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Massachusetts Affordability and Competitiveness Ranking is in FreefallJuly 26, 2024 - 10:19 am
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Suffolk County Residential and Commercial Taxation Changes Since 2018July 25, 2024 - 9:54 am
Stanford’s Arnold Rampersad on Jackie RobinsonJuly 24, 2024 - 11:29 am
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Migration to Massachusetts in 2022: Where Are People Going?July 18, 2024 - 3:00 pm
The Economic Development Bill Starting to Take Shape; It Makes Big Bets on Life Sciences, Clean Technology and Applied AIJuly 18, 2024 - 2:11 pm
Disparities in LIHTC Data Illuminate Difficulties in Housing ProductionJuly 18, 2024 - 12:13 pm
Examining the New Massachusetts Estate TaxJuly 18, 2024 - 9:43 am
Spend first, ask questions later…it worked for the Big Dig, right?
/0 Comments/in Blog, Related Education Blogs /byToday’s Globe offers another salvo in an ongoing barrage of education news from the Administration. The story uses a thousand words to describe how the Governor “appears to be laying the groundwork” to reduce the local property tax burden. Don’t get bogged down; the story’s gist is shorter than its URL: State government will spend more on education. Okay. Onward and upward is always front-page news. The real “groundwork,” though, tends to get buried like a tunnel under Fort Point Channel. The State House News Service (reg. required) exposes an intention to “destroy” the state Office of Educational Quality and Accountability (EQA), and here’s why: “‘It just needs to thoroughly be reconstituted,’ said Glenn Koocher, MASC executive director, comparing getting […]
Which way to a greater Boston region?
/0 Comments/in Better Government, Blog, Blog: Better Government, Housing /byThe indispensable Amy Dain reports from the provinces: Today the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) released its recommendations for the future growth of the region. Its goals for increased housing choice are right on. Implementation will be no easy task, though. A recent report from Pioneer and Rappaport Institutes has shown that the current system of housing regulation does not allow for many needed types of housing to be built. To learn more about your community’s regulations, look here. The MAPC plan calls for new apartments, townhouses, and condos near town centers, as well as more modest single-family houses for people who either cannot afford or do not need McMansions. The plan estimates that over half of the new moderately […]
Strategic Planning? We don’t need no stinkin’ planning.
/0 Comments/in Better Government, Blog, Blog: Better Government, News /byOur friend and Pioneer Board Member, Professor Joe Giglio has a new book on transportation — Driving Questions: Developing A National Transportation Vision, following up on his December 2005 release, Mobility. Professor Giglio’s new book seeks to rise above the hurly-burly of the transportation debate (which he, quite correctly we might add, views as overly focused on tactical matters) and restart the conversation on a strategic level. He begins by asking the following four questions: · What should the nation’s transportation system look like in the future? · What options do we have for transforming the existing system to match this vision? · What resources are available to implement these options? · How do we measure our success in making […]
BGC – a forum for ideas
/0 Comments/in Better Government, Blog, News /by Liam DayPioneer has already received a great deal of interest in its upcoming Better Government Competition awards dinner. Since announcing just Friday that Governor Patrick would be the featured speaker and that Democratic presidential candidate Bill Richardson had been invited and tentatively accepted an invitation to offer prefatory remarks, I have received quite a number of phone calls and e-mails. The majority have been requests for tickets (which have not yet gone on sale), but some have been – well, let’s just say the word traitor came up more than once. In light of this constructive feedback, I thought it worth reminding people that Pioneer Institute is a non-partisan think tank. We are uninterested in the success or failure of any […]
Yummm, 10:16 Lunch…….
/0 Comments/in Better Government, Blog, Blog: Better Government, News, Related Education Blogs /byThe Globe Magazine has a fascinating piece on the extended school day experiment being conducted at 10 schools around the state. It seems like such a common-sense good idea that we can only assume it will be discarded very soon. The most gripping piece of information, to this reader, was an accompanying graphic (that unhelpfully does not show up on-line) that details the change in the average school day. Before, students started the day 7:25 AM, ate lunch at 10:16 AM, and were dismissed at 1:30 PM. Plus, the sample schedule displayed allows for daily math, science, and english classes, but little else. The new schedule has the same start time and lunch time (which is still ridiculous), but adds […]