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Scott Walker’s double

The biggest danger that the teachers’ unions, and really all public sector employee unions, face is that of “copycat” Walkers. But let’s be clear: The Wisconsin battle over collective bargaining is not going to play out in Massachusetts like it has in the Badger state. The fact is that there are important differences between our states. Our major collective bargaining issues are local in the short-term and in the longer-term both state and local. In the near-term that means we need to focus on giving local municipal leaders the same ability that the state has to purchase health care benefits in bulk and without negotiating collectively on the benefit packages put forward. But lest unions take the wrong lesson—that Massachusetts […]

Worcester Telegram and Gazette: Black history — blacked out

Until state education leaders reinstate the MCAS history requirement, students won’t know important chapters in black — and Massachusetts — history.

What does the Madison catfight mean for teachers?

The public debate in Wisconsin over the effort by Governor Scott Walker to curtail collective bargaining rights for public employees has all the stuff of a great teaching moment. It has the governor of a state that is known for and has a long history of progressivism. The president of the United States has lined up against the governor. Thousands of workers are swarming into the State House, and legislators exiting across state lines. The story also has the benefit of being about something we all understand—we are broke. We’re broke as states and a nation, and how are we going to work through this. The story has the added benefit of being something familiar to all of us: We […]

Good Stuff in Transportation

It’s easy to be cynical in this day and age, so we’ve put together a transcript of our May 2010 transportation forum to restore your faith. In it, we get to hear from three transportation innovators doing great work with limited resources. I urge you to give it a read. We hear from Jon Davis from the MBTA who explains how their Open Data Initiative has spawned a number of privately-developed applications. The MBTA’s strategic approach is a subtle, but crucially important one — rather than decide what their customers want, then slog through an in-house software and hardware procurement and development process — the T cleaned up their data and made it available to private developers. The result? A […]

Governor Patrick Found the Silver Bullet for Cost Containment?

Thoughts on Governor Deval Patrick’s speech this morning about phase II of health reform in Massachusetts: cost containment. Without seeing the bill language these are my thoughts—however, it sounds like much “fussing over the details” will remain even after he files the bill. Broad themes He deserves credit for putting the first bill on the table. As has been the case for almost a year, the devil is still in the details.  The speech did not do much to illuminate, but it did serve to take a few things off the table. Much of the implementation of this bill will play out in the regulatory space anyway. This is a longer term play. There are real problems happening now, especially […]