The Codcast: "Unpacking the Legislature’s July 31 flurry, and what comes next" (audio)

via the CommonWealth Beacon:

"FOR THE FIRST TIME since 2020, lawmakers finished their formal work on the even-year July 31 traditional deadline before the sun came up the next morning. This time around, they were done even before the clock reached midnight.

Legislative leaders had been arguing for weeks that the end of the month, which marks the cutoff for major new legislative business, would feel different than it did during chaotic all-nighters in 2022 and 2024. House Speaker Ron Mariano even suggested the key date would feel “more like a regular business day.”

Their expectation-setting exercises turned out to be successful, but that’s not to say Beacon Hill was idle. The week leading into July 31, and the day itself, still featured a flurry of action that put some major proposals on Gov. Maura Healey’s desk and teed up a dozen bills for ongoing House-Senate negotiations."

Continue reading the show notes:  https://commonwealthbeacon.org/the-codcast/special-episode-unpacking-the-legislatures-july-31-flurry-and-what-comes-next/

Listen to the episode -  https://open.spotify.com/episode/4TlNuAnmYmve3mriNL993R

The Codcast: "In every difficulty, there’s an opportunity" (audio)

"PATRICK TUTWILER, Gov. Maura Healey’s secretary of education, is a forward-looking guy.

The CodCast

While he and Healey both opposed the 2024 ballot question that did away with the requirement that students pass the 10th grade MCAS exam in math and English to graduate from high school, Tutwiler says the council he now co-chairs to figure out what to put in its place has a chance to rethink high school in ways that will enrich the experience and help set students up for success after it.

“Gov. Healey really saw this as an opportunity, as did I, and the former history teacher in me would sort of lift up the well-known saying that in every difficulty there’s an opportunity. And so we’ve wrapped our arms around that,” Tutwiler told CommonWealth Beacon’s Michael Jonas on a new episode of The Codcast. That reimaging of the high school experience, he said, was already underway before the MCAS ballot question emerged."

CommonWealth Beacon -> https://commonwealthbeacon.org/the-codcast/in-every-difficulty-theres-an-opportunity-education-secretary-patrick-tutwiler-says-about-developing-a-post-mcas-high-school-graduation-requirement/

The CodCast on Soundcloud -> https://soundcloud.com/massinc/cc-12_21_25-mix1

 

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Recall that Franklin Public Schools is working to put their graduation requirements in place while this State effort works through the process. Many of the points are similar between the local and State efforts.

Boston Globe article on new high school graduation framework

portrait of a graduate

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/12/01/metro/mcas-replacement-test-high-school-graduation/?s_campaign=sharetool_copypaste_view

Governor Healey's press release ->    https://www.mass.gov/news/healey-driscoll-administration-releases-statewide-high-school-graduation-framework

Franklin recently approved it's own graduation and competency requirements in lieu of the State having this developed and finalized (which will still take time for the State to complete).  Meeting recap can be found ->   https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/11/franklin-school-committee-reorganizes_22.html

   

CommonWealth Beacon · Beyond the MCAS with Ed. Secretary Tutwiler

CommonWealth Beacon: Municipal budgets at the breaking point (audio)

Via the Commonwealth Beacon - The Codcast

"THE ADVOCACY GROUP representing all 351 cities and towns in Massachusetts fired a warning flare up to Beacon Hill last month when it published a detailed report likening the budget woes municipalities face to a “perfect storm.”  

But how did communities get to this point? What kind of solutions do they want to see, and what would that mean for taxpayers?  

This week, The Codcast hosts a panel discussion unpacking municipal finance issues with a trio of guests: Massachusetts Municipal Association executive director Adam Chapdelaine, Amesbury mayor Kassandra Gove, and Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance executive director Paul Craney.  

 The Codcast

The report from the Massachusetts Municipal Association found that unrestricted general government aid to cities and towns has dropped over the past two decades once adjusted for inflation, forcing communities to foot the rising bill for services with budgets that are constrained by a cap on property tax increases.  

In Chapdelaine’s view, the current crisis is a mix of longer-term factors that have been building for decades and the “incendiary pressure of significant inflation” in recent years.  "

Audio link -> https://open.spotify.com/episode/4K18Au0Krk2x0mP45WhR2M?si=d_Vkh3-VTu6na39qR3Zfhw

Find the report referenced -> https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/10/explore-mmas-new-report-perfect-storm.html