Author(s): — Publication date: 2008-10-17 Category: Better Government Abstract: This report seeks to identify savings to help close a looming $1 billion to $1.5 billion gap in the Commonwealth’s FY09 budget. As a follow-up to a Pioneer press release outlining $600 million in immediate cuts, dated October 8, 2008, we have scoured the budget for savings and reforms, with an eye toward actions that can be undertaken immediately. This report identifies $700 million in budget savings. Moreover, it achieves these savings while adhering to the following premises and sound budgeting principles.
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Regionalization is a perennial favorite. In its various incarnations – inter-local agreements, shared services, regionalism – it is popular in theory and universally acknowledged to save money but not as widespread as one might expect. The urge to regionalize goes through periods of intense interest when budgets are tight, then is frequently ended by bureaucratic inertia and parochialism.
Download Report: Regionalization: Case Studies of Success and Failure in Massachusetts
Massachusetts, a pioneer in many ways, has always been at the forefront of vocational technical education. A century ago, the Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School opened in Northampton. Smith is still operating today, and is the forerunner to a mode of education that remains vitally important to the state’s workforce. Massachusetts’ Vocational-Technical Education (VTE) is a unique method of academic, career, and extracurricular activity that creates a comprehensive blend of opportunity and advancement.
Download Report: Vocational-Technical Education in Massachusetts
“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.
Author(s): — Publication date: 2008-10-17 Category: Better Government Abstract: This report seeks to identify savings to help close a looming $1 billion to $1.5 billion gap in the Commonwealth’s FY09 budget. As a follow-up to a Pioneer press release outlining $600 million in immediate cuts, dated October 8, 2008, we have scoured the budget for savings and reforms, with an eye toward actions that can be undertaken immediately. This report identifies $700 million in budget savings. Moreover, it achieves these savings while adhering to the following premises and sound budgeting principles.
[wpdm_package id=71]
Regionalization is a perennial favorite. In its various incarnations – inter-local agreements, shared services, regionalism – it is popular in theory and universally acknowledged to save money but not as widespread as one might expect. The urge to regionalize goes through periods of intense interest when budgets are tight, then is frequently ended by bureaucratic inertia and parochialism.
Download Report: Regionalization: Case Studies of Success and Failure in Massachusetts
Massachusetts, a pioneer in many ways, has always been at the forefront of vocational technical education. A century ago, the Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School opened in Northampton. Smith is still operating today, and is the forerunner to a mode of education that remains vitally important to the state’s workforce. Massachusetts’ Vocational-Technical Education (VTE) is a unique method of academic, career, and extracurricular activity that creates a comprehensive blend of opportunity and advancement.
Download Report: Vocational-Technical Education in Massachusetts
Hard Decisions, Needed Leadership
/0 Comments/in Better Government, News /by Editorial StaffAuthor(s): — Publication date: 2008-10-17 Category: Better Government Abstract: This report seeks to identify savings to help close a looming $1 billion to $1.5 billion gap in the Commonwealth’s FY09 budget. As a follow-up to a Pioneer press release outlining $600 million in immediate cuts, dated October 8, 2008, we have scoured the budget for savings and reforms, with an eye toward actions that can be undertaken immediately. This report identifies $700 million in budget savings. Moreover, it achieves these savings while adhering to the following premises and sound budgeting principles.
[wpdm_package id=71]
Regionalization: Case Studies of Success and Failure in Massachusetts
/0 Comments/in Municipal Management /by Pioneer InstituteRegionalization is a perennial favorite. In its various incarnations – inter-local agreements, shared services, regionalism – it is popular in theory and universally acknowledged to save money but not as widespread as one might expect. The urge to regionalize goes through periods of intense interest when budgets are tight, then is frequently ended by bureaucratic inertia and parochialism.
Download Report: Regionalization: Case Studies of Success and Failure in Massachusetts
Vocational-Technical Education in Massachusetts
/0 Comments/in Education, Voc Tech Schools, VTE - Report /by Alison FraserMassachusetts, a pioneer in many ways, has always been at the forefront of vocational technical education. A century ago, the Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School opened in Northampton. Smith is still operating today, and is the forerunner to a mode of education that remains vitally important to the state’s workforce. Massachusetts’ Vocational-Technical Education (VTE) is a unique method of academic, career, and extracurricular activity that creates a comprehensive blend of opportunity and advancement.
Download Report: Vocational-Technical Education in Massachusetts