MORE ARTICLES
Massachusetts is Losing Taxpayers to More Tax-Friendly StatesJune 1, 2023 - 2:25 pm
Health Care: Suffolk County’s Biggest Driver for Labor and EmploymentJune 1, 2023 - 11:53 am
The Confounding Massachusetts Estate TaxJune 1, 2023 - 11:21 am
Donald Graham on The Washington Post, Media, and Educating ImmigrantsMay 31, 2023 - 12:00 pm
Tilting Offshore Windmills: Speaking Truth to RatepayersMay 30, 2023 - 10:17 am
Columbia Law’s Philip Hamburger on Church, State, & School ChoiceMay 24, 2023 - 12:01 pm
Picking Patients’ Pockets: Exposing Insurance Schemes Targeting Orphan DiseasesMay 23, 2023 - 10:39 am
Webinar: Focusing on Massachusetts’ Model Vocational-Technical SchoolsMay 18, 2023 - 9:20 am
AEI’s Dr. Diana Schaub on the Founders, Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, & CivicsMay 17, 2023 - 12:01 pm
Erec Smith on the Rhetoric of Anti-racist ActivismMay 16, 2023 - 10:35 am
Competition in Education: A 1999 Update of School Choice in Massachusetts
/0 Comments/in Press Releases, Press Releases: Education, Press Releases: Religious Education, Press Releases: School Choice, Related Education Blogs /by Editorial StaffAuthor: Susan L. Aud George Mason University White Paper No. 6 • September 1999 In March 1991 Massachusetts passed an interdistrict choice law that gave parents the option of enrolling their child in any district they selected, provided that district had voted to receive students under the program. The tuition for that child would be deducted from the sending district’s state aid and added to the receiving district’s state aid. In 1997, David Armor and Brett Peiser conducted a study to examine the social, racial, and financial impact of the interdistrict choice program on participating districts and, secondly, to determine if the thesis behind the market competition model of education was being borne out in Massachusetts. Specifically, the Armor/Peiser study […]
Nonprofit to For-Profit Conversions in Health Care
/0 Comments/in Better Government, Economic Opportunity, Healthcare, Press Releases, Press Releases: Economic Opportunity, Press Releases: Government, Press Releases: Health Care /by Editorial StaffPrivatization is a term that has triggered passionate debate in recent years. Here in Massachusetts, a law to stop it has been enacted. What we are really debating, however, is not true privatization at all. Privatization implies a complete withdrawl of government from provision and finacncing of a formerly public service, usually through the sale of government owned assets. Rather the debate has been about “private contracting,” whether government should contract with private vendors for provision of services instead of providing services directly. Opponents of private contracting fear that any savings will come largly from lower wages and reduced fringe benefits. Others are concerned that, while private contracting may be beneficial for services such as snow removal or highway maintenance, […]
Public Profits from Private Contracts: A Case Study in Human Services
/0 Comments/in Press Releases, Press Releases: Government /by Editorial StaffPrivatization is a term that has triggered passionate debate in recent years. Here in Massachusetts, a law to stop it has been enacted. What we are really debating, however, is not true privatization at all. Privatization implies a complete withdrawl of government from provision and finacncing of a formerly public service, usually through the sale of government owned assets. Rather the debate has been about “private contracting,” whether government should contract with private vendors for provision of services instead of providing services directly. Opponents of private contracting fear that any savings will come largly from lower wages and reduced fringe benefits. Others are concerned that, while private contracting may be beneficial for services such as snow removal or highway maintenance, […]
Missing the Bus: The Fight to Contract Competitively for MBTA Bus Service
/0 Comments/in Better Government, Press Releases, Press Releases: Government, Transportation Dashboard /by Editorial StaffPublic transit agencies across the nation are struggling to control costs without reducing service. One effective strategy used by a growing number of public transit agencies is to contract competitively for bus operations. Almost without exception, these agencies report that private bus companies can deliver equal or better service at a 20 to 30 percent lower cost. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) wants to use the same strategy and has accepted two bids to run 40 percent of its bus operations. The MBTA’s cost analysis shows that it will save 23.1 million over five years. However, a 1993 antiprivatization law (commonly called the Pacheco Law) sets up a series of tests that an agency must pass before it can […]
Challenging Convention(al) Wisdom: Hard Facts About the Proposed Boston
/0 Comments/in Press Releases, Press Releases: Government /by Editorial StaffAs the political leadership of Boston and the Commonwealth consider investing $700 million in a new publicly owned convention center in South Boston, plans are already in place to enlarge facilities in the nation’s capital and in San Francisco. Disccusions have also begun in New York City, Atlanta, and SanJuse to enlarge or replace facilities in those cities. In each case the goal is to bring in more out-of-state visitors and the dollars that come with them. The success of each project is invariably assured by feasibility studies and civic pride. Challenging Convention(al) Wisdom: Hard Facts About the Proposed Boston Convention Center