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Jeffrey Meyers on Edgar Allan Poe, Gothic Horror, & HalloweenOctober 30, 2024 - 11:44 am
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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
Factory contracts for teachers unions
/0 Comments/in Blog, Related Education Blogs /byAs the discussion about public sector unions gains traction across the country (the short list I know of includes Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee and now Maine) what often seems to be missing is the main point of public education—making sure that all kids, including the 100,000 poor and minority MA students stuck in failing schools, have access to a good education. It’s not about the benefits and needs of the adults in the schools. In Massachusetts, public sector employees as a whole receive higher salaries than those in the private sector doing comparable work (especially in the eastern part of the state). That’s an issue worth discussion. But people in the teaching profession are not making a killing–and the fact […]
WSJ: “The Massachusetts Health-Reform Mess” Swing and Miss
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Healthcare, Healthcare /byThe late John Calfee, has an opinion piece in the WSJ this morning on Massachusetts health reform. The piece is right on with a few fundamental points. One, that it was hubris to take the state experiment of 2% of the population—in a high income, high insured, and high medical infrastructure state– and mandate it on all other states, as if they are all the same. I also think Governor Patrick’s most recent bill is ill-defined and misguided in its potential anti-market elements. However, there were a few statements that are on very shaky grounds in the piece or are just wrong. (Gov. Deval Patrick wants a new law to force the unions into the Connector.) This is not true, […]
Scott Walker’s double
/0 Comments/in Blog, Related Education Blogs /byThe 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
/in Oped: Education, Oped: US History, Opeds, Related Education Blogs /byUntil 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?
/0 Comments/in Blog, Related Education Blogs /byThe 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 […]