Overall, public schools across Massachusetts — which has become a target of President Trump’s crackdown on immigration — lost over 15,000 students from fall 2024 to fall 2025, according to state data released in January. That brings total enrollment in the state to its lowest level in over three decades.
New Bedford
Posted inArts and Culture
New Bedford building poised to rise as artist space — again
In 2023, efforts to harness arts and culture as part of New Bedford’s economic revitalization strategy were dealt a blindsiding blow. Two years later, it looks as if all’s well that ends well. Â
Posted inBook Review
Questioning competitiveness
Through 200 years of manufacturing in the South Coast communities of Fall River and New Bedford, Shaun Nichols outlines cycles of growth and decline in multiple industries, raising compelling and uncomfortable questions about regional economic development.
Posted inTransportation
New Bedford says MBTA is shortchanging the city
THE BOSTON GLOBEÂ reported on Sunday that New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell could derail the long-awaited South Coast Rail project by threatening to file a lawsuit challenging the legality of an […]
Posted inEconomy, Government
Mayor moves to ease residency rules in New Bedford
WITH ROUGHLY 15 percent of non-school municipal jobs in New Bedford vacant, Mayor Jon Mitchell is pushing to do away with residency requirements for most management positions. New Bedford, like […]
Posted inEconomy
How foreign private equity hooked New England’s fishing industry
BEFORE DAWN, Jerry Leeman churned through inky black waters, clutching the wheel of the fishing vessel Harmony. The 85-foot trawler, deep green and speckled with rust, was returning from a […]
Posted inEducation
New Bedford charter school at center of 2019 battle poised to hit enrollment targetÂ
THREE YEARS AFTER a proposed compromise plan for expansion of a New Bedford charter school collapsed in the face of opposition from teachers unions and their legislative allies, the school […]
Posted inEducation
Charter school proposal roils South Coast
IT’S BEEN MORE than five years since the debate over charter schools in Massachusetts came front and center in the form of a high-profile ballot question that would have raised […]
Posted inUncategorized
New Bedford makes offshore wind play
AS COMMUNITIES up and down the East Coast jockey for economic opportunities from the emerging offshore wind industry, New Bedford is trying to stay ahead of the pack by doubling […]
Posted inEducation
How New Bedford boosted its graduation rateÂ
IN SEPTEMBER OF 2013, two months after her arrival as the district’s new school superintendent, Pia Durkin paid a visit to New Bedford High School one morning not long after […]
Posted inEducation
Why I opposed New Bedford charter school plan
THE PROPOSED charter school expansion plan crafted by New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell, Alma del Mar charter school, and state education Commissioner Jeff Riley earlier this year was simply too […]
Posted inUncategorized
Perfect port an elusive goal for East Coast offshore wind
NORTHEAST SEAPORTS ARE inadequate to meet the needs of the offshore wind industry, and ideas for filling that gap could create tension between the sometimes competing goals of those overseeing […]
Posted inEducation
Riley throws in towel on New Bedford charter plan Â
FOUR MONTHS AFTER he unveiled a novel proposal for a New Bedford charter school billed as a way to ease the acrimony that has plagued the state’s education sector, Massachusetts […]
Posted inEducation
New Bedford charter legislation delayed again
SEN. PAT JEHLEN of Somerville, an outspoken charter school critic, threw a procedural roadblock in front of a New Bedford home rule petition to advance a novel charter school plan […]
Posted inEducation
New Bedford charter school plan on the ropes
A PLAN TOUTED by state education leaders as a breakthrough compromise aimed at healing the rift between district and charter schools has instead inflamed passions on Beacon Hill where the […]
Posted inEducation
Teachers union, residents sue to block New Bedford charter school plan
A PLAN PUT forward by state education commissioner Jeff Riley as a compromise aimed at healing a rift over charter schools in New Bedford is instead drawing the wrath of […]
Posted inEducation
Charters facing backlash all over country
IT ALWAYS SEEMS to come back to charter schools. Los Angeles teachers went on strike for just over a week and the strike ended with the teachers getting much of […]
Posted inThe Download
Charters facing backlash all over country
It always seems to come back to charter schools. Los Angeles teachers went on strike for just over a week and the strike ended with the teachers getting much of […]
Posted inEducation
State board approves novel charter expansion plan
THE STATE EDUCATION BOARD approved a proposal to allow a New Bedford charter school to expand as part of an unusual partnership with the city’s district schools that would break […]
Posted inEducation
New Bedford’s charter school battle
Nearly two years ago, voters weighed in on a contentious ballot question over charter school expansion in the state. But the battle over the independently run, but publicly funded, schools […]
Posted inThe Download
New Bedford’s charter school battle
Nearly two years ago, voters weighed in on a contentious ballot question over charter school expansion in the state. But the battle over the independently run, but publicly funded, schools […]