MORE ARTICLES
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
Losing Local Labor: Retaining Workers Remains a Massachusetts ChallengeApril 30, 2024 - 10:49 am
Outmigration and the Labor ForceApril 25, 2024 - 11:44 am
Study Finds Obstacles to Search for Opioid SubstituteApril 25, 2024 - 9:11 am
Annual Massachusetts Outmigration Hits 39,000, Up 1,100% Over The Last Decade: BU StudyApril 24, 2024 - 1:00 pm
Hoover at Stanford’s Stephen Kotkin on Stalin’s Tyranny, WWII, & the Cold WarApril 24, 2024 - 12:33 pm
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
Ho-hum to the Guv on education
/1 Comment/in Blog, Blog: Education, Blog: School Choice, Jim Stergios, Related Education Blogs /byThis morning on the Todd and Tom show on WRKO, Joe Battenfield (who was sitting in for Todd Feinburg) noted that the Governor’s office is claiming that Pioneer’s view of the national standards issue is a result of politics. What they are suggesting is that because Charlie Baker was Pioneer’s first executive director 20+ years ago, we are running defense for him. You can listen to the whole interview here (it’s not too long, clocking in at 10 minutes). My response was Ho-Hum. What I noted was that it’s hard to say that when on the day of the Board of Education’s vote to scrap the state standards, we did a press release with Tim Cahill — not Charlie Baker. […]
Massachusetts gets Race to the Top grant
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Common Core, Blog: Education, Jim Stergios, Related Education Blogs /byThe Race to the Top grants have been made and Massachusetts will receive a total of $250 million, to be distributed over a four-year period. That’s good for MA. Very good. Though we should remember at what cost the money came and also take the opportunity to ask a few meaty questions. Let’s start with the questions: Why the late August release? It’s not a great news cycle. And the decisions were supposed to be announced in mid-September — that would be perfect with the kids back at school and lots of parents thinking about education. How did Massachusetts get the highest score of all the states? After all, they had strong unions support (unlike Massachusetts, where the local chapter […]
Ed Commish "blatantly violated the law"
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Common Core, Blog: Education, Blog: School Choice, Jim Stergios, Related Education Blogs /byPatrick Anderson at the Gloucester Times reports today that Superior Court Judge Richard Welch III found that the case presents “considerable evidence” that the state education commissioner and Board of Education “blatantly ignored and violated state law when granting the GCA charter for political reasons.” And more: While he dismissed the parents’ argument that the commissioner is legally bound to follow the recommendation of his Charter School Office, Welch — echoing state Sen. Bruce Tarr and state Inspector General Gregory Sullivan — said there is no evidence Chester made any attempt to independently judge the application against the established criteria. “… There is a strong factual showing that the Commissioner, despite his affidavit to the contrary, did not perform his […]
Gov's Council Race Goes Negative
/0 Comments/in Blog, News /byQuick, who is your Governor’s Councillor? Chances are that you have no idea. I’ve said in the past that its time for this vestige of our colonial past to go, but still it remains. In the 2nd race, the current councillor, Kelly Timilty, faced a challenge the last time around but prevailed 66% to 34% over Robert Jubinville. In that race, Timilty faked an endorsement from Governor Patrick and ended up paying a fine after the fact for her actions. Well, Jubinville is back and he’s not pleased. Check out the mailer I received over the weekend. Pretty rough stuff – cheating and stealing, etc. Curious where they got that shot of Timilty.
Municipal Benchmarks for Massachusetts Middle Cities: A Look at Financial Management
/0 Comments/in Better Government, Economic Opportunity, Press Releases, Press Releases: Economic Opportunity, Press Releases: Government /by Editorial StaffThis paper advocates for an approach to benchmarking that recognizes meaningful differences within groups (like the Middle Cities) that may be lost in a broader comparison or statewide context. Below we discuss three different examples of this method, first looking at different rates of vacant housing from town to town, followed by similar explorations of home values and commercial and industrial development. More broadly, whether the topic is housing, property tax, or something else (school performance, public safety, whatever), wise use of municipal benchmarks holds the promise to recognize ways that communities may be distinguishing themselves—or drifting further into problem territory—without getting drawn into sweeping generalities, broad despair, or defensive apologies. Municipal Benchmarks for Massachusetts Middle Cities: A Look at […]