sponsored by The Boston Foundation
CommonWealth Voices aims to be a beacon of robust discourse, offering a platform for analysis and advocacy on the challenges and aspirations of political life in Massachusetts.
The Boston Foundation is deeply committed to civic leadership, and essential to our work is the exchange of informed opinions. We are proud to partner on a platform that engages such a broad range of demographic and ideological viewpoints.
SUBMIT AN OPINION
We welcome informed commentary about local, state and national public policy. Please include the author’s contact information when submitting.
Ending the requirement that legal ads be published by news outlets would harm democracy and journalism
Legal ads are one leg of a three-legged stool — along with public-records laws and open meetings — ensuring government transparency.
Congress must act now on AI
No federal agency has clear authority to step in when something goes wrong. While some have argued there is still plenty of time for Congress to act, I would say, look around.
Dual language immersion programs are a huge asset to our schools. The state should stop treating them as an afterthought.
Every spring, the state celebrates high school graduates who receive the Seal of Biliteracy, while failing to build the dual language programs that would make bilingualism truly accessible to far more students.
We banned cellphones in our schools. It’s had a powerful, positive impact on students.
What our kids really need isn’t constant contact, it’s confidence.
The answer to the school desegregation lawsuit? Revive urban communities.
This long-overdue school desegregation lawsuit may provide the push we need to change the conversation from cross-district enrollment to place-based revitalization of urban neighborhoods.
Limits on local cooperation with ICE more urgent than ever
Sanctuary policies like the PROTECT Act have been the subject of public rancor and misunderstanding over the past year. These debates, though, often miss what sanctuary policies do – and what they do not.
Cranky, perhaps. But Barney Frank’s accessibility and honesty were a breath of fresh air.
Frank was consistently accessible, ever quotable, always on the record, and honest to a fault.
Mass. environmentalists have lost the plot on energy affordability
People can want offshore wind, solar, storage, hydro, geothermal, efficiency, and new technology – while also supporting natural gas as an affordable and reliable bridge to that transition.
Massachusetts must stop separating siblings in foster care
IN NOVEMBER 2024, when I launched Kicking It Together, a soccer program for kids in foster care, I hoped it would be a fun, recreational outlet for children going through an incredibly challenging experience. For two participants, however, it was much more than that: biological brothers Jackson and Chris had been separated into different foster homes, and as I soon discovered, my weekly clinic was the only time they got to see each other. At each session, they would sprint over to the field and begin playing together. After the session ended, Jackson would pull out Go Fish and other…
What does $1.7 billion get you in the Boston Public Schools? Abysmal student achievement and declining results.
A majority of Boston students are unable to read or do math at grade level. In a district spending $1.7 billion a year, it should be unconscionable to rest on good intentions without the ability to show real results.
Massachusetts should join the 43 states that allow psychologists to provide telehealth therapy across state lines
Competing priorities and legislative inertia are the only reasons Massachusetts has not caught up to the other states that have already taken this step to enhance access and continuity of behavioral health care.
Hampshire College, as we know it, is closing. We still think it has a future.
The question is no longer whether Hampshire’s existing financial model is viable—it is not—but whether what remains can be guided through a structured transition rather than resolved through rapid liquidation.
The Health Policy Commission is concerned about health care costs — but powerless to do much about it
It was created in 2012 as part of legislation aimed at containing health care costs, but not vested with much authority.
Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.
