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Statement: Pioneer Institute in Support of Accessory Dwelling UnitsMay 2, 2024 - 12:50 pm
Study: Expand Voc-Tech Seats, Don’t Require Lottery- Based AdmissionsMay 2, 2024 - 8:50 am
Colonel Peter Hayden on U.S. Cyber Command & National SecurityMay 1, 2024 - 1:52 pm
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Superior Court Judge Invalidates “Equity Theft” Law as UnconstitutionalApril 23, 2024 - 1:04 pm
Tax Man Confounded: Why High Rates Haven’t Yielded Higher RevenueApril 23, 2024 - 12:58 pm
Vocational-technical schools working with business
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Education, Blog: School Choice, Jim Stergios, News, Related Education Blogs /byThe local business community has always been heavily involved in our public institutions, through voluntary associations, of course, but also ensuring the good functioning and affordability of a once very robust network of community hospitals as well as our public schools. Throughout the robust education reform debates of the 1990s, figures like William S. Edgerly of State Street Corporation and Ray Stata of Analog Devices brought to bear the view of employers who were wedded to their communities, to a strong liberal arts foundation, and to the idea of preparing students for the workforce. The state’s vocational-technical (VTE) schools have clearly put an emphasis on building relationships with the business community, for resource needs, connections for employment, and for input […]
Choosing to succeed in regional vocational-technical schools
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Education, Blog: School Choice, Jim Stergios, News, Related Education Blogs /byWhat sets Massachusetts’s education reform efforts apart from those in other states can be reduced to three things. The reforms begun with the 1993 landmark law: Put into place were comprehensive in that they spanned content, accountability, and choice. Massachusetts did not put all of its eggs into one basket, avoiding the stale conversation about whether choice or standards was the real driver of improvements in student achievement. Recognized what the state could do well and left to the local school districts and individual schools what was best left to them. For example, the Board and Department worked to develop academic goals and teacher and student tests to make sure the schools delivered results, but they did not prescribe teaching […]
Maine Moving on Health Care
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Healthcare, Healthcare, News /byAn interesting experiment is about to be unleashed in one of our neighbors to the north–Maine. The newly Republican controlled House and Senate are moving quickly (too quickly for some) to strip away state regulations and mandates that were put in place over the past two decades and open up the individual and small group insurance market to more competition. The bill, among many things, will allow individuals to purchase insurance from companies licensed in other states (including Massachusetts.) And it will permit the price differential that insurers can charge sicker residents when compared to healthier residents to grow. Maine currently only allows a very narrow ratio of 1.5 to 1. The current law translates into healthier (mostly younger) folks […]
Another Department of Public Safety Issue
/0 Comments/in Blog, News /byThis space has raised questions in the past about the staffing levels and performance at the Department of Public Safety. Several years ago, then Auditor DeNucci found that 30% of elevators in the state had expired inspection stickers. Following the death of a child at a mall due to an accident on an escalator, there has been increased scrutiny of the department. Now, after a review of escalators across the state, there comes news that the two inspectors who certified that mall escalator are to be fired, six will be suspended for five days, and 26 will be reprimanded. Depending on whose numbers you believe, there are either 51 or 57 inspectors in the department. That means that between 60% […]
Massachusetts Medicaid “Savings” in Trouble?
/1 Comment/in Blog, Blog: Healthcare, Healthcare /byThe New York Times reports In a new effort to increase access to health care for poor people, the Obama administration is proposing a rule that would make it much more difficult for states to cut Medicaid payments to doctors and hospitals. I wonder if this will impact Governor Patrick and the Legislature’s reduction in reimbursement levels included in the FY 12 budget? If yes, there goes another chunk of the $1 billion in projected “savings”–making the near-impossible prediction of reducing per enrollee spending by 3.5% this year all that more improbable. See Poftak’s Do You Believe in Medicaid Miracles? This is also an interesting move from the Obama Administration as the Secretary of HHS recently advised states to use […]