MORE ARTICLES
Statement on MBTA Communities Law Milton RulingJanuary 8, 2025 - 3:36 pm
Harvard’s Leo Damrosch on Alexis de Tocqueville & Democracy in AmericaJanuary 8, 2025 - 9:57 am
Mapping Mass Migration: Massachusetts Remains a Top Destination for ImmigrantsJanuary 6, 2025 - 10:29 am
Mapping Mass Migration: New Census Data Shows Continued Out-Migration from Massachusetts to Competitor StatesDecember 19, 2024 - 8:52 am
UK’s John Suchet, OBE, on Tchaikovsky, The Nutcracker, & BalletsDecember 18, 2024 - 9:40 am
Tim’s Take: An Education Reform Stalwart Takes a Curious Look at Homeschoolers With ESAsDecember 12, 2024 - 1:10 pm
U-OK’s Dan Hamlin on Emerging School Models & Learning LossDecember 11, 2024 - 10:20 am
What To Do About 340BDecember 11, 2024 - 9:47 am
Pioneer Institute Offers Blueprint for Federal Administrative ReformDecember 10, 2024 - 9:06 am
The House Call – Mayor Wu Wants to Overhaul Boston’s Arcane Development Approvals Process? Here Are Three Reform OptionsDecember 9, 2024 - 11:05 am
One more time on education funding
/0 Comments/in Blog, News, Related Education Blogs /byGiven my previous post about the report from the US DOE’s Inspector General criticizing Massachusetts for cutting education funding and then using stimulus funds to fill the hole, the Governor may want to weigh assertions in his new video such as his “extraordinary efforts to invest infrastructure and education.” (See 1:25 and 1:50.) On infrastructure, absolutely. And the bridge repair plan, though flawed in some ways, is something that Pioneer supported strongly. Smart move. But on education? Nope. (Pssst. Candidates Baker, Cahill and Mihos, this video is really well done. It shows you the rhetoric and human connection the Governor is capable of. You may have good ideas and you may be running solid campaigns, but do yourselves a favor: […]
US DOE's Inspector General questions MA funding of education
/0 Comments/in Better Government, Blog, News, Related Education Blogs /byThe Alliance for Excellent Education has released a report, Straight A’s, that is scathing about the misuse of stimulus money in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Connecticut. It cites a report from the US DOE’s Inspector General criticizing the three states for using the stimulus funds in a way that was not intended in the stimulus legislation. (See the OIG’s memo and the Federal OESE’s response here.) The Patrick administration has not done anything illegal but the feds don’t like it. Basically, what happened is that the ARRA had a loophole and it has led to unintended consequences – reductions in state funding for education commensurate with what the three states thought they could use the federal money for. The feds clearly […]
Make It So
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Better Government, News /byJust today, Candidate for State Treasurer Steve Grossman said that if elected he would….”create an opportunity for universal financial literacy… And the [treasury] should be the place where you set up an office of financial education and provide those tools.” (from State House News, sub. req.) Abracadabra, an office of financial education in the State Treasurer’s office that provides financial literacy training. Next request, Mr. Grossman?
Interesting numbers on MA K-12 teachers
/0 Comments/in Better Government, Blog, News, Related Education Blogs /byA very interesting story comes out of the Census data compiled by the Education Intelligence Agency on trends for K-12 teachers. The district-by-district comparisons further demonstrate the loss in student enrollment in our larger urban districts since 2001-2: – Boston shed 9.3% of its students (down to 56,388) – Worcester 8.6% – Lynn 10.7% – New Bedford 11.4% – Fall River 13.6% – Haverhill 11.6% – Cambridge 20.5% – Somerville 14.1% Ken Ardon noted this last year in a policy piece for us: The primary cause of the decline is demographics – the population of Massachusetts is aging and the children of Baby-Boomers are rapidly moving through school. The Census data suggests that Boston also shed a whopping 22% of […]
K-12 enrollments down, number of teachers up
/0 Comments/in Blog, News, Related Education Blogs /byOur Education Intelligence Agency operative once again comes in with some very interesting material to consider. With the Census Bureau’s release of data, EIA has produced a set of tables on enrollment, staffing and spending in public school districts across the country, and growth/decline since 2001-2. The state-by-state comparisons show that teacher hiring has outpaced enrollment growth in 38 of the 50 states. In Virginia, student enrollment grew by 5 percent, and the number of K-12 teachers increased 20. In Massachusetts, enrollment statewide declined 1.5 percent, and the number of teachers has increased over 6 percent. (The overall US average is 2.7 percent growth in enrollment and 5 percent growth in K-12 teachers.) Nothing necessarily good or bad in that, […]