THE PIONEER BLOG

Editorial Staff

The Ugly Truth About State Healthcare Costs

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Last week, Pioneer Institute released a report showing that the cost of transitioning to an Affordable Care Act-compliant health insurance exchange is likely to top $1 billion over two years. The figure includes $540 million in 2014 for a new transitional Medicaid program that was created when the state exchange failed last year. Read our report: [wpdm_package id=425] In response, Governor Patrick issued a sharply worded statement that received widespread media coverage, dismissing our report by saying, “The truth is that Massachusetts is still successfully expanding health care and doing so within budget.” But the facts tell a different story. According to a Boston Business Journal (BBJ) report by Craig Douglas, far from being “within budget,” MassHealth is anticipating a $500 million […]

Editorial Staff

Public Statement on the New MBTA Union Contract

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PIONEER INSTITUTE PUBLIC STATEMENT ON THE NEW MBTA UNION CONTRACT Yesterday, the MassDOT board approved a new labor agreement with the Boston Carmen’s Union that sidesteps real reform at the MBTA Retirement Fund. The fund is in dire condition, with a $700 million unfunded liability that jeopardizes both retiree benefits and the MBTA’s finances. The pact promises to close certain loopholes that have allowed MBTA employees to bank back pay to spike their pensions. This is a long-overdue and welcome reform, but one that barely scrapes the surface of the many fundamental problems the retirement fund faces. It is also the only significant gain for taxpayers from the deal. ?he fund promises to share information about retiree allowances with the […]

Greg Sullivan

The Health Connector Authority Protesting Too Much

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In FY2011, the year prior to passage of the Affordable Care Act, the administrative budget of the Massachusetts Health Connector Authority was $29 million.  By FY2013, while the Connector Authority struggled to implement its change to ACA, its budget had risen to $55 million.  By FY2014, it had risen to $118 million.  In FY2015, its budget is $98 million.  These whopping annual increases in administrative expenditures have paid for converting to the new Affordable Care Act system. Pioneer Institute issued a report today adding up these and all other administrative costs of converting from our pre-ACA connector system, stating “there has been little transparency about the full taxpayer cost of the state-based exchange. Estimates often have been released piecemeal, and […]

Joshua Archambault

Deval’s Big Dig: Responding to the Governor on Connector Report

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When we talk about the Big Dig, we talk in big, round numbers. Why?  Because it cost gobs of money. You can debate whether it was worth it, and for years we did. Journalists dug into the story. Careers were dashed and fortunes were made in the process. We don’t distinguish between federal and state dollars in discussing the Big Dig. We say it cost $16 billion, not $XX for the state and $YY for the Feds. And rightfully so: The question has always been about value and how the associated costs spiraled out of control. [quote align=”right” color=”#999999″]We join that call on the Administration to release a full and detailed response to the report, so we all can settle […]

Jim Stergios

BPS’ all-in adoption of PARCC is bad for kids, and is illegal

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A front page article by Jamie Vaznis in the Boston Globe today carries the news that all lower-grade Boston district schools will drop the MCAS and adopt the new Common Core-aligned PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Career) test. Most Boston public schools would drop the MCAS next spring in favor of a new online testing system the state is trying out… The recommendation, being presented to the School Committee Wednesday night, would affect more than 22,000 Boston students in grades 3-8 who must take state standardized tests every spring. Tenth-graders would continue to take the MCAS, which remains a state graduation requirement. The most important consideration here should be the impact on learning and the pace […]

Sandra Stotsky

Doubling Down on Doublespeak

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This past week, the Wall Street Journal published an op-ed by William Bennett, author of The Book of Virtues and once chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, in which he defended Common Core as a conservative approach to school reform—allowing, he claimed, the preservation of our civic and cultural literary heritage.  Several days earlier, Politico published a blog in which David Coleman, now president of the College Board and widely acknowledged as the chief “architect” of Common Core’s English language arts standards, is quoted as claiming that Common Core had been inspired by the work of E.D. Hirsch, Jr., founder of the Core Knowledge Foundation in Charlottesville, Virginia. All of this rightly sounded bewildering to those familiar with […]

Editorial Staff

Celebrating Great Ideas: The Better Government Competition Awards Dinner

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Pioneer Institute Hosts 23rd Annual Better Government Competition Boston Mayor Martin Walsh Delivered Keynote at Awards Ceremony  Pioneer Institute recognized the winner and runners-up of its annual Better Government Competition at an awards dinner on Thursday, featuring a Keynote Address by Martin J. Walsh, Mayor of Boston.   In his Keynote Address, Mayor Walsh described his comprehensive agenda for the City, emphasizing his civic engagement initiatives. His remarks were followed by a Q&A session. Watch the Mayor’s speech: [youtube height=”HEIGHT” width=”WIDTH”]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soN-B_kHK7o&index=2&list=UUxPr4y_MBrcdji_ockXjuPA[/youtube] “Compass® CoPilot,” a proposal to integrate data collection and reporting at state and county human services agencies, is the winning entry in the 23rd annual Better Government Competition. This year’s contest sought ideas that leverage technology to improve the public sector. The winning […]

