare market and innovations to meet consumer demand. Additional speakers: Fay Donohue, Advanced Leadership Initiative Fellow at Harvard University Dr. Rushika Fernandopulle, CEO of Iora Health Rob Graybill, Vice President of Product and Sales Strategy for Vitals Dr. Andrew Sussman, President of MinuteClinic and Executive Vice President and Associate Chief Medical Officer of CVS Health Tickets: $50. To register click the Register Now! button below. For faster check-in please print and bring your ticket to the event. Ticket price for students: $25. Admission is free for Pioneer’s annual contributors of $1,000 or more. Become a member today! Sponsorship […]

Matt Blackbourn

The Changing Face of Retirement: The mature workforce and keeping older adults engaged

/0 Comments/in , , , /by Matt Blackbourn

For many older Americans, the concept of retirement has a different meaning in 2017 relative to thirty, twenty, or even just ten years ago. The traditional notion of retirement at age 65 is becoming a thing of the past—and a growing number of older adults are opting to stay in the workforce into their late 60s and beyond. While the implications of a greying America are cause for concern in some areas, there are many reasons to see this population as an asset to the knowledge economy and a unique opportunity to generate significant value for communities nationwide. Population data show seismic shifts in the demographic character of the workforce over the last three decades, and reflect a changing reality […]