Mass Open Books
Your Money. Your Government.
Valuable tools and resources to help you navigate Massachusetts public policy.
Your Money. Your Government.
Community Solutions
Know Your Schools
A Citizen’s Resource
Reports, Media, Videos, and More.
Understanding Retirement Benefits
The Cost of Toll Collectors
/0 Comments/in Blog: Transportation /by Christina DoranAre tollbooth workers economically inefficient? State officials seem to think so. Next summer, Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) toll collectors are slated to be out of work. So what is the cost of manual toll collection and what are the financial implications of going cashless? According to data from Massachusetts Open Checkbook, 763 full-time and seasonal toll collectors worked on Massachusetts’s roads in 2014. In a 2013 investigative report, WBUR news estimated that 45 to 50 cents of each cash transaction on the Pike and Tobin Bridge went to pay toll workers’ salaries, costing the state $55 million that year. Open Checkbook records demonstrate that full time Toll Department II collectors made, on average, $88,369 in 2014. A majority […]
The Clock is Ticking on Massachusetts Public Record Reform
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Transparency, News /by MuckRockFrom the Green Line extension’s woes, to the narrowly dodged disaster of the Olympics, to even the text messages and emails at the heart of BradyGate, it’s hard to think of a time where transparency has played a more prominent role in Massachusetts public discourse. If the Commonwealth finds itself in need of a new motto, “Trust, but verify” would make a strong contender. As is all too often the case, despite the critical role transparency has played in shaping the events of summer, and the lip service being paid to it by people and politicians alike, the mechanisms that ensure public disclosure remain outdated and obsolete. Unless we act fast, we’ll lose the best chance we’ve had at fixing […]
An Uncertain Future for Ridesharing Services in Massachusetts
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Better Government, Blog: Transportation, Economic Opportunity, News /by Matt BlackbournLast week, the Los Angeles City Council approved a new policy that will allow ridesharing companies like Uber and Lyft to operate at LAX—the second busiest airport in the United States, and fifth busiest in the world. Mark it a huge loss for the Los Angeles taxi industry and another victory for the ride-hailing firms that continue their fight for existence in lawmaking bodies and courtrooms across the country. Massachusetts is no exception: the battle over Uber and Lyft’s future in the Bay State has arrived on Beacon Hill, and the fate of three bills (listed below) will largely determine these companies’ future in the Commonwealth. Bill H.3351 – An Act Establishing Department of Public Utilities Oversight of Transportation Network […]
Turnpike Inequity: The Time to Fix it is Now
/0 Comments/in Blog: Transportation /by Christina Doran“I completely get we have an equity issue (with tolls) we need to address”, Richard Davey, the then Secretary of Transportation, conceded to the editorial board of the MetroWest Daily in March 2014. He also stated that tolls wouldn’t likely be removed on the Mass Pike west of Rte. 128 as they were slated to be because the highway likely would not be in a state of good repair. Since his candid admission, efforts to fix the persistent highway inequity have stalled. Conversations about MassDOT’s incoming cashless tolling system have renewed the debate. Legislators have yet to seriously tackle the fairness of charging more for some motorists to drive than others. Drivers using the Pike to get into and out of Boston have paid tolls for […]
UMass Tuition Hikes: Why Not Cut Costs?
/2 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Better Government, Blog: Education, Featured, News /by Lauren CorveseAnd shouldn’t in-state students be the top priority? WRKO’s Boston.com Morning Show Host Kim Carrigan interviewed Pioneer’s Mary Connaughton about the findings in this post. Listen here. Just two days ago, the Boston Globe highlighted an important issue regarding UMass tuition and fee increases for the coming academic year. While making a fair point that public investment is needed to improve the quality of education at the University of Massachusetts, Pioneer offers a different take: rather than concentrating on obtaining greater funding, UMass should focus on cutting costs internally and on putting the focus back on its in-state students. Tuition and Fee Hikes In early August, MA Senate President Stanley Rosenberg wrote a letter to UMass President Marty Meehan asking […]
Boston: The Jaywalking Capital of America?
