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Don't give up pole position on standards!

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There is little to add to today’s Globe editorial on academic standards other than to applaud the detail and effort that went into hearing out all sides and making the right, nuanced judgment. “Don’t let national ed reform push down standards in Mass.” is a strong piece: MASSACHUSETTS JUMPED wholeheartedly into the fight to raise academic standards when other states were content to maintain a low profile and low expectations. Now, the Obama administration and the National Governors’ Association are trying to prod those other states into action by setting national standards for achievement in English and math. If the federal government starts awarding grants for adopting those standards, Massachusetts could stand to gain — but not if it is […]

A world without public sector unions?

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The Cato Institute just released a brief history of public-sector unionization and some recent data. The recommendation is as you might predict–a ban on collective bargaining in the public sector–but that is hardly an extreme position unless you think North Carolina and Virginia alien territory. After all, they do in fact ban it. Yeah, I know. But it is worth a read!

Let Them Eat Cake

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Please, please, my friends at the Greenway — don’t get too precious about vetting what foods are healthy enough to be sold on the Greenway. You need to draw people, put whatever people want to come and eat. I’m all in favor of healthy, local options on my own dime but you need an infusion of people, not a monument. This quote gives me pause: “You can imagine people squeezing fresh lemons or fresh oranges,’’ said Nancy Brennan, executive director of the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway Conservancy. “You can imagine high-end grilled cheese sandwiches with local cheese as the centerpiece of really good bread.’’ I can also imagine families and workers that would rather have something tasty and affordable. And […]

Border Tolls Are Coming

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I’m not sure how much of this is political theater or unrelated events, but both Connecticut and New Hampshire are pretty seriously considering border tolls. It seems pretty certain that Massachusetts would respond by putting up a border toll on I-93 (seeing as how the Pike tolls largely act like a border toll now on the short piece of I-84 in our state). Drivers are not going to like it, but it will leave each state with more transportation money. The last piece of the puzzle would be a move to open-road tolling, which seems to happening here.

Kudos to Anne Wass

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Jamie Vaznis leads the Globe with a story that really needs a lot of attention — no matter what your view is. We’ve said it many times before: High academic standards are the lifeblood of high student achievement in our public schools — all of our public schools. We love public charters because they are effective delivery mechanisms, but would we want charters without high academic standards? No thanks. That’s one of the principal reasons why charters in other states often are as ineffective as their district school peers. You’ve seen my view on standards in many a blog post, so let’s applaud others for theirs — and let’s hope they remain strong on this issue. First kudos go to […]