IN THE HIGH-STAKES battle over charter school expansion, the impact of charters on school finances has come front and center. Supporters of Question 2, which would allow up to 12 new charter schools or expansion of 12 existing schools per year, argue that the funding formula for charter schools holds districts harmless when students move
Celebrating Gateway Cities
The Gateway Cities Journal
Gathering the links below has become one of my favorite parts of the job. It’s a window into the collective work of Gateway City leaders—whether they’re finding solutions to the Commonwealth’s most pressing problems or advancing bold, ambitious visions that reflect optimism for their communities and unwillingness to settle for projects that sell their cities
MA Board of Elementary & Secondary Education Looks at ESSA Implementation
The Massachusetts Board of Elementary & Secondary Education met on September 27th and heard from agency staff on ESSA outreach and implementation. In materials made public for the meeting, the Department published a list of indicators suggested by external stakeholders during outreach performed by the department over the spring and summer. A couple of observations
Advocates push T to restore late-night service
Supporters say there’s demand and need for 'transportation equity'
MBTA OFFICIALS CONTINUED to take a slow approach to rebooting late-night bus service over concerns about cost despite a detailed plan from advocates and pleas from state and local officials that such a service is a matter of equity for low-income earners rather than a convenience for millennial barhoppers. State Rep. Adrian Madaro of East
NGALC Meeting #3 Recap
Hearing the voice of urban school leaders
NGALC members gathered on September 20th for a third and final meeting. Unlike the other sessions, there were no expert presentations. This gathering focused on hearing from the members and hashing out their thinking on next generation accountability after three months of reflecting together on the opportunities and challenges ESSA presents. For the first two sessions,
NGALC Dispatch #2
Establishing Principles for Accountability
How can educators make the Every Student Succeeds Act a pivot to smarter, next generation school accountability? With generous support from the Barr Foundation, the Next Generation Accountability Learning Community (NGALC) is examining this question with an emphasis on small-to-midsize cities, communities that serve a disproportionate share of the disadvantaged students—the core focus of the new federal
Doing our job
The MassCJRC Journal
Jimmy G. epitomized the “do your job” mantra when he took to the field Sunday night amid the bright lights and fan noise and executed. For all of those who have worked equally tirelessly over the last decade or more to advance criminal justice reform, the moment to channel Garoppolo and the Patriots is quickly approaching —
ESSA Updates
A look at how stakeholders are responding to the USDOE’s draft regulations
While many lauded ESSA for providing more flexibility to state and local educators, many state officials, advocacy groups, and education experts have expressed concern over proposed ESSA regulations issued in May 2016. Their chief concerns pertain to how the regulations overstep the language of the original statute. Some of the most common objections to the
At the buzzer, Gateway City leaders score a game-changer
The Gateway Cities Journal
Gateway City leaders enthusiastically applauded the smart economic development investments Governor Baker signed into law last week at the State House. This session’s economic development package authorized an unusually large infusion of capital spending, including $500 million for the MassWorks grant, $45 million for the Brownfields Redevelopment Fund, and $45 million for the Transformative Development Initiative. These
The Codcast: Open court?
CommonWealth Magazine
The Massachusetts Trial Court this week issued its new rules and regulations regarding public access to court records and it’s fair to say officials erred on the side of less rather than more. The rules, which were more than two years in the making, were issued in conjunction with the updated court website that is