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Transparency, News /by Sabrina Chishti and Kevin LawsonIf you see someone waiting for a walk signal at a Boston intersection, you know he or she is a tourist. The rest of us do a rapid-fire speed check of oncoming traffic and gauge the risk of crossing, walk signal or not. It doesn’t work that way in most other US cities where fines for jaywalking are steep. The jaywalking fine for Boston is laughably cheap—just $1. Even though Boston has fewer pedestrian fatalities than New York City, the fine does nothing to deter pedestrians from crossing whenever and wherever they want to. City (Most to least populous) Jaywalking Fine Pedestrian Fatalities in 2013 Fatality Rate per 100,000 People New York City $40-$100 178 2.12 Los Angeles $190-$250 76 […]
Op-ed: Big money pushes PARCC and Common Core
/0 Comments/in Common Core, Featured, Jim Stergios, Oped: Common Core, Oped: Education, Opeds /by Jim StergiosEach year, much is written and said about K-12 education when students head back to school. That will be especially true this fall, as the education policy community eagerly awaits a decision by the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education about whether to keep the MCAS tests, or switch to assessments developed by the national Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC). The decision will impact not only which test Massachusetts uses to assess student achievement, but also what is taught in Massachusetts public schools. PARCC is aligned with the controversial Common Core curriculum, with its emphasis on workplace readiness. MCAS, on the other hand, was aligned with Massachusetts’ own standards, which emphasized a liberal arts education and […]
Promising implications of MassDOT All Electronic Tolling, with a Catch
/0 Comments/in Blog: Transportation /by Christina DoranEfforts to convert all Massachusetts highways to an electronic tolling system are well underway. Awarded a $130 million contract from the state Department of Transportation (DOT), Raytheon Company hopes to replace all manual and existing toll collection systems by the summer of 2016, eliminating barrier tolls as well as the distinction between ticket- and trip-based tolling. Segments of drivers will instead be routinely charged along mainline highways. All electronic tolling technology shows economic promise for the state. Recent adaptations to the program address the system’s initially inefficient billed fee collection process. According to the transportation department’s most recent annual performance report, E-ZPass accounts for over 72% of all transactions taking place at MassDOT toll facilities. Increased electronic toll transactions from […]
Transparency Needed for Massachusetts Rest Homes
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Transparency /by Sabrina ChishtiExtended care facilities provide either temporary or permanent healthcare services for those unable to manage independently. The facilities provide a lower level of care than hospitals yet can be staffed with nurses and healthcare aides, with doctors available to make the rounds as needed. Deciding on the best facility, whether for oneself or a loved one, can be extremely stressful at an already challenging time of life. The public needs confidence that extended care providers are consistently held to high standards of performance. If a nursing home is Medicaid/Medicare certified in Massachusetts, it is required to undergo surveys by the state—essentially performance reviews and on-site inspections to make sure the facility is up par. These unannounced surveys are conducted by […]
Welcome News from the New Team at the MBTA: Getting Serious About Savings
/0 Comments/in Better Government, Blog, Blog: Better Government, Blog: MBTA, Blog: Transportation, Featured /by Greg SullivanThe Boston Globe reports today that MBTA officials briefed MBTA union officials last week about their forthcoming plan to request information from outside companies on running about 30 of the T’s 170 current bus routes, representing approximately 17 percent of its total routes. This should be welcomed news to state taxpayers and local property taxpayers in the cities and towns of the MBTA district. MBTA employees unions have held a virtual monopoly on T bus operations and bus maintenance services since passage of legislation adopted in 1993 that effectively handcuffed T management from outsourcing these and other services. The protectionist Pacheco Law was adopted five months after then-Governor William Weld proposed privatizing some of the MBTA’s bus operations and maintenance […]
Getting Tough on Keolis?
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Better Government, Blog: MBTA, Blog: Transparency, Blog: Transportation /by Scott HallerYou rush to feed your kids breakfast; leave your house so fast you forget your lunch; arrive breathless at the train station, right on time and sweating through your clothes. Each minute matters when you’re a commuter rail rider. Bet when you get there there’s no train in sight and no alert from the T. Sound familiar? Even with the never-ending blizzard of 2015 finally in the rear-view mirror, commuter rail riders are still experiencing what have become standard yet inexcusable delays. Two weeks ago, evening commute performance scored just 82 percent. It was 85 percent the week before and only 83 the week before that. Pioneer Institute has been a consistent watchdog of Keolis’ performance since they took the […]
Baker Public Records Announcement a Great Start – So Long as it’s a Start
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Transparency /by MuckRockThese last few weeks have been hectic for transparency advocates in Massachusetts. Shortly after the disappointing announcement that the vote for public records reform would be bumped to September, Governor Charlie Baker finally addressed the subject, proposing a series of sweeping, state-level reforms that would be implemented in the next couple of weeks. After the previous Governor’s abysmal track record on the subject, the news was as surprising as it was welcome. Good for you, Governor. But re-examined a couple weeks later in the sobering light of day, the proposed reforms come off less as a great leap forward and more as a small step and a reminder of how far we have to go. This is not to say […]
How Massachusetts Promoted Achievement Before Common Core & PARCC
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Common Core, Blog: Education, Common Core, Related Education Blogs, Sandra Stotsky /by Sandra StotskyBefore the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) officially decides to adopt PARCC’s testing system in place of the testing system that the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) developed in the 1990s and early 2000s, local school committees, state legislators, and parents should be able to peruse the test items used in the tests given to all public school students in the Bay State as part of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS). The major purpose of this blog is to give them access to the test items used in MCAS tests at all grade levels and for all subjects tested, from 1998 on. These test items are public information because the Massachusetts Education Reform Act […]
Problem: Overpriced Textbooks, Solution: Opensource Material
/2 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Education, Economic Opportunity, News /by Erin ThomassenLast week, NBC news announced that textbooks prices have risen 1,041% since 1977, three times the rate of inflation according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. As if tuition costs weren’t already exorbitant. For the 2014-2015 academic year, the average private four-year college tuition in Massachusetts was $34,643, which does not include the average room and board of $11,181. Even the UMass price-tag is a stretch for working-class families; UMass Amherst, for example, estimates 2015-2016 tuition fees at $14,171. Surprisingly, textbook price increases have outpaced even the 559% increase in college tuition and fees over the past three decades. Even more problematic is that textbook prices, unlike tuition, are not factored into the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) calculated by the U.S. Department […]
Cash-free, Conductor-free Trains
/0 Comments/in Better Government, Blog: Better Government, Blog: MBTA, Blog: Transportation, News, News: Transportation, Transportation Dashboard /by Erin ThomassenIn 2012, the MBTA introduced the mTicket app that allows users to purchase train tickets through their mobile devices and display their ticket on their screen as conductors make their rounds. Pioneer recognized the app in its 2014 Better Government Awards for “putting to good use technological infrastructure that is already in place” to save “both the individual riders and the Commonwealth money.” The next step for the MBTA may be converting to purely electronic ticketing. Does this mean that conductors could be rendered obsolete? If the MBTA wanted to downsize on conductors, it could follow the honor-code system tested in California, or it could try something new: requiring riders to purchase a mobile ticket or Charlie Card. Charlie Cards and mobile tickets […]