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Vocational-technical schools that work

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A week ago, parents in Boston got their school assignments according to the Boston Public Schools’ constrained choice process. Stephanie Ebbert’s article captured the key moment this way: In a downtown office cubicle, next to a file cabinet topped with a philodendron in a wine carafe, a Boston public schools computer specialist dispassionately clicked a mouse. It was 10:11 on a Friday morning. By 10:18, the computer program had silently assigned nearly 12,000 students to 134 city schools… The following afternoon, that clean, algorithmic efficiency sent waves of emotion rippling through neighborhoods all across the city. Chrissanta Rudder jumped up and down in the hallway of the Old Colony public housing development in South Boston. Kimesha Janey-Rogers of Roxbury sighed […]

Labor leader in a glass house

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Talk about throwing stones from a glass house. Robert Haynes, president of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO played the predictable, tired class envy card in response to the recent report by the Boston Foundation and Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation on the “gilded” health plans enjoyed by municipal workers. Haynes didn’t dispute or even address any of the statistics in the report, which showed municipal workers receive health coverage averaging 37 percent sweeter than those in the private sector. He couldn’t challenge the report on the merits. So instead he went on about how much money the heads of the report’s two sponsoring groups, Paul Grogan at the Boston Foundation and Michael Widmer at MTF, were making. This would be the same Robert Haynes, […]

We’re #43!

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Those with long memories will recall the days of the campaign when CNBC’s ranking of Massachusetts as the 5th best state to do business in was widely touted. To be sure, all these rankings are highly dependent on the underlying methodology — CNBC emphasized education and quality of life strongly, so Massachusetts did well. Well, another ranking has come down the pike, from the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council. They emphasize tax policy and regulation heavily. And Massachusetts does not do so well — ranking 43rd out of 51 states (and DC). Roll that in with the CEO magazine ranking (47th!) and the Tax Foundation ranking (32nd), and there may be a message there.

Governor’s Pep Rally on Health Care Cost Containment

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Governor Patrick held an informational briefing on cost containment. The problem is that all things are not equal — insurance premiums are rising at an unsustainable rate…I am a private marketeer, not a market fundamentalist. I don’t think the market always gets it right and I don’t think the market has gotten it right in this case. I heard nothing new from the Administration, only the same unwavering faith in their ability to manage and regulate the marketplace.  I am not sure what the next step is, as the Governor’s bill calls for the details for payment reform and cost containment to form in the regulatory arena, and I don’t believe the Legislature will give that sort of power to […]

Proven reforms for urban students

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There are no silver bullets. In education, our landmark 1993 education reform act was testimony to that dictum, laying out a blueprint based on high academic standards, accountability for teachers and districts, testing for students, and innovation through charter schools. That said, there are those who believe in complicated processes and those who are more decentralizing in how they think about reform. Count me among the latter–and that’s why I have always found parental choice, tying money to the child not the system, and clear rules about school flexibility and accountability interesting. Each of these principles helps create the conditions and incentives for engaging parents, which I think is a crucial pressure point (and frankly the more they are engaged, […]