THE PIONEER BLOG

Scott Haller

Fare Collection on the T is Unfair

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A recent disclosure by the MBTA reveals that the agency forgoes an estimated $35 million annually in ticket revenue due to poor fare collection practices on the commuter rail system alone. When the bus system and green line are included, this number inflates as high as $42 million. Yes, this is the same cash-strapped agency that couldn’t wait to shut the doors on the costly late-night service, a program which cost $14.4 million a year while providing services to 13,000 riders a night. Yes, this is the same transportation system that recently saw fit to raise fares an average of 9 percent to help fill a massive revenue gap. And yes, this is under the “no-excuses” contract in which Keolis, […]

Iliya Atanasov

Tough Decisions Needed to End MBTA Gravy Train

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In the past 15 years, the MBTA has paid Wall Street firms an estimated $236 million in interest after gambling on synthetic swaps. Such financial derivatives are rife with risk and were among the most significant contributors to the global financial crisis of 2008. The T’s reform-minded leadership would do well to trim these exposures, with an eye to eliminating them as soon as  practically possible. Doing the right thing won’t be easy. As Pioneer revealed in its February 2016 paper entitled “The Reckless Cost of MBTA Financial Derivatives,” the T built up and then doubled down on an irresponsible derivatives portfolio in the 2000s. Tempted by small upfront premiums offered by investment banks, MBTA managers made bets that interest […]

Richard Phelps

The Education Writers Association casts its narrowing gaze on Boston, May 1-3

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Many billions have been spent, and continue to be spent, promoting the Common Core Standards and their associated consortium tests, PARCC and SBAC. Nonetheless, the “Initiative” has been stopped in its tracks largely by a loose coalition of unpaid grassroots activists. That barely-organized amateurs could match the many well-organized, well-paid professional organizations, tells us something about Common Core’s natural appeal, or lack thereof. Absent the injection of huge amounts of money and political mandates, there would be no Common Core. The Common Core Initiative (CCI) does not progress, but neither does it go away. Its alleged primary benefit—alignment both within and across states (allegedly producing valid cross-state comparisons)—continues to degrade as participating states make changes that suit them. The degree […]

Editorial Staff

Join Us May 4th: “Best Practices from Urban Charter Public Schools”

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As the charter public school debate heats up, it’s important to remember that urban charter schools are Massachusetts’ best option for closing achievement gaps. On May 4th, we’ll hear from a national charter school leader, a noted researcher, as well as charter opponents and advocates about the controversy and its lessons for urban schools.

Editorial Staff

2016 Hewitt Healthcare Lecture: “Facing Down the Opioid Crisis”

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On April 20, 2016, Pioneer welcomed medical professionals, researchers, policy experts, and many others to our annual Hewitt Healthcare Lecture. This year’s topic, “Facing Down the Opioid Crisis” addressed a timely issue here in Massachusetts. Watch the video below: Our Keynote speaker was Marylou Sudders, Secretary of the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, a leader in the Baker administration’s efforts to reduce the rate of opioid addiction in the Commonwealth. Her address was followed by a panel discussion featuring experts in behavioral health, medicine, and criminal justice, moderated by WBUR‘s Deb Becker: Cheryl Bartlett, CEO, Alosa Health Vicker V. DiGravio III, President/CEO, Association of Behavioral Healthcare Dr. Dennis Dimitri, President, Massachusetts Medical Society Joseph D. McDonald, Jr., Sheriff, Plymouth County

Editorial Staff

Remembering Barbara Anderson

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Barbara Anderson’s passing marks the loss of a good friend of the taxpayers of Massachusetts.  Like revolutionary patriot Sam Adams, she had the ability to organize ordinary citizens in revolt against powerful interests, and to win enduring victory on their behalf. It has been noted in the days following her death from leukemia that Barbara was a mainstay of the radio program “The Governors.”  Barbara’s accomplishments earned her that title—and more.  Her work with Citizens for Limited Taxation (CLT) to cap the annual growth of municipal property taxes in 1980 may have had the greatest impact on the economic well-being of Massachusetts residents of any statutory change made during the past 50 years.  By this single accomplishment, she left a […]

Matt Blackbourn

Key considerations for regulating ridesharing in Massachusetts

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Earlier this month, the most recent piece of legislation to come out of the Massachusetts House of Representatives concerning the regulation of Transportation Network Companies (TNCs), H.4064[1], was referred to the Senate committee on Ways and Means for review. The legislature’s final decision will determine what service limits companies like Uber, Lyft and Fasten will face in the Commonwealth going forward. The bill delineates a number of significant proposals. One of its core provisions, if passed, would establish within the Department of Public Utilities (DPU) a new ‘Ride for Hire Division’ —this entity would be charged with governing ridesharing firms, overseeing the issuance of removable decals and ensuring TNCs’ compliance with regulatory requirements.  The division would be funded through fees […]

