MORE ARTICLES
Jeffrey Meyers on Edgar Allan Poe, Gothic Horror, & HalloweenOctober 30, 2024 - 11:44 am
Mountain State Modifications: Tiffany Uses ESA Flexibility to Pivot Quickly For Her Son’s EducationOctober 24, 2024 - 12:11 pm
Study Published by Pioneer Institute Shows Massachusetts Learning Loss Among Nation’s WorstOctober 24, 2024 - 10:31 am
U-TX at SA’s Catherine Clinton on Harriet Tubman & the Underground RailroadOctober 23, 2024 - 11:30 am
Award-Winner Tom Segev on Israel’s Founding Father, David Ben-GurionOctober 16, 2024 - 11:59 am
Pioneer Institute Study Finds MCAS, Education Reform Have Significantly Improved Academic AttainmentOctober 16, 2024 - 11:46 am
McAnneny October Monthly Musings – Ballot InitiativesOctober 11, 2024 - 2:17 pm
Homeschooling with Hope: Katie Switzer’s ESA ExperienceOctober 10, 2024 - 11:24 am
Lynch Foundation’s Katie Everett on School Finance Model for Catholic Schools & School ChoiceOctober 9, 2024 - 11:30 am
Pioneer Institute Study Finds Wide Range of Approaches to Compliance with MBTA Communities LawOctober 6, 2024 - 9:12 pm
Whither METCO?
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Education, Blog: School Choice, Jim Stergios, News, Related Education Blogs /byIf METCO closes the achievement gap, and if closing the achievement gap is a top priority, why are we cutting METCO funding?
Transparency, To a Point
/0 Comments/in Blog, News /byJust 99 days after filing the first in a series of requests, I finally received some records from the Massachusetts’ Human Resources Division yesterday. I had planned to blog again on the issue after the counter hit 100 days, so the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is saved by the bell. And what a bargain: For 6 pages, Pioneer Institute paid just $61.33 per sheet. The Division of Human Resources graciously waived the 64 cents postage fee, but a number of questions still linger. When Governor Deval Patrick took office, for example, he promised a “more modern and accessible and accountable” government. While there have been some progress (MassDot has rightly won praise for some of its transparency initiatives), transparency is often […]
No Free Lunch
/0 Comments/in Blog, News /byWhat do the recent kerfuffle involving Boloco and Boston’s new plan to collect a “voluntary” payment from tax-exempt organizations with properties valued at $15 million or more have in common? As it has already been put well on this blog, the city’s request that tax-exempt organizations pay money that they do not actually owe is essentially an example of extortion—of the city’s requesting a “voluntary” payment from certain tax-exempt organizations with the implicit threat that if the organization does not comply with the city’s demands, the city could wreak havoc on it in any number of ways. The request at the heart of the Boloco incident is no different. According to the Boston Globe’s account, the Boloco incident “all started […]
Labor leader admits it – unions have bought the Legislature
/0 Comments/in Better Government, Blog, News /byRobert Haynes supposedly represents organized labor, as head of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO. But lately he is becoming a walking, talking advertisement for why public-employee union power needs to be restrained. Haynes admitted publicly this week what everybody knows – that those unions have bought the overwhelmingly Democratic Legislature. Now that there is a possibility (and only a possibility) that they won’t get what they paid for in one instance, they are mad as hell and not going to take it any more. His rant came at midweek, after the House voted overwhelmingly, 111-42, to strip municipal employees of their right to bargain over health care benefits – a move launched by, of all people, House Speaker Robert DeLeo. “It’s pretty […]
Do You Believe in Medicaid Miracles?
/0 Comments/in Blog, News /byThe 1980 Miracle on Ice actually happened. For all our sake, the Medicaid Miracle that is embedded in both the Governor’s Budget and the House Budget better come true as well. For years, Medicaid costs have advanced robustly, at roughly 7% per year which is a big number given that it’s building on a base of billions. So, what do the budget forecasters in the Governor’s office and the House project for next year? Growth of only $100m in Medicaid — growth of 1% or less. That will require the state to drive down its per Medicaid enrollee costs by 3.5% next year. How have we done at that recently? On average, per enroll costs have gone up by 5% […]