Massachusetts
What to know about this year’s ballot questions in Massachusetts
BOSTON – This fall, Massachusetts voters will face the largest crop of statewide ballot questions in years, many of them involving complex issues.
Evan Horowitz, executive director of the Center for State Policy Analysis at Tufts University, has done a deep dive into the details of the questions, and he joined Keller @ Large to offer a primer.
Massachusetts Ballot Question 1
On Question 1, expanding the state auditor’s authority to audit the legislature, Horowitz said passage “probably will not empower the auditor to oversee the things people care about in the legislature, their votes, their committee assignments. She’s not going to have that authority. The courts probably won’t give it to her, and the legislature will fight back. So I think a yes vote is not a vote for this power. A yes vote is a vote for gridlock.”
Should MCAS be graduation requirement?
A “yes” vote on Question 2, would wipe out the lone statewide graduation requirement in Massachusetts that students pass the MCAS test by 10th grade. Students would still take the MCAS, but each district would set its own standards for graduation.
“This really is a question for voters about who should have the authority to dictate who can graduate from high school. Should it be districts? Or should the state play a role and say we have to sign off because we have over 300 districts in the state, [and] if they each have their own standards, that’s no standard,” Horowitz said.
“There are good arguments, I think, on both sides. The teachers union, which is backing the question, says this will give more freedom to teachers will be able to tailor their coursework for the students who need it. The business groups who are really on the no side, they’re saying we don’t want to become a state with a fractured education system,” Horowitz added. “We want to set high standards across the state. If you vote yes on this, you’re undermining that effort. Certainly MCAS has been a part of the ed reform that’s been nationally acclaimed and we do have some of the best schools in the country. Lots of people credit MCAS for at least part of that success. It is also true, though that most states have common standards, but usually not a test, usually a set of curricula or a set of coursework that seems have to compete. So we are kind of an outlier and really relying on a test to set the common standard from state.”
Sector-based bargaining
Question 3 would allow something called sector-based bargaining here, in which rideshare drivers using platforms like Lyft and Uber could negotiate together for better pay and benefits that would then apply across the industry.
“Drivers cannot form unions in the traditional way, because they’re not considered employees, they’re considered independent contractors,” Horowitz said.
The ballot question would order the state to “set up a whole set of regulations.”
“Let’s allow the sector based system where we’ll have drivers negotiate with all the companies at once and set rules for the whole industry,” Horowitz said. “The big issue will be business interests won’t like it. If it passes here again, you’re likely to see significant challenges, not just from rideshare companies, but from maybe the Chamber of Commerce, national business interests, because this would be a first in the nation effort to set up a system like this, and it could expand to other states and other industries.”
Will Massachusetts legalize psychedelic drugs?
A yes vote on Question 4 would legalize and regulate the use of some psychedelic drugs for both licensed mental health professionals and private parties who want to grow their own,
Horowitz says that would create “a new class of people, facilitators, to oversee the usage, which will be separate from the medical system. And it has to be separate from the medical system, because these drugs are illegal federally. They will remain illegal federally. So there will be no insurance coverage. There’s always the chance of a federal crackdown. I do want to be clear the drugs we’re talking about…can have very serious cardiac and neurological effects. It’s not a kind of casual set of drugs.”
Minimum wage for tipped workers
And Question 5 would phase out the current minimum wage that tipped workers, like waiters and bartenders, get, and require employers instead to pay those workers the full minimum wage.
“If you’re a tipped worker, you’re working in a restaurant, you are already entitled to the full minimum wage,” Horowitz said. “You are getting $15 an hour, it’s just a question of who pays it. Right now, the employers can pay as little as 675, so long as you make the other $8.25 in tips. So the tips are going toward the minimum wage, and if you don’t get enough in tips, the employer has to cover it. Our research suggests that in other places that have these laws that require employers to cover, tipped workers tend to make a little bit more. But then there are additional stresses on restaurants and other businesses, which they intend to have to address with higher prices and service fees.”
