In a victory for Boston’s big research universities, but in a move critics say supports a system that lacks accountability and squanders scarce public dollars, the Obama administration has backed off plans to cut government research payments that cover institutional overhead costs.
The Globe’s Tracy Jan writes today that the move came after a concerted lobbying push by Harvard, MIT, and other big research institutions that stood to lose millions of dollars in research funding under the government’s plan to rework the system for tacking payments for overhead costs onto federally-funded research grants.
Under the current system, based on a complex formula, universities negotiate a rate with the government to cover costs beyond the research itself. Such overhead payments are meant to cover everything from building maintenance to support staff and energy costs, but critics point out that the funding goes into universities’ general budgets. They also complain that wealthier institutions have generally secured higher overhead reimbursement rates than those with smaller endowments, a pattern that critics say only adds to the wealth gap between richer and poorer institutions. And as those institutions are able to build ever more elaborate laboratories and other research facilities, they boost their need for higher-cost maintenance, keeping their overhead reimbursement rates high. Before scrapping the plan, the government was considering moving to a single flat rate for all institutions or cutting the current rate for all schools by a fixed amount.
“Harvard is taking the government to the cleaners,” Richard Vedder, director of the Washington-based Center for College Affordability, tells Jan. Harvard gets 69 percent in extra overhead funding for its research projects, one of the highest rates in the country. Boston University’s rate is 64 percent, while MIT’s is 56 percent. The national average is 52 percent, Jan reports.
Like research spending for the Defense Department, it’s another area where a less fettered flow of federal dollars may be bad for already strained public coffers, but it’s a boon to Boston area institutions and the regional economy.
–MICHAEL JONAS
BEACON HILL
Rep. James Arciero of Westford is filing legislation to post the names of all three levels of sex offenders online. Currently, only Level 3 offenders are available, the Lowell Sun reports.
The Patriot Ledger has some numbers from a public records request on how many Level 1 sex offenders there are in the state and where they live, work and go to school, though who they are is protected by law.
Four Brockton-area towns rank on the Lottery’s top 10 for per capita sales including West Bridgewater and Abington, which rank second and third, respectively. Salisbury, at the New Hampshire border, ranks the highest.
MUNICIPAL MATTERS
The Brockton mayor and a developer are urging the City Council to approve a state grant that would spur the funding to redevelop the core of the city’s downtown including the building that once housed the Enterprise.
The jobless rate tops 10 percent in Gloucester, the Gloucester Times reports.
Lynn residents and Barry Bluestone, a Northeastern professor who has been studying the community, say the Gateway City is on the verge of a big turnaround, the Item reports.
A developer has dropped its plans for a controversial Chapter 40B project in Hingham and will instead sell the 18 acres to the town, which intends to build a wastewater treatment plant on the site.
Boston’s Segway tour operator may have to segue out of town — or at least find a new home.
NATIONAL POLITICS/WASHINGTON
Brandeis professor Eileen McNamara says temper the applause for Ohio Sen. Rob Portman’s embrace of gay marriage.
A House committee prepares to decide whether municipal bonds should remain tax exempt, Governing reports.
It apparently isn’t the candidates or the issues that are giving Republicans a bad name and contributing to their failure to win the White House, it’s the consultants.
ELECTIONS
Sen. Elizabeth Warren and the Senate candidates swap jokes at the St. Patrick’s Day breakfast. WBUR reports. Republicans celebrate the day with their own breakfast in Scituate, NECN reports.
Globe columnist Yvonne Abraham says it’s time for Boston Mayor Tom Menino to declare whether he’s in or out of this year’s mayoral contest.
Republicans try closing the digital gap between themselves and Democrats.
BUSINESS/ECONOMY
A new study from UMass Dartmouth says amenities such as food and entertainment are as big a draw for patrons at casinos as the gambling itself.
EDUCATION
Methuen adopted new federal rules for school lunches that require serving more whole grains, fresh fruits, and vegetables, but school officials say many students are throwing away the healthier food untouched, the Eagle-Tribune reports.
Peabody is launching a pilot program to have monitors ride buses to prevent bullying and other problems, the Salem News reports.
Sequestration cuts in the federal budget have forced the armed forces to end a popular tuition reimbursement program for active military members and reservists.
The Atlantic finds a strong correlation between public school performance and walkability in Washington, DC.
HEALTH CARE
A new federal report is putting a spotlight on the high rates of cigarette smoking among those with mental illness.
TRANSPORTATION
The Atlantic makes the economic case for rail subsidies, arguing that rail pays for itself, even before accounting for road congestion.
ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT
The owner of a planned solar array in Scituate has received another extension for completion because he cannot secure financing and has posted a $109,000 security deposit from which the town will deduct $300 for each day the developer goes past the June 15 deadline.
New sewer pipes improve bacteria counts in the Merrimack River, the Lowell Sun reports.
Supporters of Cape Wind are pressuring the US Department of Energy to come up with a $2.6 billion loan guarantee for the the project.
Next City looks at natural gas fracking in Youngstown, Ohio, where 11 fracking-related earthquakes haven’t scared locals off gas drilling.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
The Globe reports on a software application designed by a group of Harvard engineering students that may help law enforcement officials track — and dismantle — gang networks.
MEDIA
Eric Newton, a top official at the Knight Foundation, slams Indiana University for merging its School of Journalism into the College of Arts and Sciences.
Time scores big with its 36-page cover article called “Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills Are Killing US,” the New York Times reports.
