
MBTAAnalysis: A look inside the MBTA
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The MBTA shuttles over a million passengers a day around Greater…


New Report Shows Massachusetts Has Been in Economic Slow Down Since 2020
A new report from Pioneer Institute shows that Massachusetts has been in an economic slowdown since 2020, with the professional, scientific, and technical services sector (PSTS) exhibiting the greatest slowdown relative to competitor states since 2022. This sector includes scientific research and development, computer systems design, engineering, and scientific consulting firms.

Pioneer Public Interest Law Center and New England Legal Foundation Unite Under New Banner: Pioneer New England Legal Foundation
The Pioneer Public Interest Law Center (Pioneer Law Center) today announced its strategic alliance with the New England Legal Foundation (NELF), as the Pioneer New England Legal Foundation (PNELF). Building on a common mission of advancing educational opportunity, government transparency and free enterprise, PNELF will expand services to defend and promote these freedoms across and beyond New England.

GO Tutor Corps’ Michael Duffy on Charter Public Schools & High-Dosage Tutoring
In this episode of The Learning Curve, co-hosts Alisha Searcy and U-Arkansas Prof. Albert Cheng, speak with Michael Duffy, President of GO Tutor Corps, a nonprofit dedicated to closing achievement gaps through high-dosage tutoring in low-income communities. Mr. Duffy shares insights from his distinguished career in public service and education reform, beginning in Massachusetts state government under Governor Bill Weld and later in Boston’s charter school movement.

Pioneer Institute Releases Toolkit to Transform Boston’s Madison Park Technical Vocational High School
Pioneer Institute has released a new Urban Voc-Tech Toolkit aimed at helping Boston’s Madison Park Technical Vocational High School reach its full potential as a driver of opportunity for high-need students. Drawing on the successes of vocational-technical schools in Worcester, Springfield, and across Massachusetts, the toolkit outlines strategies based on high academic standards, strong industry partnerships, and increased school autonomy. The toolkit was coauthored by a group of five nationally recognized education leaders.

Pioneer Institute Launches Tracker Showing Drug Price Controls Are Raising Out-of-Pocket Costs for Medicare Patients
A new data tool from Pioneer Institute reveals that federal drug price controls—intended to reduce out-of-pocket costs for seniors—are instead making many prescription drugs more expensive for Medicare beneficiaries.

New Study Cautions: Rent Control Offers Short-Term Relief, But Steep Long-Term Costs
A new Pioneer Institute study finds that while rent control can lower rental housing costs and help vulnerable tenants remain in their homes, it also carries steep long-term consequences—including reduced housing quality, lower property values, fewer new housing units, and higher rents for non-controlled apartments.

Pioneer Institute Releases 2025 Toolkit to Guide Policymakers on Education Tax-Credit Scholarship Programs
New report urges maximizing tax-credit value to expand educational opportunity and boost private contributions

We Have a Long Way to Go for Massachusetts Residents to Have the Government Transparency We Deserve
As Pioneer Institute observes Sunshine Week,?we are disappointed by the legislature’s attempts to deny what the vast majority of voters want: an audit of the legislature by our State Auditor. Trying to avoid an audit further exacerbates the loss of public trust. After all, what are we left to think? Do they have something to hide? That is not the government our founders intended; nor is it what 72 percent of Massachusetts voters wanted. This year, during Sunshine Week, we are entirely focused on the top three actions to bring sunlight to the state legislature. They are:

Pioneer Institute Study Finds Outdated U.S. Immigration System Delays Creation of 150,000 Businesses and 500,000 Jobs
Global competitors seizing opportunities to attract top talent

The Lost Decade Calls for Replacing “Social Justice Education” with Education Rich in Liberal Arts, includes a foreword by John McWhorter
Book finds that marginalized students suffer most from turn away from academics

Study: Inclusionary Zoning Helps Some, but Can Jeopardize Broad-Based Affordability
Policies often force developers to raise market-rate prices to compensate for losses on affordable units

State Report Card on Telehealth Reform: Progress Slowed in 2024 Leaving Patients Without Access
Connecticut, Louisiana and Tennessee missed the mark; Colorado…

Pioneer Institute Study Says MA Housing Permitting Process Needs Systemic Reform
Highlights Bureaucratic licensing process and appeals as areas to fix

