The well-intended legislation was aimed at addressing persistent racial and socioeconomic achievement gaps, but what Beacon Hill perhaps didn’t foresee was the greater financial pressure it would place on municipal budgets as sluggish state aid growth that has not kept pace with inflation, strict limits on local tax increases, and rising costs continue to trap many local governments between a rock and a hard place.
Education
Posted inEducation
Higher education commissioner stepping down in September
Ortega’s departure will further shift the state’s education leadership, following turnover within the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and Education Secretary Patrick Tutwiler stepping down earlier this year.
Posted inEducation
Proposed graduation requirements revive debate over standardized testing
The K-12 Statewide Graduation Council recommends in a new proposal that students complete state-designed and administered end-of-course assessments, sparking debate over whether Massachusetts is reintroducing the standardized testing voters rejected by ballot question in 2024.
Posted inEducation
State gives clearance for three-year degree programs at two colleges
The Board of Higher Education approved Merrimack’s plan to offer 96-credit bachelor’s degrees in business administration, communications, criminal justice and psychology, the Department of Higher Education announced. Suffolk was approved for a 94-credit bachelor’s degree in healthcare administration and innovation.
Posted inEducation
Senate ready to give teachers second shot at retirement program
The Senate plans to take up a bill to enhance retirement benefit programs for teachers after resisting for years, following the House’s approval of a similar policy through a state budget amendment.
Posted inState Government
House votes 149-9 to approve annual state budget bill
Fiscal year 2027, which begins July 1, is projected to be “a very, very difficult fiscal year in a truly, truly challenging economic environment,” House Speaker Ron Mariano said this month. Repeatedly throughout the week, Democrats echoed that sentiment as they resisted Republican calls for tax relief or spending cuts.
Posted inEducation
From T support to school aid, surtax emerges as crutch for state budgeting
Gov. Maura Healey’s spending proposals has reopened debate about whether voters intended for the surtax on high earners to fund only new investments or anything related to transportation and education.
Posted inEducation
Senate and House aligning on evidence-based reading instruction
While the state continues to rank among national leaders, MCAS data show that only about 42 percent of third-graders are meeting state expectations in English language arts, with significantly lower rates among students of color, low-income students, English language learners and students with disabilities.
Posted inThe Codcast
What do cities and advocates want from the Legislature in 2026?
This week on The Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon reporter Jennifer Smith talks Lynn Mayor Jared Nicholson; Jennie Williamson, the state director of The Education Trust in Massachusetts; and Clark Ziegler, executive director of the Massachusetts Housing Partnership. They break down what has and hasn’t been a lawmaking priority; dive into the current relationships between cities, the state, and the federal government; and discuss their legislative wish list for the second half of the two-year cycle.
Posted inOpinion
The top 5 CommonWealth Beacon commentary topics in 2025
Thoughtful CommonWealth Beacon opinion pieces offered a stark contrast to a year of oxygen-sucking pronouncements by a president whose coarsening of public debate commanded nearly nonstop headlines.
Posted inOpinion
New graduation requirement must include rigorous statewide standards
Ensuring a reliable, objective measure of student competency must remain a top priority. Our students deserve rigorous statewide standards, not subjective benchmarks at a district’s discretion.
Posted inEducation
Bill to prioritize teacher quality over seniority faces uphill battle
The proposal aims to revise how districts decide which teachers get laid off when budgets shrink or enrollment drops.
Posted inEducation
Suit to block Education Department closure expanded amid agency transfers plans
In May, a federal judge in Massachusetts granted a preliminary injunction in the consolidated case, blocking the administration’s efforts, including a reduction in force effort at the agency.
Posted inEducation
Mass. faces grim reality of fewer international students
Massachusetts’s schools have recruited higher proportions of international students than colleges and universities almost anywhere else because of a demographic decline and the comparatively high cost of higher education here. But even before the second Trump administration, there were signs the bottom was falling out.
Posted inState House News Service
Senate president says federal government ‘working against us’
During an interview televised Sunday morning, Spilka echoed comments made earlier in the year by House Speaker Ron Mariano, who said Massachusetts had “lost our federal partner.”
Posted inOpinion
Reading isn’t enough: Massachusetts must solve its math crisis, too
Research shows that early math skills are more predictive of lifetime earnings than reading or health factors. And as Massachusetts’s economy increasingly relies on evolving STEM jobs, we must prepare all students — not just a privileged few — for that future.
Posted inThe Codcast
The good, the bad, and the uncertain in Trump’s tax bill
CommonWealth Beacon executive editor Michael Jonas talks with reporter Jennifer Smith about a series of stories parsing the sprawling Trump tax and spending bill. They discuss why it’s so hard to know if Opportunity Zones have been effective, and why affordable housing advocates are mixed on the administration’s approach to low-income renters.