Police shot and killed a man who officials say rushed officers with a knife during a call in Lexington, Massachusetts, on Saturday.
Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan said the situation started around 1:40 p.m. when Lexington police received a 911 call from a resident of Mason Street reporting that his son had injured himself with a knife.
Officers from the Lexington Police Department and officers from the Northeastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council (NEMLEC), who were already in town for Patriots’ Day events, responded to the call.
Police were able to escort two other residents out of the home, initially leaving a 26-year-old man inside. According to Ryan, while officers were setting up outside, the man ran out of the home and approached officers with a large kitchen knife.
She added that police tried twice to use non-lethal force, but it was not effective in stopping him. The man was shot by a Wilmington police officer who is a member of NEMLEC. The man was pronounced dead on scene and the officer who fired that shot was taken to a local hospital as a precaution.
The man’s name has not been released.
Ryan said typically in a call like this where someone was described as harming themselves, officers would first try to separate anyone else to keep them out of danger, which was done, and then standard practice would be to try to wait outside.
“It would be their practice to just wait for the person to come out. In the terrible circumstances of today, he suddenly rushed the officers, still clutching the knife,” Ryan said.
The investigation is still in the preliminary stages and more information is expected in time. Ryan said her office will request a formal inquest from the court to review whether any criminal conduct has occurred, which is the standard process.
This happened around the same time as the annual Patriots’ Day Parade, and just hours after a reenactment of the Battle of Lexington, which drew large crowds to town.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Massachusetts
‘An impossible choice’: With little federal help to combat rising costs, Head Start looks to Massachusetts for more help – The Boston Globe
In Massachusetts, roughly 1,300 slots for children across Head Start’s 28 agencies have been eliminated in the last three years because federal funding has plateaued over that time, while the cost of running the program continues to rise, according to the Massachusetts Head Start Association. Nationally, Head Start enrollment dropped from 1.1 million kids in 2013 to around 785,000 in 2022, according to research by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
“If they didn’t get into a Head Start program, they would be sitting at home,” said Brittany Acosta, a Head Start parent in Dorchester.
It’s teachers are drastically underpaid, and there’s a serious need for a rainy day-type fund should the federal government shut down again, the association says. As they’ve done in years past, state lawmakers have offered to provide financial relief, but the Massachusetts Head Start Association’s request for 3 percent above the amount it received last year, an additional $4.6 million to help its staff keep up with the state’s rising cost of living, so far has not been allocated.
Last year, President Trump’s leaked budget proposal revealed he considered eliminating Head Start entirely. Then, in the summer, he cut off Head Start enrollment for immigrants without legal status. And during the fall’s government shutdown, four Head Start centers in Massachusetts closed because they couldn’t access their funding.
Trump’s latest budget proposal shows a fourth year without increasing funding for the program, which was established in the mid-1960s.
Michelle Haimowitz, executive director of the Massachusetts Head Start Association, said the program doesn’t want to eliminate more child slots than it already has, but paying teachers a competitive salary is equally important in order to keep them from leaving for higher paying jobs. Head Start teachers make under $50,000 annually compared to over $85,000 for the average Massachusetts kindergarten teacher.
“It’s an impossible choice,” Haimowitz said. “When we reduce the size of our programs, we’re not reducing the size of the need.”
Massachusetts is one of few states that supplements federal funding for Head Start, and last year it increased the program’s state grant from $5 million to $20 million, adding to the $189 million in federal aid it receives in this state.
“We can’t run a program without giving staff a raise for three years,” Haimowitz said. “Our next fight now is not just for survival, but it’s for thriving and growth.”
The Massachusetts House Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday released its budget, which doesn’t grant Head Start’s request of a 3 percent boost. But state Representative Christopher Worrell filed an amendment for additional funding. Worrell, whose district covers parts of Dorchester and Roxbury, said he loves Head Start’s embrace of culture, recalling one visit to a center where he could smell staff cooking stew chicken, a traditional Caribbean dish.