Jim Stergios

We Now Have a Smart Exit Strategy from Common Core

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Rick Hess and Mike McShane back in the spring wrote in the National Review Online that At the end of March, Indiana became the first state to repeal the Common Core standards. The aftermath has not been pretty. And they were right.  Hess and McShane noted that Critics have raised valid concerns but failed to put forward a notion of what happens next. This is a problem. Common Core adoption meant that Indiana schools set in place not only new reading and math standards but also new tests, curricula, instructional materials, and teaching strategies. And the abrupt shift could be a train wreck for students and educators. Already back in 2011, Lindsey Burke of the Heritage Foundation and a few others […]

Greg Sullivan

6 Reasons Gov. Patrick Should Veto the Convention Center Expansion Bill

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Pioneer Institute’s Research Director, Greg Sullivan, sent a letter today to Governor Patrick asking him to veto the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center expansion bill. He outlined six reasons why Governor Patrick should do so: The BCEC expansion will saddle the next administration with hundreds of millions of dollars in deficiencies as a result of Massachusetts Convention Center Authority’s overly optimistic revenue projections. The Massachusetts Convention Center Authority assumes that hotel tax receipts will increase over the next 30 years at an average annual rate nearly three times greater than the historical growth rate of the statewide hotel tax.  If its rosy projections are wrong, as they have been in the past, the legislation authorizes statewide taxes to be used […]

Sandra Stotsky

What Wakefield, NH’s School Board Is Doing to Ensure a First-Rate Education for All Its Students

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As state legislatures begin to pick up steam in their efforts to get rid of the Common Core octopus, with its many hidden tentacles reaching into the entire curriculum (under the guise of “literacy” standards), Common Core advocates have come up with a new ploy to ward off efforts to repeal Common Core and put first-rate standards in their place. It takes too long and costs too much money, Common Core advocates are now saying, to come up with another set of standards for ELA and math.  Here is what was in a newsletter put out by the Office for Education Policy at the University of Arkansas. States that drop Common Core standards under the gun for replacing them: States that […]

Editorial Staff

Pioneer Institute Statement on Senate Charter School Cap Lift Vote

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The Senate Turns Back the Clock Today, the Massachusetts State Senate voted against S2262, a bill to lift the cap on charter school enrollment in the state’s lowest-performing public school districts. The Senate bill would have tied charter school expansion to full funding of reimbursement to sending districts. Under the bill, charter schools would have been responsible for 50 percent of extended day and extended year transportation costs. The Senate also filed dozens of amendments to the bill, which, with few exceptions, would have imposed unrealistic, harmful, and petty regulations on charter schools. The Senate gets a low grade for the quality of the debate and a failing grade for the misrepresentations made about charter schools. Senator Barry Finegold said […]

Jim Stergios

Representative misrepresenting

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Chalk this one up to elected officials representing people other than their constituents, Rep. Aaron Vega of Holyoke tells MassLive.com all the reasons why he opposed the charter school cap lift in the House a few weeks back. Vega was asked if he would have supported the House bill if his two favored amendments had been adopted. “I would be more inclined to,” said Vega. “But there are other issues around compensation for the teachers; they’re not unionized.” So, in Holyoke, where 734 schoolchildren are served in two schools, and where there are 324 schoolchildren on waitlists, he opposes the charter bill because, well, they need to be unionized.  Why is that? Yes, you know. In a wonderful demonstration of someone who […]

Wenli Fei

Is ELD Hiding Its Real Performance?

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The Executive Office of Elder Affairs (ELD) is an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services (EOHHS). ELD works to improve the quality of life for elderly Massachusetts residents, aiming to ensure their security by expanding income and financial support opportunities. The agency is also dedicated to increasing civic engagement and opportunities for social connection among the elderly. [quote align=”right” color=”#999999″]Has ELD really been successful or did the agency simply report positive outcomes and remain silent on progress toward achieving other goals?[/quote] Under Governor Patrick’s Mass Results program, each of his eight secretaries established specific, measurable performance goals for their departments.  Each then reports their performance against the goals on the state’s website. As described in EOHHS’ latest Strategic Plan, […]

Sandra Stotsky

On Common Core, a Study in Contrasts

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In a front-page article in June, the Washington Post featured corporate billionaire Bill Gates as a political sinner who deserves sainthood because his heart is in the right place.  He bought off every organization in the country and colluded with the U.S. Department of Education just to ensure that low-income students would get the same low education he wants other people’s kids to get.  Not, mind you, his own kids; they will get a first-class non-Common Core education in a private school in Seattle. [quote align=”right” color=”#999999″]What remains to be teased out is why the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and our major teacher unions were so willing to be “useful idiots.”[/quote] On the other hand, the National Review Online featured […]

Greg Sullivan

New Life Science Industry report: Mass. gained only 55 life science jobs between 2010 and 2012

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Last week, Pioneer Institute issued a report calling for Massachusetts to adopt two enhanced research and development tax credits, pointing out that research and development expenditures by Massachusetts industries dropped by 19% between 2007 and 2011 while California’s increased by 16.9% and the rest of states by 9.2% on average.  We also pointed out that California, which offers R&D tax credits vastly superior to Massachusetts’, has outpaced the nation in R&D growth.  Over the past two decades, the growth of industrial R&D expenditures by California business was greater than that of its top seven competitor states combined, Massachusetts included. But the part of our report that generated the biggest controversy was the calculation that Massachusetts had added only 571 life […]