At issue is a state regulation dating to 1968 aimed at promoting greater accommodation in buildings for people with disabilities.
Michael Jonas
Michael Jonas works with Laura in overseeing CommonWealth Beacon coverage and editing the work of reporters. His own reporting has a particular focus on politics, education, and criminal justice reform.
Posted inPolitics
Should scandal-plagued pols resign?
WHEN DOES wrongdoing – or allegations of it – disqualify someone from holding elected office? Thanks to an ongoing stream of Massachusetts pols who manage to land in hot water, […]
Posted inEducation
Canales stepping down as president of Barr Foundation
JIM CANALES, who has overseen a more than doubling of annual giving at the Barr Foundation while presiding over its emergence as a major civic player in Greater Boston, plans […]
Posted inState Government
Keenan’s stand for transparency
State Sen. John Keenan is hardly a rabble-rousing bomb thrower, a point that underscores how uncontroversial one might think it is to call for legislators to be given time to read bills before they come to the floor and for their votes on legislation to be recorded for their constituents and others to see.
Posted inEducation
Where does MCAS ballot question leave the high school grad requirement? It’s far from clear
Voters opted last month to scrap the state’s MCAS test as a high school graduation requirement. Exactly what will be required of students in its place in order to receive a diploma seems as clear as mud.
Posted inEducation
Community colleges are increasingly enrolling students with significant skill deficits, study finds
Earning two-year community college degrees in health care or STEM fields can put young people on a solid course to better earnings in well-paid fields with high demand for workers in Massachusetts, but there are big gaps in those seeking these degrees between students from low-income and better-off households.
Posted inArts and Culture
Boston museum program now open to all
On Wednesday, Mayor Michelle Wu announced that starting in January all young people in Boston – regardless of what school they attend – will be eligible for the free museum program, which originally was only open to Boston Public Schools students.
Posted inEducation
A charter school battle in Lynn
At issue is the wording of a regulation adopted following passage of 2010 law that allowed for an expansion of charter schools in Massachusetts.
Posted inEducation
Vocational admissions debate getting heated
As state officials move closer to considering changes to admission policies governing vocational high schools, including potentially requiring the use of a blind lottery system to award seats, the temperature of the debate is getting turned up.
Posted inHousing
Report says Gateway Cities need to double housing production to meet rising demand
Gateway Cities can play a key role in addressing the state housing shortage, but they need to build 83,000 new housing units over the next decade – double their pace of production over the last 10 years – in order to bring supply and demand into balance and stabilize prices.
Posted inBallot Questions
Voters end MCAS graduation test requirement
Voters approved a ballot question that will remove a requirement that Massachusetts high school students pass a 10th-grade standardized test in English, math, and science to graduate.
The vote removes a central pillar of the state’s 1993 education reform law, and makes Massachusetts one of only two states with no statewide-requirements for high school graduation.
Posted inEducation
MCAS ballot question: clashing views of educational equity
Education has been called “the great equalizer,” but in the debate over the state’s high-stakes MCAS test, the two sides have diametrically opposing views on whether the state policy is working to advance or undermine that lofty goal.
Posted inPolitics
Study finds use of gender-neutral ‘Latinx’ by Democratic pols is costing them votes
Democratic politicians have gravitated toward use of the more inclusive, gender-neutral term “Latinx” in recent years, but a new study says it’s costing them votes and helps explain some of Donald Trump’s gains with this population.
Posted inBallot Questions
Political Notebook: Does Healey have coattails on Question 2?
Healey is opposed to Question 5, which would establish a minimum wage for tipped workers. She’s still considering her vote on Question 3 (unionization for Uber and Lyft drivers) and Question 4 (legalization of psychedelics). On Question 1, which would explicitly authorize the state audito to audit the Legislature, Healey doesn’t plan to take a stand, telling GBH she’ll “leave that to the voters.”
Posted inEducation
Healey, Campbell lean into MCAS battle, urging voters to keep graduation test
Appearing together at a Roxbury youth services nonprofit, Gov. Maura Healey and Attorney General Andrea Campbell said it was important to defeat Question 2 to maintain a single statewide education standard for all public school students.
Posted inNews Analysis
A feisty Deaton fights to claim middle ground
When John Deaton speaks, he wants voters to see Charlie Baker. Elizabeth Warren is trying to make sure they see a potentially decisive vote for whoever emerges as Mitch McConnell’s even harder right successor as Senate Republican leader.
Posted inEducation
Tutoring effectiveness decreases as programs grow in size
Tutoring can be a highly effective way to accelerate student achievement, making it seem like a promising strategy to address pandemic learning loss. But a new study finds that the larger a tutoring program gets the less effective it becomes.
Posted inPolitics
Deaton poll reaches for a path forward
Republican John Deaton, has a steep uphill climb to defeat Democratic US Sen. Elizabeth Warren, but his campaign says an internal poll points to strengths he has and weaknesses for Warren that provide a pathway for him.
Posted inEducation
‘Alarm bells should be going off.’ MCAS English scores down again.
MCAS scores in English showed a continued decline, a troubling trend after two full school years with students back to in-person learning following the pandemic disruption.
Posted inEducation
On MCAS question, mayors reluctant to fill in the bubble
Voters face a stark choice when it comes to the MCAS graduation requirement: Vote yes on a November ballot question to end it, or vote no to keep it. But a lot of Massachusetts mayors seem to be opting for a third choice that’s not actually on the ballot: none of the above.
Posted inEducation
Senate education chair says he’ll vote to scrap MCAS grad requirement
Sen. Jason Lewis, who co-chairs the Joint Committee on Education, said he’ll vote for the ballot question that would end the MCAS graduation requirement and propose legislation to implement in its place a mandate that all students complete a state-established sequence of high school courses in order to graduate.
Posted inEducation
Busing woes remain a Boston constant
The first days of school this year in Boston have had little in common with the violence-wracked start to the school year 50 years ago. Except in one respect: The city’s fleet of yellow school buses continue to figure prominently in the headlines.
Posted inArts and Culture
Boston to expand free museum program to non-BPS kids
A pilot program providing free access to a set of Boston museums to Boston Public Schools students will be expanded starting in 2025 to include all school-age children in the city.
Posted inPolitics
Political Notebook: A Mariano drubbing in Camberville | Boston papers trade jabs on NH race
State rep races in liberal districts in Cambridge and Somerville were also referendums on Beacon Hill’s centralized power structure under Democrats, and voters made clear that they don’t like it.