What gets tested gets taught. Media literacy isn’t tested in Massachusetts, so it isn’t taught.
Opinion
Posted inOpinion
Our study didn’t ignore grid costs. We measured them — and utility-scale solar lowers them.
Rooftop solar should be compensated for the savings it provides the system — the avoided generation, the deferred upgrades, the peak demand it shaves — no more, and no less.
Posted inOpinion
Suspending the gas tax would be a shortsighted election-year stunt
The state gas tax is the price we pay to ensure that we have safe and reliable ways to get where we need to go, with sufficient funding to build, operate, and maintain the essential transportation infrastructure we all depend upon.
Posted inOpinion
All-party primaries would bring more competition and a more vigorous democracy
Open up the primaries to every voter, every qualified candidate, and we get more competition, higher turnout, and better results.
Posted inOpinion
White Stadium and the community engagement gap
There’s still time for White Stadium project planners to deliver on the principles of EJ Community Engagement and Outreach – improved levels of trust, transparency, and stronger pathways for ongoing collaboration.
Posted inOpinion
Why the Beacon Hill transparency debate gets it all wrong
The problem is not that the public lacks crucial information about its government; it’s that its government lacks crucial information about the public — and has little motivation to care about that.
Posted inOpinion
Massachusetts is already putting its untapped talent to work
The administration is working across state agencies and with workforce partners to remove obstacles that prevent people from entering—and staying in—the workforce.
Posted inOpinion
A Massachusetts diploma should come with a plan
One of the most consequential recommendations in the state graduation council’s report is its emphasis on postsecondary planning and the implementation of My Career and Academic Plan, or MyCAP.
Posted inOpinion
Will Massachusetts go deep in the health care affordability playoffs?
Like the Red Sox season, the health care picture in the state this year has been marked by big ups and downs.
Posted inOpinion
AI data centers are coming for Massachusetts. Gov. Healey’s new guardrails aren’t enough.
GOV. HEALEY took an important step last week to protect Massachusetts communities from the unchecked growth of data centers. Her new executive order will require large data centers to meet […]
Posted inNews Analysis
Massachusetts political parties stand by as their membership rolls evaporate
Why Massachusetts parties are allowing the slow-moving self-destruction to continue is anyone’s guess.
Posted inOpinion
Massachusetts schools face a desperate shortage of STEM teachers. Here’s how we can fill that gap.
We are asking more of our students than ever before. Now we need to build the pipeline of teachers who can get them there.
Posted inOpinion
Massachusetts has a plan to end hunger, but it’s missing the most important piece
EARLIER THIS YEAR, Governor Healey’s Anti-Hunger Task Force released its final report. I read it closely. Much of it is right, fortunately, since 40 percent of households in Massachusetts are […]
Posted inOpinion
Critics of the Legislature’s productivity ignore a key legal distinction setting Mass. apart from nearly all other states
It is easy to see how that storyline can spark the ire of voters and the scorn of opinion writers. But it is a fundamentally flawed reading of legislative productivity for reasons that are virtually never acknowledged amid the easy targeting of lawmakers.
Posted inOpinion
Boston is arguing about crime statistics. The real test is the walk home.
The test is simple: Are people safe, and do they feel safe, walking through downtown’s streets, stations, and parks? Judge our progress by that standard.
Posted inOpinion
Addressing our housing crisis means tackling transportation woes, too
MASSACHUSETTS RANKS NEAR the top in education, health, and economic output. It also ranks near the top for cost of living. Housing and transportation drive much of that cost. Those […]
Posted inOpinion
If we want better local government, especially in Gateway Cities, let’s change the election calendar so more people vote when we elect municipal leaders
“No other institutional reform we know of—short of making voting compulsory—comes anywhere close to having this kind of impact on turnout,” says the University of Chicago’s Center for Effective Government of aligning local and national elections.
Posted inOpinion
Your teenager is still figuring out who they are. Big Tech’s algorithms act like they already know.
At precisely the age when young people are still figuring out who they are, an algorithm optimized for engagement should not be shaping the possibilities.
Posted inOpinion
How can voters know if Suffolk DA Hayden deserves a second term?
If the evidence that he deserves a second term exists, Hayden should produce it. The jurors — Suffolk County voters — deserve to see it before they deliberate.
Posted inOpinion
Uncertainty is the new competitiveness challenge for Massachusetts
Uncertainty driven by macroeconomic, geopolitical, and instability in federal policy has now surpassed affordability as the top concern facing Roundtable members – leaders of some of the largest employers across Massachusetts.
Posted inOpinion
Now that we’ve adopted Right to Read legislation for our schools, we must revamp teacher preparation to match it
In order to be sure our state’s new literacy legislation has the most impact on our students, we need to ensure that we have the same laser focus on teacher training that this bill has brought to our students.
Posted inOpinion
Why are political insiders so afraid of giving voters more choices?
This November, Massachusetts voters can decide whether our elections are working for them, or whether they are mostly working for the people already in power.
Posted inOpinion
Fall River waterfront makeover shouldn’t leave out affordable housing
Unfortunately, under Fall River’s current plans for the almost 1,500 homes slated for the site, bidders must defer to the city’s “strong preference for market-rate housing as the development option for the Property.”
Posted inOpinion
Massachusetts needs a data-center strategy, not a series of permits
Massachusetts should decide what role data centers will play in its energy, climate, economic-development, and environmental-justice future—and what these extraordinarily energy-intensive facilities must contribute in return for public support.
