THE PIONEER BLOG

Jim Stergios

National standards dissent and pep rallies

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About a week ago, the state of Texas responded to national standards proponents, including the federal government, which are trying to drag it screaming into the mix of states who have adopted the so-called Common Core. The Lone Star state released draft state math standards that are built on the foundation of Massachusetts’ now defunct standards and those in place in Singapore. The goal: To craft standards that are the best in the nation. We’ll see how US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will respond now that Texas has the best standards in the land. Closer to home, Massachusetts Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester recently traveled to central Massachusetts to meet with members of the Tantasqua Regional School Committee. The committee […]

Jim Stergios

Education news from other states

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Last July, while most of the Massachusetts educators were at the beach, the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) endorsed Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester’s recommendation and voted to replace Massachusetts’ best-in-the-nation academic standards. There is lots of gab about what all that means—and major media outlets have spilled a lot of ink copying the press releases from public officials. Falling into the category of “So much effort to advance unproven ideas” are the folks at EdWeek, who continue to monitor DC chatter, the national testing vehicles being developed, a thus-far postponed debate on where proficiency will be set (cut scores), and a manifesto issued by the Shanker Institute arguing for a national curriculum. The tentacles of the Gates […]

Joshua Archambault

Connector Saving Taxpayer Money

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On this blog– and in the press– I have often been critical of the policy choices of the Connector and its governing Board. However, credit is due to the staff at the Connector for the latest round of negotiations with CommCare’s managed care organizations, in which $80 million of taxpayer money was saved.  With a projected 11% membership growth this coming year, any savings is welcome in a program with subsidies of roughly $840 million. As Executive Director Glen Shor said in his monthly update e-mail, this will mean that CommCare “members will not have to face the prospect of benefit reductions…”– good news in a tight budget year.

Steve Poftak

Permitted to Succeed? Part Three

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My last two blog posts (here and here) have provided some ideas about some key aspects of the Mayor’s initiative to reform the permitting process. If we can get the physical layout right, the organizational structure right, and the culture right, the last step is to build in accountability measures. Right now, its noteworthy that the City’s performance measurement program is silent on the topic of permitting times. It measures the number of permits issued and complaints responded to, but not how long it takes. (And while we are at it – can we get BAR performance reports to show historical results that are comparable to current year results. Right now, we get year-to-date results for the current year and […]

Steve Poftak

Permitted to Succeed? Part Two

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In response to Mayor Menino’s pledge to create a “one-stop shop” for permitting, we’ll be examining what factors need to be addressed in order to spur job creation in Boston. On Day One, we looked at the leadership issues that would need to be resolved. Day Two – changing an organizational culture of highly personalized, uneven customer service – is harder. To make the permitting process easier for entrepreneurs, the culture of the bureaucracy that’s involved has to change from a process orientation to results. That means viewing business owners as customers, not obstacles. Talk to people trying to start businesses in Boston and you quickly hear about uneven experiences with the staff at the Inspectional Services Division at 1010 […]

Joshua Archambault

Harvard’s Effort to Make Cities Matter

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Harvard’s Advanced Leadership Initiative has recently launched an interesting academic exercise of a virtual think tank at the Harvard Business Review website HBR.org on the topic of revitalizing cities. The series of thought pieces serve as the appetizers for an upcoming multi-day conference feast at Harvard Law School on the same topic. Thursday, April 28-Saturday, April 30. Globally, 2008 marked the first time that a majority of citizens would reside in cities. Locally, the most recent census data showed significant growth in many smaller cities in Massachusetts. While large cities like Boston garner significant attention and resources as they adapt to population growth, the new growth in these smaller cities is more significant since they often have fewer resources to […]

Joshua Archambault

Pioneer Goes Local! “MuniShare” Municipal Report Contest

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As part of Pioneer Institute’s annual Better Government Competition, Pioneer is offering two $3,000 awards for the best municipal reports. No daunting application and little effort!  Entering is as simple as submitting a report by e-mail, with a brief (150-word) summary. What Kind of Reports? We are interested in public opinion surveys, departmental studies, environmental audits, and really, any type of report. The only requirement is that the report tackle an issue that fellow municipal governments might face as well. The reports can focus on department-specific or municipality-wide issues, and can be up to ten years old. There is no minimum or maximum length and no limit to the number of entries from a municipality. The more, the better! Selection Process: A panel of judges with vast experience […]

Joshua Archambault

Lessons from Massachusetts Health Care Reform (Romneycare)

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Last month marked the first anniversary of the federal healthcare law; this week the fifth anniversary of Massachusetts’ own health reform. President Obama likes to tout the federal effort as paralleling the Massachusetts’ reform, but the fact is that Obamacare has created a lot of uncertainty for states across the country, including Massachusetts. For example, will Massachusetts now have two individual mandate penalties? Will we shift close to 100,000 individuals from the new healthcare exchange to Medicaid? What are the implications of the federal law for the cost picture in already expensive Massachusetts? Obamacare is of little benefit to Massachusetts beyond pouring billions more dollars into the Massachusetts healthcare industry, which is likely to push the cost of care even […]

