MORE ARTICLES
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
Massachusetts’ Workforce Growing Older and More Diverse, Remains Highly EducatedApril 18, 2024 - 9:26 am
Johns Hopkins’ Ashley Berner on Educational Pluralism & DemocracyApril 17, 2024 - 2:53 pm
Why the secrecy? Pioneer Calls for Open Meetings Dealing with Steward’s Impact on Patient Care.April 16, 2024 - 1:59 pm
Industrial Policy Reimaged: Can Government Improve Free MarketsApril 16, 2024 - 12:34 pm
Interesting Choices
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Better Government, News /byI opened up my Globe this AM to be greeted by this Metro section headline: “Political Momentum Builds for a Sales Tax Increase” plus a picture of a rally and an article on the topic. Interesting choices, given that the rally only attracted 40 or so people and the content of the article was much more noncommital. Contrast that with the studied inattention to the larger “Tea Party” rallies of the week before — wire story on a rally elsewhere deep in the first section.
Treasurer Cahill's Spring Cleaning
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Better Government, News /byAllegations were made regarding the connections between the Treasurer and some lobbyists at the end of last summer. The State Ethics Commission recently started investigating the allegations and certain folks on the left started jumping for joy (see here and here). They assumed this was the end of a potential challenge to their Governor. But Cahill was ‘cleared’ yesterday by the Ethics Commission (that’s the Herald headline, the actual wording was “this matter does not warrant further action at this time”). Regardless, Cahill has a clean bill of health on the matter should it come up later and he did it before the vast majority of voters are paying much attention. My guess is that this was his intent all […]
Almost a million dollars an hour
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Better Government, News /byOne of my pet issues has been moving payroll and other short-lived items off of the capital budget. It’s the state budgeting equivalent of taking out a mortgage to buy groceries — using 20 – 30 year bonds to pay for salaries, computers, cars, etc. It would require roughly $200 million in operating funds to do that completely. I’ve been told many times (before the current crisis) that this would be impossible. Governor Patrick, to his credit, proposed moving a mere $10 million of payroll off the capital budget in his first budget. Again, deemed impossible and ignored by the Legislature. Now, in the midst of our great fiscal crisis, the $52 million line item for the Quinn Bill got […]
Why MTEL, Not PRAXIS, Will Maintain Teacher Quality in Massachusetts:
/0 Comments/in News, Related Education Blogs /by Editorial StaffAuthor(s): CSR — Publication date: 2009-04-23 Category: Education Abstract: The tests Massachusetts uses for licensing teachers, the Massachusetts Tests for Educator Licensure (MTEL), have been developed for the state by the Evaluation Systems group of Pearson (ESP) under continuously renewed contracts with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE).
Pick Your Favorite Earmark
/1 Comment/in Blog, Blog: Better Government, News /byThe amendments to the House Ways & Means Budget are in!! Take a spin through and find your favorites. First, two requests in the name of transparency — give them names that are comprehensible (FY 2010 Amendment (TAP-LIFT).doc, anyone?) and don’t use the .docx format. I encourage loyal readers to add their favorites in the comments. I’ll start the bidding with $217,000 for new tennis courts at Wakefield High. Maybe it really is for the children…. More generally, I may be naive, but I’m always puzzled by the legality of naming specific, non-public providers for specific state services and the dollar amount they should receive. Look, I think Junior Achievement is probably doing a great job, but does putting a […]