MuckRock

Judicial Branch Holds Transparency in Contempt

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In yet another Massachusetts public records milestone, the Center for Public Integrity gave the Commonwealth an “F” for judicial accountability, citing the large number of exemptions that stonewall public access to court records. But what does that really mean? Now, of all of Massachusetts’ egregious public records exemptions (and there are plenty), some exemptions that pertain to judicial records would, at least in theory, actually make sense. Sensitive legal proceedings are textbook examples of the kinds of records that shouldn’t be made freely available to the public. Doing so would undermine the integrity of the legal process. That said, there’s a big difference between a judicial record and a record in possession of the judicial branch. Back in 2014, after […]

Scott Haller

MBTA Transparency Is Now ‘Back on Track’

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Today, the MBTA released its long-anticipated performance dashboard, bringing with it a sleek and interactive new website full of data metrics and detailed explanations of the data. Highlights and new features of the appropriately named mbtabackontrack.com include but are not limited to access to performance data from the prior day, ability to put data into historical context, info on the Green Line and every bus route, and ridership and financial statistics. The website promises to be a valuable tool, and it will regularly expose parts of the T’s performance for the first time in over a year. For example, the T this fiscal year has spent $259.86 million on debt service, just under a quarter of its total outlays. Also, […]

Michael Weiner

Addressing Inequality through K-12 Education in Boston

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According to a new Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) study cited by The Boston Globe, nearly half of Boston residents make under $35,000 per year. These findings, coupled with a January Brookings Institution report ranking Boston number one nationally in income inequality, paint a worrisome picture of the city.  Sadly, many of those left behind in the midst of Boston’s economic boom are low-income minorities. The underlying issue is that Boston’s schools have not successfully promoted educational opportunity and economic mobility for many of its students. And Boston Public Schools have a particularly high bar to meet because, as the Globe notes, 40 percent of jobs in Massachusetts require a bachelor’s degree compared to 27 percent nationally. Inequality in K-12 education […]

Mary Connaughton

Sunshine Week 2016: Highlights from Pioneer’s Government Transparency Team

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Each Sunshine Week, Pioneer shares highlights of its government transparency work completed over the year. Our objective is to have Massachusetts rank among the nation’s most transparent states. It’s a formidable goal because the Reporters’ Committee for Freedom of the Press currently ranks our state at or near rock bottom in the nation for government transparency. Fortunately, we are not alone in this. Transparency advocates across the state stand united in this vital effort. We will likely see improvements to public records laws in the near future. But we can’t let reform end there; transparency promotes an engaged citizenry, and an engaged citizenry is key to a healthy democracy. And there is still much work to be done. Here are some […]

Editorial Staff

Recent Ruling on MBTA Retirement Fund Major Victory for Transparency & Accountability

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The Boston Globe and the Boston Herald reported on an important new Massachusetts Superior Court ruling that, according to the Globe, “the records of the MBTA pension fund should be open to the public because the system receives tens of millions of dollars of taxpayer funding from the transit authority each year.” The decision should be applauded by MBTA customers, taxpayers, and advocates of open government and accountability. In a 2014 public hearing and in numerous reports and op-eds published since 2013 (including “Have the MBTA’s Retirement Plans Gone Off the Rails?,”) Pioneer Institute has raised concerns about the management and condition of the MBTA Retirement Fund and called for an end to the secrecy that has surrounded it. As Pioneer […]

MuckRock

Dropping Public Records Law Exemption is a Clear Win for Governor Baker

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Currently, there are only two states that exempt the office of the Executive from their public records laws. One is Michigan, where Governor Rick Snyder is embroiled in a scandal regarding how much he did or did not know about the lead-contaminated water in Flint. Outrage over the crisis has led to a national call to end the exemption and sparked a growing discussion about whether public sector accountability is possible without transparency. The other is Massachusetts. As we’ve written about before, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) opinion in Lambert provided the governor with a discretionary exemption to public records law. Although governors rarely deny public records requests, they – including Governor Charlie Baker – point out that they […]

Editorial Staff

Benchmarking Tools For Municipal Officials – Budget Season Edition

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Understanding how your community performs relative to its peers is critical in effectively scrutinizing municipal budgets. Pioneer Institute has developed a 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, this is a graph of the City of Worcester’s revenue:   On MassAnalysis, you can also generate a peer group using our peer finder, which considers up to ten measures in order to benchmark performance on revenues, expenditures, employment, demographics, crime, debt, education and taxes. In […]

Greg Sullivan

The Real Source of UMass R&D Spending

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UMass issued a report and a press release Tuesday citing a record level of research and development spending at UMass in fiscal year 2015. “Despite the tightening of the funding environment, the University of Massachusetts saw sponsored research increase by 4.3 percent during the past year, reaching a record $629 million, President Marty Meehan announced today.” What might not be immediately evident from the UMass announcement is that all of the 4.3 percent increase in UMass R&D spending in FY2015 was attributable to funding provided by the state and UMass itself, which amounted to an increase of $26.5 million, a 14 percent increase from 2014 to 2015.  Externally-funded research, from federal, business, nonprofit, other sources, actually declined by $670,000 from […]