Steve Poftak

Permitted to Succeed? Part One

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Mayor Menino’s new budget proposal included the intriguing commitment to create a “one-stop shop” for small business permitting. The state has long strived to create these kind of permitting shops, prompting one state official to muse that it might be worth putting together a guide to all the “one stop shops” in state government. To some extent, the city has consolidated some of those functions at 1010 Mass Ave., but a quick review of the city’s permitting literature reveals that there is significant consolidation to be done. With different agencies located at 1010 Mass Ave., City Hall, 26 Court St., and other locations, a true one-stop shop will require a lot of consolidation. Physical co-location is a great first step, […]

Steve Poftak

Municipal Healthcare Endgame?

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I would never underestimate the negotiating guile of the major labor unions, but it does appear we are reaching the endgame stage of the municipal healthcare debate. After a negotiated consensus reform several years ago to put municipal workers into the GIC failed to get a strong level of acceptance, it was clear that something more had to be done. A number of Mayors (including Menino) advocated for control over plan design, even threatening a ballot referendum (hope Denise Provost can stop them!) The Governor’s budget (see Section 6, here) put in place a somewhat vague process to (eventually) force workers into the GIC. The House Ways and Means Budget was much more explicit (see section 46, here), providing clear […]

Taylor Armerding

It’s not what you say, it’s how you cloak it

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It has been said before, but it bears repeating: Control the language of the debate and you control the debate. Witness President Obama’s studious effort to take control of the debate Wednesday in his speech on how he would slow the runaway federal budget deficit. Like most politicians who want to raise taxes, the president will do almost any rhetorical tap dance to avoid saying the word unless it takes the general form of, “tax breaks for the wealthy” or “unaffordable tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires.” We have as many euphemisms for raising taxes as Eskimos have for snow. Unions insist that “revenues” must be on the table in any debate on deficits. Gov. Deval Patrick talks about preserving […]

Michael Morisy

Governor Deval Patrick’s Missing Chapter on Transparency

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Governor Deval Patrick’s new autobiography, “A Reason to Believe: Lessons from an Improbable Life”, is an inspiring story, detailing his rise from Chicago impoverishment to his current job as governor of the Commonwealth. While frank about his personal heroes and inspirations, the book skims over his political battles and the decisions he faced in his first term. Even health care reform, of which Massachusetts has in many ways been an early adopter and champion, received negligible mention. Unfortunately, while his personal story is remarkable, his policies haven’t been a very open book. On vital issues of both local and national importance, I’ve seen pushback, opacity and silence. Starting in January of this year, working with the Pioneer Institute, I’ve filed […]

Joshua Archambault

Gov Patrick Confused on Economics on “Daily Show”

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Governor Patrick was on Comedy Central’s “Daily Show” Tuesday night to promote his new memoir.  But the joke may be on us, if his flawed understanding of healthcare economics on the show translate into policy. The Daily Show – Deval Patrick Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook Stewart began an exchange on the Massachusetts reform by pushing back on the notion that markets can work in health insurance (with the clear implication that health insurers are currently operating in a free market system). Governor Patrick responded that double digit [health insurance] premium increases are the result of markets “without parameters.” Hmmm.  Would benefit mandates, guarantee issue policies, thousands of pages of state regulation […]

Steve Poftak

Siblings and the Boston School Lottery

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If you’ve got young kids in the city, the Boston Public Schools lottery is on your mind.  Boston Magazine’s Amy Traverso detailed multiple strategies for dealing with it in last month’s issue.  And the Boston Globe has given the process the full ‘package’ treatment in print and on the web. This year’s first round of assignments went out two weeks ago and participants have been mulling their options ever since. It’s a damnably complex process (how many other lotteries have extensive econometric literature on them?) as is the range of outcomes – a dizzying mix of  acceptance at desired schools, acceptance at marginally acceptable schools, outright rejection, and varying levels of waitlist purgatory. For some, it’s the final straw before […]

Taylor Armerding

Fix Social Security? Just do what FDR did

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It is time for baby boomers (like me) to stop whining about reform of Social Security. If FDR was still around, they might be facing a bigger whack than what is being proposed. And it is good that there is at least a discussion going on about it in Congress. According to the Boston Globe, U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, Wisconsin Republican, chairman of the House Budget Committee and author of a plan to cut trillions in future federal spending, is optimistic about entitlement cuts beyond Medicare and Medicaid. “Social Security reform, hopefully, is an area where we might have a shot at a bipartisan agreement this summer,” he said. We should all hope so. Getting the grandfather of entitlement programs […]