Governor Patrick just delivered a pre-release to legislators of his 2010 local aid numbers. The Governor’s budget for 2010 keeps Chapter 70 level.
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Will Brownsberger — State Senator, Democrat, 2d Suffolk and Middlesex District |
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College for all? *2 commentsShould universal post-secondary education be our goal? There is good evidence that the answer is no. It is not clear that a college education per se supports higher productivity. Rather college completion is an indicator of industry and ability (as well as childhood financial advantage). The direct evidence about what employers are actually looking for in new hires in “good” jobs is mixed and suggests that personal virtues are more important than particular skills. There is little to suggest that high school mathematics content is directly relevant to most jobs. It is hardly clear that our economy is capable of offering everyone the opportunity to realize their full potential, but we at least want to get kids to the starting gate of adult working life with an education that maximizes their early potential. Observations about where Massachusetts stands in the crisis, how the state is responding, and how the cuts affects our local communities. March 12, 2009, the House voted to match the local aid levels proposed in the Governor’s budget — relatively substantial overall increases in Chapter 70 and a protection of municipalities from a shortfall in the lottery fund. This page collects links on current challenges to our economy. Online learning is exploding at the post-secondary level and as a result a number of post-secondary institutions are developing skills at delivering online products. It seems inevitable that these institutions will begin to seek to break the artificial regulatory boundary between secondary and post-secondary education. Inventory of emerging online learning products. Inventory of resources about online learning products. Online learning means learning that is primarily reliant on the internet — as opposed to a physical classroom — for delivery of content. There are many varieties of online learning, involving varying degrees of personal contact. Online learning is growing rapidly at both the K12 and post-secondary levels. Inventory of decisions that school districts need to consider as they introduce online learning. At a State House press conference today, the House leadership team announced the broad parameters of its approach to balancing the FY09 budget. Letter to Bob Deleo, the Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, outlining my state budget priorities. The Readiness task force should take a strong position in support of self-guided online learning, which is expanding rapidly across the country. The Massachusetts 2020 foundation released a report today showing that a group of schools experimenting with longer learning days had dramatically improved their MCAS scores. School building authority approvals *2 commentsThe Massachusetts School Building Authority voted to send the Wellington Elementary School and 48 other school proposals around the state to the “feasibility” stage. The Thompson school in Arlington was targeted for additional “planning”. The attached letter doesn’t specify a particular date or give any particular |