Fourteen years after the state’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) first put a school district in receivership, education activists are now pushing for an end to the practice, citing the state’s checkered record of running schools and districts and the loss of local control.
One year after voters passed a ballot referendum barring the state from using the MCAS exam as a graduation requirement, Gov. Healey joined education officials at Dedham High School Monday to announce a proposed new framework for graduation requirements that would include course work aligned with college admission standards.
State officials estimate that Massachusetts will lose as much as $4.1 billion going forward due to losses of federal funding and changes to federal tax laws. If past budget crises are any indication, that cut of more than 5 percent of the $60 billion state budget will likely lead to trims to human services, education and other areas that Massachusetts residents depend on.
Push from Mayor Wu, unions keyed his fourth-place finish. Yawu Miller reports
A ballot question backed by the Pioneer Institute and Mass High Tech Council would reduce the state income tax rate from 5 percent to 4 percent over a three-year period — a cut, opponents say, that would cut income tax revenue by 20 percent, leading to a $5 billion reduction in state revenue.
The Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association (BPPA) approved a one-year extension of its 2023 contract with the city this week, adding minor reforms to policing.
Rev. Miniard Culpepper won the District 7 seat left vacant by Tania Fernandes Anderson. The city’s unofficial election results showed Culpepper with 3,874 votes to Said Ahmed’s 3,275.
While no one heading into the polls next Tuesday need guess the outcome of the mayoral election — Michelle Wu is running unopposed — two City Council races hang in the balance.
Voters looking for clarity on where the District 7 candidates stand on issues may go to the polls on Nov. 4 with a few unanswered questions.
Massachusetts residents entering voting booths on Nov. 3 next year will see the names of candidates for state representative, state senate, and members of Congress, in particular, US Sen. Ed Markey and his challengers.
But those elected state and federal offices on the ballot will likely be joined by more than a dozen ballot questions as outside supermarkets across the Commonwealth this fall solicitors have been gathering signatures on behalf of as many as 47 ballot initiatives on topics ranging from promoting transparency in the Legislature, instituting a statewide rent control law, and rolling back the state’s legalization of marijuana.
Parents of students in the Sumner and Philbrick schools in Roslindale were ambivalent in 2022 when Boston Public Schools officials announced the school communities would merge. The district has merged and closed dozens of schools over the last 20 years and the processes have often left parents and students angered and disillusioned.
Congressional Democrats are facing a crisis of identity, with the defeat of the 2024 election sparking debate over how to win back disaffected voters who either stayed home or defected to the Trump camp.
Working at the Environmental Protection Agency under the Trump administration has been challenging for Lilly Simmons, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 3428.
When state Sen. Liz Miranda told a gathering of constituents last week that Boston is under fire from ICE, she wasn’t exaggerating. “The federal government has a target on us,” she said, speaking to 70-or-so people who crowded into her Blue Hill Avenue district office on Sept. 22 for training on how to react to ICE raids.
Members of the City Council questioned Boston Public Schools officials at a hearing on Monday over proposed changes to exam school admissions that would likely reverse gains in admissions of Black, Latino, and Asian students and learners from low-income families. BPS Superintendent Mary Skipper told councillors that “we are committed to creating an equitable, transparent policy that ensures all students have an opportunity for a seat at one of our city’s three exam schools.”
