Onward!

February 18, 2025 Acting Commissioner Russell Johnston Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education 169 Santilli Highway Everett, MA 02149 Dear Acting Commissioner Johnston: I am writing to you on behalf of Progressive Democrats of Massachusetts (PDM), a statewide network of grassroots activists, with regard to your imminent proposal of revised regulations relating to admissions to the state’s system of career/technical secondary school programs. Specifically, we write to urge you to require these programs to allocate their seats on the basis of an unrestricted lottery, open to all interested students who successfully complete eighth grade without any limitations that would not disqualify those students from attending an academic high school. PDM’s education working group has been focused on issues of access to the state’s system of vocational education programs for…

Reduction of plastics is a climate and environmental issue. If the plastics industry were a country, it would be the world’s fifth largest greenhouse gas emitter. And the US is the top generator of plastic waste. Contrary to the wishes of the bottling industry, we cannot recycle our way out of the plastic crisis. Only 5% of plastic waste generated in the US is recycled. Our single-use plastics are polluting our oceans and jeopardizing our health. We need to shrink our use of plastics with a modern deposit return system that will reduce litter, increase recycling, and speed up the transition to reusable and refillable containers. Massachusetts was a leader in 1983 when we enacted a bottle bill, but we now have the lowest return rate in the country at 36% because…

STOP THE COUP: Join a rally organized by 75+ MA groups, including many of our allies RALLY & MARCH Valentine's Day Friday, February 14, 12 PM MEET AT BOSTON COMMON BANDSTAND REGISTER HERE ___ The Coalition to Reform our Legislature (CROL), a bipartisan reform effort which grew out of PDM’s legislative reform working group, just filed two bills that will: change the current stipend system to link legislators’ compensation to job performance and establish nonpartisan offices for legislative research and fiscal analysis. Not surprisingly, these significant reform initiatives have not met with enthusiasm at the State House. The bill numbers are: HD.1802/SD.2614 Legislative research and fiscal analysis offices HD.4303/SD.1301 Stipend reform PDM is asking everyone concerned about the lack of accountability and productivity in our MA legislature to contact their…

Summary of PDM Forum on 1/ 31/25. One-hour recording is available here. The MA legislature is one of the least transparent, accountable, and productive in the country. Forum Moderator, Scotia Hille, Executive Director of Act On Mass, noted that its autocratic operation disempowers most legislators and their constituents. Given the severe dysfunction in Washington, it’s particularly important that state governments function well and provide examples of effective and democratic governance. Panelist Alan Palm, Executive Director of the Better Future Project, a climate advocacy group, stated that while some good climate change legislation has been passed, MA is a long way from doing what needs to be done. The lack of a democratic process and transparency in the legislature makes climate advocacy and progress very difficult, as it does for every…

Governor Baker, despite his professional experience and his (self-proclaimed) expertise as a problem solver and manager, has left a legacy of serious dysfunction at multiple state agencies. This legacy will haunt Massachusetts for years to come as subsequent Governors work to fix problems he ignored or exacerbated in his eight years as Governor. Baker’s most high-profile failure is almost certainly at the MBTA. It, and the public that relies on it, will suffer for years to come from service reductions, slow train speeds because of rail and maintenance problems, deteriorated infrastructure that causes frequent service interruptions and delays, and the failure to get new subway cars delivered on schedule. The Baker administration’s lack of transparency about all of this is legendary and exacerbated the misery for MBTA users. See more…

The MA Legislature ended its 2021 – 2022 session with a chaotic rush to pass the budget and dozens of other bills. Important bills didn’t get passed as time ran out. This both highlights and is the ultimate symptom of the dysfunction of the Legislature. Read more here: https://tinyurl.com/55m5nka2

The Massachusetts Legislature continues to display its long-running and pervasive dysfunction. Some recent examples tell the story: For an in-depth explanation of how over-centralization of power, lack of professional expertise and resources and other factors have created this high level of dysfunction, including a dearth of transparency and accountability, please see our report The Massachusetts Legislature: Democracy in Decline. The report was released in November 2021 and was prepared by the Legislative Reform Working Group convened by Progressive Democrats of Massachusetts. The MA Legislature has kept the State House closed to the public – the only one in the country that remains closed in Jan. 2022 – which is perhaps symbolic of its lack for transparency and accountability. Meanwhile, legislative business continues to ignore deadlines, lack careful execution and be…

The Baker-Polito Administration has failed for years to fix systemic operational issues at its Department of Children and Families (DCF), which serves children who have experienced abuse or neglect. Many of the problems cited by the most recent investigation into a child’s death were the same as those in reports at the start of the Baker-Polito administration in 2015. Massachusetts continues to be very slow in getting DCF involved children into a permanent home, either through reunification with parents or adoption. Children are spending a median of 37 months between home removal and adoption, well beyond the state and federal standard of 15 months. This introduces additional trauma and disruption into the already difficult lives of these children. Racial disparities persist throughout the system, including in removing children from their…

The Baker-Polito Administration’s numerous vacillations on the vaccine rollout reflect a lack of good planning and a failure to follow plans that were in place. Long-standing plans for vaccinations through local public health agencies were scrapped at the last minute. Initial plans for vaccinations through hospitals were abruptly ended after they had begun. Yes, the supply of vaccines has been limited, but that was known in advance. The receipt of vaccines has mostly met the federal government's predictions, with a few minor, short-term glitches, and the current pace is exceeding initial predictions. Other states had well-functioning pre-registration and sign-up websites for vaccinations months before Massachusetts. Constant changes and poor communication by the Baker-Polito Administration have led to confusion, anxiety, frustration, and rancor. Its vaccine rollout has been called unpredictable, shaky,…

Joan Vennochi’s excellent column  in the March 16 Boston Globe describes how the Baker-Polito Administration’s small government mindset, lack of good planning, and support for privatization led to a botched response to the Covid pandemic in multiple ways. She writes that “Baker squandered the opportunity to show leadership” and harmed “his image as a can-do manager.” https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/03/15/opinion/breaking-news-charlie-baker-is-republican/