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Pioneer Institute Statement on Vocational-Technical School AdmissionsNovember 26, 2024 - 8:00 am
FY2026 Consensus Revenue Hearing – Forecasting of Revenues is Tricky BusinessNovember 25, 2024 - 8:00 am
CUNY’s Carl Rollyson on William Faulkner & Southern LiteratureNovember 20, 2024 - 10:36 am
Pioneer Institute Study Finds Massachusetts Saw Four-Fold Loss of Income to Net OutmigrationNovember 19, 2024 - 11:25 am
Massachusetts Job Market Bears WatchingNovember 18, 2024 - 2:10 pm
NH Gov. Chris Sununu on School ChoiceNovember 13, 2024 - 2:02 pm
Five Reasons Why Project Labor Agreements Are Bad Public PolicyNovember 12, 2024 - 9:27 am
Statement of Pioneer Institute on MCAS Ballot Failure and State of Education in MassachusettsNovember 6, 2024 - 2:01 pm
Dr. Helen Baxendale on Great Hearts Classical Liberal Arts Charter SchoolsNovember 6, 2024 - 12:08 pm
Jeffrey Meyers on Edgar Allan Poe, Gothic Horror, & HalloweenOctober 30, 2024 - 11:44 am
Somehow, Some Ideas Just Never Die
/2 Comments/in Better Government, Blog, News /by Liam DayAn editorial this morning in the Herald revealed that Congressman Lynch is pushing for funding to develop a plan to dig a rail link between North and South Stations in the forthcoming federal stimulus bill. Yet another billion(s)-dollar tunnel beneath the City of Boston that will drown out any discussion of transportation reform and Hoover up the funding required to achieve it, dish out millions in mitigation to affected communities and utilities, and serve exactly what demand? Do we really want to go through all of this again?
Boston School Choice Surprise
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Better Government, News /byI’ve written previously on the Boston school lottery and last week was an eventful one. In 2004, a blue ribbon panel looked at the Boston School Assignment system, floated a few proposals (like six zones), but ultimately decided not to make wholesale changes. (The chair of that panel, incidentally, called for a complete end to busing, and thus the assignment zones by my reading, a few weeks ago in the Globe. In last year’s State of the City address, Mayor Menino called on the school department to reexamine the zone assignment systems for savings. And then, with no lead up or hearings, the School Department released its FY10 budget cutting plan with a five zone school assignment proposal. It’s interesting […]
Government apples and private apples
/0 Comments/in Blog, News /byI’ve always thought state policy is more interesting than federal policy. It takes so much to move big things in Washington. It is so much easier to get a waiver, to test and correct at the state level. And then all those 000000s make me think there is less to what they are doing in DC. And in the zeroes, you can include all the lobbyists. But let me wander a bit into the thicket of the “stimulus package,” which we once knew as the “bailout” before Obama became president. Question: We hear everyone bemoan the lack of savings by Americans. We need to save more, they say, because we are living beyond our ability to sustain the spending rate […]
Ban the Lobbyists and…
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Better Government, News /bySomeone finally read the outside sections of the Governor’s budget and found his attempt to ban public entities from hiring lobbyists. This is a good idea and the Governor deserves credit; seems foolish and a bit circular to have public entities spend taxpayer funds to pay someone to go up to Beacon Hill to ask for… more taxpayer funds. So, we’ll tip our hat to the Governor and raise him one — how about banning these same entities from making donations to charitable organizations? Shamie Center Board Member Tom Keane raised the issue several years ago and its still relevant.
Il Sorpasso
/1 Comment/in Blog, News /byA great Italian movie of the early sixties directed by Dino Risi, usually translated as “The Easy Life.” The actual meaning is “the passing maneuver” — and that is the moment we are about to witness. Our friends at the Education Intelligence Agency, white hats and trench coats at the ready, note that we are very close to the moment when public sector union membership jets past the number of union employees in the private sector. A dangerous maneuver indeed. Last year was one of the best in ages for organized labor, as 428,000 members were added to union rolls. But before you crack open your choice of champagne or cyanide, it’s worth examining what propelled the boost. The unionization […]