“She’s a good girl. She helps me a lot. She has big, big dreams. I don’t have the money, but she has big dreams. I hope she’s going to get everything, but she works so hard. She works so hard in school.”
“Our family is needing to make some really big sacrifices because we believe this is important, and so, we’re basically going to do whatever it takes… Sometimes we look at each other and go ‘I don’t know if I can do it again another month…’”
“A lot of the families have to sacrifice and work multiple jobs… And just scraping together enough money to just make tuition, just the basics.”
“It is discriminatory, that parents who want to choose an alternative to public school for their children, would not in any way receive any compensation for that, whether it be tax credit, whether it be a voucher…”
In the 1840s, nativist movement leaders formed official political parties and local chapters of the national Native American Party (later the American Party), although they continued to be commonly known as the Know-Nothing Party. Politicians sought to insert provisions into state constitutions against Catholics who refused to renounce the pope. The Know-Nothing movement brought bigotry and hatred to a new level of violence and organization.
The party’s legacy endured in the post-Civil War era, with laws and constitutional amendments it supported, still today severely limiting parents’ educational choices. A federal constitutional amendment was proposed by Speaker of the House James Blaine prohibiting money raised by taxation in any State to be under the control of any religious sect; nor shall any money so raised or lands so devoted be divided between religious sects or denominations. These were then named the Blaine Amendments of 1875.
in recent decades, often in response to challenges to school choice programs, the U.S. Supreme Court has demonstrated great interest in examining the issues of educational alternatives and attempts limit parental options. Massachusetts plays a key role in this debate. The Bay State was a key center of the Know-Nothing movement and has the oldest version of Anti-Aid Amendments in the nation, as well as a second such amendment approved in 1917. Two-fifths of Massachusetts residents are Catholic, and its Catholic schools outperform the state’s public schools, which are the best in the nation.
Great Moments in Public Management, Pt. MCMLXVII
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Better Government, News /byNew York’s Inspector General has released a scathing report on the former state health commissioner (and former Surgeon General) Antonia Novello that details her rampant abuse of state automobiles and employees. She used them to ferry her on various shopping expeditions, run numerous personal errands, and perform household tasks.
My favorite comment from a former employee, as pointed out by the New York Times:
MA budget woes and the federal stimulus package
/0 Comments/in Blog, News /byGovernor Patrick has to close a budget gap of at least $950 million at this point. How will he do it?
What we know so far is that the Governor is seeking
· Over $300 million in additional cuts
· $128 million local aid cuts
Which means that via withdrawals from state reserves and anticipated assistance from the still being defined federal stimulus package, he will need to close at least half a billion dollars of the budget gap.
I think we will be learning quite a lot about the federal stimulus package from the Governor’s budget announcement at 11 a.m.
Fiddling while the budget burns
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Better Government, News /byIt took about a year after I left the State House to realize that no one outside the building cared when the Governor’s budget was released or who vetoed what or hundreds of other ‘events’ inside the building.
With that in mind, I think its time for the House of Representatives to call themselves to order for real. The protracted drama over Sal DiMasi and the now-resolved Rogers-DeLeo spat made for great palace intrigue. But they crowded out important policy issues, like massive mid-year 9C cuts, a $3 billion deficit in FY10, and..yes..the upcoming release of the Governor’s budget.