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Tim’s Take: An Education Reform Stalwart Takes a Curious Look at Homeschoolers With ESAsDecember 12, 2024 - 1:10 pm
U-OK’s Dan Hamlin on Emerging School Models & Learning LossDecember 11, 2024 - 10:20 am
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Pioneer Institute Offers Blueprint for Federal Administrative ReformDecember 10, 2024 - 9:06 am
The House Call – Mayor Wu Wants to Overhaul Boston’s Arcane Development Approvals Process? Here Are Three Reform OptionsDecember 9, 2024 - 11:05 am
Pioneer Institute Releases Examination of Metropolitan Housing Markets; Obtains Insights Into Improving Affordability December 5, 2024 - 9:03 am
NYT #1 Bestseller Dava Sobel on Marie Curie & Women in ScienceDecember 4, 2024 - 10:58 am
The Roger Perry Internship ProgramDecember 3, 2024 - 2:00 pm
How much does a kid cost?
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Better Government, Housing, News /byJust below the surface of most land-use/housing debates is the cost of educating children. A lot of towns effectively zone out many types of affordable housing because they don’t believe they will receive property tax benefits high enough to educate the children who would live there. The UMass Donahue Institute takes a stab at answering this question based on actual cases from a number of metro Boston communities. I’d crudely summarize their findings as a matter of cost allocation methodology. You have three choices: Marginal Cost of New Housing — attempts to determine what new expenditures were required by the town for the new housing units. Very easy to determine for most services (e.g. did the police respond to any […]
Try, try, and try again
/0 Comments/in Better Government, Blog, Blog: Better Government /byNo one else seems to have noticed, but the Governor’s supplemental budget, filed on Thursday has this little nugget hidden all the way down in Section 23: Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the chief justice for administration and management may transfer among any items of appropriation within the trial court. The chief justice shall provide written notification to the house and senate committees on ways and means of any such transfers of funds within 30 days of the transfer. Pioneer has long supported this management reform, among many, many others. It was in the Governor’s House 1 budget but had not been heard from since.
More kids = More school expenditures, right?
/0 Comments/in Better Government, Blog, Blog: Better Government, News, Related Education Blogs /bySeems like a reasonable idea, and the basis for Chapter 70 Education aid, as well as the implicit justification for many towns in their zoning practices. However, a recent study by the notorious right-wingers at the UMass Donahue Institute found something very different in their recent study on the impact of affordable housing on school costs: Our analysis showed that school teaching staff levels and overall expenditures increased independently of changes in enrollment. From 1999 to 2004, school enrollments statewide were essentially flat, with 0.2 percent total growth, while the employment of full time equivalent (FTE) teaching staff increased by eight percent. Despite very limited growth in enrollment, total school expenditures grew by 28.6 percent statewide from 1999 to 2004. […]
Who’s to pay for affordable housing?
/0 Comments/in Blog, Housing, News /byMartha’s Vinyard and Nantucket residents are advocating for a new levy on home sales to pay for affordable housing. State lawmakers are now debating this proposal for the islands. Lawmakers, developers, and housing advocates have been debating variations on this kind of policy for some time. Pioneer’s research shows that over half of communities in eastern Mass have zoning policies that either mandate or encourage developers of include affordable units in new developments, or pay a fee in lieu of building the affordable units. As of 2004, 11 cities and towns in eastern Mass required that a certain percent of new houses in ANY development be designated as affordable. Some developers and real estate experts question the legality of such […]
Digging Big into the state’s pocket
/0 Comments/in Better Government, Blog, News /by Scott W. Graves and Micaela DawsonOuch. The state has documented $173 million in new Big Dig cost overruns – and, worse, another $160 million in future costs. Gov. Deval Patrick noted his “continued frustration with the contractor” and, together with Speaker DiMasi, pooh-poohed Treasurer Cahill’s suggestion that we increase taxes – I mean, tolls – to pay for new and future overruns. The feds – yes, the same feds who bless the construction of bridges and highways to nowhere – are not going to pay any more for our project management failures. So we’re stuck waiting to see if we can post facto recover some of the cost overruns. That’s what the Speaker, Senate President and the Governor are all counting on – let’s let […]