MORE ARTICLES

Stay Connected!

Receive the latest updates in your inbox.

LATEST ARTICLES

Just. Not. Smart.

/0 Comments/in , , /by

The Governor is now talking about layoffs. I suppose Pioneer is responsible for starting the discussion about headcount growth a year ago, when we suggested that the data is telling us that state government grew from 2004 to then by about 7500 positions. We said it in October 2008, January 2009 and then again in June 2009. Our view is that the addition of 1,100 safety net program positions during that period should be maintained but that an equivalent of the 6,400 new hires are not sustainable in the face of thousands of local layoffs and over a billion-dollar-plus structural deficit. That’s been the mantra over and over. Over the past five months or so we’ve been asking the state’s […]

Let the Patients Choose

/1 Comment/in , /by

(Editor’s Note: Pioneer welcomes our Senior Fellow on Healthcare, Amy Lischko, to the blog. Amy will be writing on healthcare here from time to time, as well as working on research for Pioneer. Welcome.) It’s worrisome when the state tells us what kind of provider network we need.  Today’s Globe article “Insurer told to hold off in Mass.” highlights one of the reasons behind our increasing health care costs.  Carriers have often remarked that they have difficulty creating both tiered provider networks and narrow provider networks that offer lower costs.  Why can’t the state (via the Connector or DOI) allow Centene to offer these plans to consumers and let the consumers vote with their feet?  If no one signs up, […]

Running the Numbers, Stimulus Style

/0 Comments/in , , /by

You’ll forgive me for being a skeptic about job creation numbers. There’s a history there. So, the GOV’s announcement that Stimulus Act Spending had “created or retained 23,533 jobs” caught my eye. Reading the press release more closely, I saw this qualification: Stimulus spending has created or retained 8,792 full-time equivalents (FTEs), representing 23,533 individual citizens put to work. If we take the $1.9b already spent by the state on stimulus and spread it across the number of FTEs, that comes to a subsidy of over $200k for each preserved or retained full-time job. I don’t have a good frame of reference (and I’d be curious how other states are doing) but that strikes me as a pretty big number […]

Time to Activate the PAFNDAS

/0 Comments/in , , /by

UPDATE BELOW What’s that? Why, its the Patrick Administration Friday News Drop Alert System. We noticed the habit of shuffling certain pieces of news out the door late on Fridays and so have others. So, I note that as of 10 AM on Thursday, the Governor’s Office has not released his Friday calendar (to SHNS, that is). Yet, the centerpiece of transportation reform, a central authority — MassDOT, springs to life on Sunday, November 1. MassDOT will be governed by a five member board that will take on a massive array of responsibility — oversight of transportation policy in general and, through incorporation, will take over the responsibilities of the former Turnpike and MBTA Boards of Directors. But we still […]

Good news on charter performance

/5 Comments/in , , , , , /by

From Marc Kenen of the Mass Charter School Association comes some good news. The new MCAS growth model analysis shows that charter public schools are producing very strong academic gains for their students statewide (see the data at the Boston Globe online): * In Grade 6, charters represented 9 of the top 10 growth districts in math and 6 of the top 10 districts in English; * In Grade 8, charters represented 7 of the top 10 growth districts in math and 4 of the top 10 districts in English; * In Grade 10, charters represented 5 of the top 10 growth districts in both math and English.