Blog

September 25, 2025

Statement of Pioneer Institute on Board Member Mike Kennealy’s Bid for Governor

This statement was released on April 15, 2025. BOSTON – Congratulations to Mike Kennealy on his decision to run for Governor of Massachusetts. Mike has served as a thoughtful and deeply engaged member of Pioneer Institute’s board since 2023. We are grateful for...
September 25, 2025

Study Rates Every State’s Telehealth Laws for Patient Access and Ease of Providing Services

Los Angeles (Jan. 5, 2022) — A new report from Reason Foundation, Cicero Institute and Pioneer Institute rates every state’s telehealth policy for patient access and ease of providing virtual care.
September 18, 2025

Massachusetts' Changing Demographic Landscape

This edition of Mapping Mass Migration features an analysis of recently released demographic estimates from the Census Bureau. Our analysis covers how Massachusetts' population has changed since the pandemic by race and age, discussing the state's shrinking youth population, its flat growth among prime-aged working demographics, its growing racial and ethnic diversity, and how it compares to other states. The newsletter concludes with a brief discussion of what implications these trends may have for the Bay State's future population growth.
September 15, 2025

Pioneer Institute Joins Pew Charitable Trusts in Call to Expand Housing Affordability

Pioneer Institute is pleased to join a statement of shared principles organized by the Pew Charitable Trusts in Washington, D.C., aimed at enhancing housing availability and affordability nationwide. 
September 15, 2025

Study Calls for Expanding Access to Career Vocational Technical Education

Massachusetts’ budget for fiscal 2026 that includes $100 million in grants to create an additional 3,000 career/vocational education (CVTE) seats in the Commonwealth is a good start, but more should be done to eliminate the 8,100-seat shortage of CVTE seats, according to a new study published by Pioneer Institute.
September 8, 2025

Massachusetts' Capital Investment Plan Earmarks $415 Million for Housing in FY2026

This edition of The House Call breaks down the housing items in Massachusetts' FY2026-FY2030 Capital Investment Plan. It also explains a new policy ordered by the Department of Public Utilities that would require natural gas customers to pay more for new hookups.
August 27, 2025

New Study Highlights Tax Reforms that Would Enhance Massachusetts’ Competitiveness

Research indicates that tax policy plays a key role in outmigration from Massachusetts, and a new study published by Pioneer Institute highlights six tax reforms that would help the Commonwealth address its outmigration and competitiveness challenges. 
August 21, 2025

School Choice is Expanding like Never Before—Now Comes the Real Test

After a decade of contentious debate, 30 states and DC—31 including Texas’s impending plans—are in on private school choice, and roughly a dozen offer universal or near-universal eligibility. School choice policy has been hotly contested, and now, widely accepted and implemented. But...
August 21, 2025

School Choice is Expanding like Never Before—Now Comes the Real Test

School choice is sometimes sold as a cure-all for underperforming public schools, other times it is deemed ineffective and a siphon of public resources. Both can be true, but this debate misses the point: school choice is not a guarantor of student success, nor was it ever intended to be. Its purpose is to provide choices, and most agree that choice is good. Not all choices will be good, to be sure. Indeed, there are poor-performing charter and private schools, just as there are ineffective district schools. When systems with school choice features fail, we ought to blame and reform the choices—they are clearly of poor quality—not ban the freedom to choose. It is grossly undemocratic to suggest otherwise.
August 20, 2025

How Massachusetts Let School Accountability Slip—and Student Achievement with It

The Commonwealth’s enormous investments in its schools—over 100 billion dollars since MERA was enacted—have continued to this day, but basic accountability has not. It is time to honor the original bargain. Massachusetts must once again couple its record-high investments with the same uncompromising scrutiny that made our schools the envy of the nation. That means prying accountability out of the foxes’ paws and restoring it to a truly independent watchdog—an EQA reborn.