“I’ve been to dozens of schools throughout the district, and you don’t get that home-cooked meal,” Worrell said. “[The state is] stepping up and doing the best we can with what we have.”
At the Action for Boston Community Development’s Head Start and Early Head Start center in Dorchester, the children of Classroom 7 arrived one Monday morning and dove into bins of magnetic tiles before their teachers, Paola Polanco and Leolina Rasundar Chinnappa, served breakfast. Acosta dropped off her 4-year-old daughter, Violeta, before reporting to her teaching position at the center, where several other Head Start parents also work.
“It’s important for all Head Start parents to have the opportunity to give their child an experience in a learning environment before they actually start kindergarten,” Acosta said.
Beyond providing early education and care to children of low-income families, from birth to age 5, the program helps them access other resources, including mental health services, SNAP benefits, homelessness assistance, and employment opportunities.
It also serves as daycare for parents who might not be able to afford it, while they’re at work.
Research has shown the importance of preschool in a child’s development with one 2023 study, focused on Boston public preschools, finding that it improves student behavior and increases the likelihood of high school graduation and college enrollment.
For Rickencia Clerveaux and Christopher Mclean, the Dorchester Head Start center is the only place they feel comfortable sending their 3-year-old son, Shontz, who is on the autism spectrum. Shontz’s stimming — repetitive movements that stimulate the senses — has reduced, and his speech has improved since he joined the center in 2024, Clerveaux said.
His parents say he’s also come out of his shell. Mclean now drops his son off and gets a simple “bye” as Shontz joins his classmates, he said.
He and Clerveaux said they appreciate the specialized attention Shontz can receive from teachers, such as when staff identified that Shontz might have hearing issues. His parents were able to follow up with their doctor and get Shontz to have surgery to improve his hearing.
“It’s a safe net for parents,” Clerveaux said. “There’s so many ways that him being here helps him grow better.”
Without Head Start, Clerveaux said a lot of pressure would be put on parents to find care for their children, “knowing that they’re already struggling or not getting the ends to meet.”
“That’s a burden for everybody in the community,” she said. “If there’s no funding, there’s no daycare and parents cannot work.”
Lauren Albano can be reached at lauren.albano@globe.com. Follow her on X @LaurenAlbano_.
Enter your email and we’ll send a secure one-click link to sign in.
WPRI.com is provided by Nexstar Media Group, Inc., and uses the My Nexstar sign-in, which works across our media network.
Learn more at nexstar.tv/privacy-policy.
WPRI.com is provided by Nexstar Media Group, Inc., and uses the My Nexstar sign-in, which works across our media network.
Nexstar Media Group, Inc. is a leading, diversified media company that produces and distributes engaging local and national news, sports, and entertainment content across its television and digital platforms. The My Nexstar sign-in works across the Nexstar network—including The CW, NewsNation, The Hill, and more. Learn more at nexstar.tv/privacy-policy.
-
Vermont6 minutes agoWrong-way driver stopped on I-89, charged with DUI
-
Virginia12 minutes agoParachutist Slams into Jumbotron at Virginia Tech Spring Game
-
Wisconsin24 minutes agoUS animal rights activists clash with police over Wisconsin dog breeder
-
West Virginia30 minutes agoThe 2026 WVU Tommy Nickolich Award Goes to a Parkersburg Native
-
Wyoming36 minutes agoWyoming Gov. Mark Gordon won’t seek a third term. He won’t rule out running for other offices, either
-
Crypto42 minutes ago1 Cryptocurrency to Buy While It’s Under $80,000
-
Finance48 minutes agoBudget crisis is top concern for MPS leader Cassellius | Opinion
-
Fitness54 minutes agoI’m a running coach — I’ve just tested shoes actually designed for women’s feet, and they’re a total game changer