Curious Mike’s Visit to Rain Lily Microschool
In this episode of Microschooling Journeys, Curious Mike visits Rain Lily Microschool in Nassau County, Florida. He visits: Wow. Then he hears the two founders origin story. Kati is a veteran Montessori teacher frustrated with culture and teacher respect issues in her former school, dreaming of a place where all parents felt welcome. Tania trains in Cuba, and then with her husband makes the fraught journey to USA, and ends up working her way up the ladder. Like many, they have a dream of “their own” little school - but how?
Enter Wildflower Network. It’s a network for teacher-led microschools, and they help people just like Kati and Tania: with septic tanks, with website creation, with touchy legal issues, with building a sliding scale tuition model that can tap Florida’s public dollars. This episode is a little different stylistically: it’s Mike’s monologue. Tune in next time for an interview with Matt Kramer, CEO of Wildflower’s 70+ campuses, about expanding these innovative schools nationwide.

Study Finds Bump in State Population Due to Changes in Census Bureau Methodology
BOSTON – State leaders cheered in January when the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that Massachusetts’ population grew by 69,000 in 2024, more than at any other time in 60 years. Unfortunately, a closer look reveals that the higher estimates are largely driven by a change in Census Bureau methodology designed to better capture the influx of humanitarian migrants.

The House Call – Accessory Dwelling Units are Officially Legal Statewide in Massachusetts
This issue of The House Call covers Massachusetts' recent legalization of accessory dwelling units, as well as a bill filed in the state legislature last month that would broadly prevent localities from enforcing certain housing-related regulations.

Pioneer Institute Study Compares MA Workforce Development System to Those in Peer States
(Boston, Mass) - As Massachusetts has significantly increased investment in a myriad of workforce training programs to better compete for talent, a new Pioneer Institute report examines the Massachusetts workforce development system to determine what operational changes would better maximize results, and it compares the system to those in peer states.

Pioneer Institute Study Calls for Reforms to Ensure that Pharmacy Benefit Manager Practices Benefit Patients, Healthcare Payers
Congress likely to take up PBM reform early this year; Pioneer Institute Calls for PBM’s to be more transparent

Pioneer Institute Offers Blueprint for Federal Administrative Reform
Proposed changes to rulemaking and grantmaking will boost accountability and state policy innovation

Pioneer Institute Releases Examination of Metropolitan Housing Markets; Obtains Insights Into Improving Affordability
Boston, Mass. – A Pioneer Institute review of reforms enacted in metropolitan areas across the country finds that to achieve more affordable housing in the coming decades, Greater Boston should focus on policies such as making it easier to build small multi-family projects, retrofit commercial areas with new housing, and loosen parking and minimum lot size requirements.

Pioneer Institute Study Finds Massachusetts Saw Four-Fold Loss of Income to Net Outmigration
Net loss accelerated in recent years; main reasons include high taxes, housing and healthcare

Five Reasons Why Project Labor Agreements Are Bad Public Policy
Project labor agreements (PLAs) essentially prevent non-union…

Study Published by Pioneer Institute Shows Massachusetts Learning Loss Among Nation’s Worst
Recommends Sustainable Policy Responses to Pandemic Learning Loss

Pioneer Institute Study Finds MCAS, Education Reform Have Significantly Improved Academic Attainment
Gains have been particularly notable among low-income, Black and Hispanic students

Pioneer Institute Study Finds Wide Range of Approaches to Compliance with MBTA Communities Law
Lexington’s approach seen as a model
BOSTON – As Massachusetts’…

Study Finds Results of International Assessments Confirm Quality of MCAS
Economist and Fulbright Scholar concludes Massachusetts should return to participating in international testing as a benchmark for state results and internationally competitive economy

American Bar Association Elects President of the Pioneer Law Center as Vice Chair of Judicial Division
The Hon. Frank J. Bailey (ret.) will Advance to Chair in 2026
(Boston,…

Pioneer Institute: 340B Hospitals Does Not Necessarily Translate to Charity Care
Review of Becker’s List of Health Systems with Strong Finances…

Study: U.S. Immigration System Limits Benefits Foreign Students Could Provide
Slow, inefficient system that discourages entrepreneurship puts U.S. at a competitive disadvantage

Latest IRS Migration Data Show Exodus from Massachusetts Continues
Massachusetts shed more than double the amount of adjusted gross income (AGI) in 2022 than any year prior to 2020, making it fifth among states in net AGI out-migration behind only California, New York, Illinois and New Jersey, according to data released Thursday by the Internal Revenue Service.