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GLOBE OP-ED: Mass. cities need new deal with public employees

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The Mayor of New Bedford– one of Pioneer’s Middle Cities– wrote an interesting op-ed that ran in the Boston Globe. He calls for a statewide task force to develop a new framework for public union contracts in the future. He outlines the fiscal mess that many local communities face, and advocates for immediate action to re-imagine how local governments are run. I wrote an op-ed giving some suggestions from the state level a few weeks ago. However, Mayor Lang’s strongest argument to support his call for action is that: “We cannot have a strong state unless we have strong municipalities. It is imperative that we find systemic and equitable solutions that will allow our cities to strengthen public safety, revitalize […]

Delivering a reality check

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Back in October, a nasty teacher union v. school district battle came to a decision point in the Wrentham-Norfolk-Plainville area. Months had passed with the local union refusing to allow teachers to perform basic duties (writing letters of recommendation, providing parents access to updates online, etc.). As the Globe’s Brian McGrory noted, the unions were sore that the school committee didn’t want to agree to a new contract that would have given them a 28 percent raise over three years. Anyone who has been around the block in education knows the clout of the teachers unions and can easily twist his fingers in knots counting the obstacles and “actions” some local unions are willing to use to persuade school committees […]

VIDEO: Is Beacon Hill Rigged?

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On a quiet Friday afternoon during the holidays, Beacon Hill gave members not returning next session a chance to give farewell speeches. The one that stood out was most was Rep. Matthew Patrick calling out the status quo for doing business in the Massachusetts State House. “If you play your cards right, vote the right way, keep your criticisms to yourself, you have a chance of becoming a chairperson of a committee,” he said, adding that eventually, “You find yourself not participating in debates, not even listening, because you and everyone else knows what the outcome will be. It’s preordained. You continue to play the game until one day you find out that some lobbyists have more influence than you, […]

How do student absences affect students?

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A story in the Providence Journal focuses on Central Falls, the tiny city best known in Massachusetts education circles as the place where the CF Schools Superintendent, with the support of RI Education Commissioner Deborah Gist, fired all of the district’s teachers unless they agreed to reforms that included spending more time in the classrooms. That story drew national headlines, but the city of Central Falls and the school district continue to garner headlines in Rhode Island. The city is facing bankruptcy, with the head of a special commission suggesting that the entire city be folded into Pawtucket. (The mayor of Pawtucket wasn’t so hot on that idea.) There are numerous stories that are still coming out concerning the school […]

Health $ Elbow Out Kids, Cops and Trees

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Just wanted to share a dramatic graph from a recent Boston Foundation report. While the report focused on the money that is being sucked away from education, the graph above should raise big red flags on Beacon Hill about the stark increase in health care spending. The report was followed by an investigative look into the Medicaid expansion that has taken place during the economic downturn. It will be over 30% of the Massachusetts budget next year.  State House News Service Massachusetts taxpayers have delivered more revenue to the state Treasury nearly every month since October 2009, but the Patrick administration still faces a significant budget gap, largely because of soaring costs in the state Medicaid program. It may be […]