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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
39th U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky for National Poetry MonthApril 10, 2024 - 12:16 pm
A Practically 100% Guaranteed Free RideApril 9, 2024 - 1:21 pm
A Private Lottery?
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Better Government, News /byTreasurer Cahill floated the notion of privatizing the lottery yesterday and today. Several legislators were quick to dismiss it out of hand, which I believe is a mistake. The skeptics seemed locked into the notion that a long-term lease of the lottery requires a large, upfront payment. While the lottery provides a vital flow of funds to cities and towns, it clearly reaching the limits of its market, given the erratic nature of revenues over the past few years and the potential competition that slots/casinos/whatever might provide. Would it be possible to have a serious conversation about what a long-term lease might look like and what the state would prioritize in an RFP? Would a potential bidder guarantee a predictable […]
Businesses propose taxing consumers!!
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Better Government, News /byMy friends in the business community came out yesterday for a 25 cent increase in the gas tax to pay for needed infrastructure. Of course, given that consumers (by and large) will end up paying the tab, this was not a particularly risky announcement. And not a particularly popular one outside of 128 — see here and here.
Ok, this is awkward
/1 Comment/in Blog, Blog: Better Government, News /byMassport raised its parking fees by $1 last month after its Board of Directors gave their Executive Director, by unanimous vote and without discussion, the power to adjust rates. New Transportation Secretary Aloisi is criticizing the increase, in part because their was no public input to the process. I suspect that it also makes the $2 fee that the state wanted to place on Logan parkers more difficult to sell politically. And now the awkward part — the same Transportation Secretary Aloisi (who is criticizing the increase) was a member of the Massport board that voted unanimously and without discussion to give the Executive Director the power to increase that fee.
Accountability Overboard
/0 Comments/in News, Related Education Blogs /by Editorial StaffAuthor(s): Charles D. Chieppo and James T. Gass — Publication date: 2009-04-01 Category: Education Abstract: Special interest groups opposed to charter schools and high-stakes testing have hijacked the state’s once-independent board of education and stand poised to water down the MCAS tests and the accountability system they support. [wpdm_package id=64]
Zoned Out
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Better Government, News /byOuch. The BPS has already pulled its first proposal for altering the school zone system off the table. Not because of a backlash or political pressure, but because the proposed Zone 4 lacks a needed 616 seats for grades 6 – 8. That’s a pretty material number in a system with less than 60,000 kids and equivalent to an entire school. Its an embarrassing screw-up for the school system. The attempt to increase the number of zones (of which I am generally supportive) has flushed out a number of interesting items: 1) Integration, the initial impetus behind busing all those years ago, is largely irrelevant. Click on the various zone configurations (current and proposed) that the Globe has helpfully put […]