Massachusetts public schools are the best in the country, new report says
The report from personal finance website WalletHub says Massachusetts is No. 1 in its ranking of public school systems. The state also took the top spot in 2024 and 2023.
Massachusetts schools ranked first in quality and second in safety. The state has the highest math and reading test scores among fourth and eighth graders, the study found.
Earlier this year, an educational assessment known as the "Nation's Report Card" also found that Massachusetts students lead the country in test scores. But experts also cautioned that reading scores in Massachusetts and around the country have been declining since the COVID pandemic took students out of the classroom.
Gov. Maura Healey's administration celebrated the new WalletHub ranking and touted investments in universal free school meals, special education, early literacy and preparing students for the workforce.
"Massachusetts is home to America's first public school and has always led the way when it comes to providing our students with the best education," Healey said in a statement. "This recognition is a testament to the students, teachers, parents and staff who have invested their time and energy to help our schools succeed all across Massachusetts."
According to WalletHub, Massachusetts also had one of the lowest dropout rates and the highest share of high schoolers who got a score of 3 or better on their Advanced Placement exams. The state also said few students report problems with bullying, fights or illegal drugs on campus.
All New England states scored in the Top 20 of the WalletHub ranking. Connecticut was second, followed by New Hampshire at No. 5, Rhode Island in seventh, Maine at 14th and Vermont at No. 19.
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San Francisco Chronicle
5 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
A pause on higher tariffs for China is due to expire Tuesday. Here's what to know.
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Boston Globe
36 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
After Boston's lab building boom, one-third of it sits empty. What do we do now?
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Los Angeles Times
36 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
A second act for empty office space? How skyscrapers in downtown L.A. could ease the housing crisis
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At 56.5 million square feet, downtown is one of the largest office markets in the country and is an important economic engine for the city, said Nella McOsker, president of the Central City Assn. Business leaders in the association will continue to support efforts to refill office buildings with workers, she said, even as they encourage the conversion of some buildings to housing. 'We're not giving up on folks coming into the office in large numbers,' McOsker said, 'but we need to always evolve.' The BAE Urban Economics report does not identify the 10 buildings used to calculate the financial effects of converting them to housing, but previous discussions of prime candidates have included some of the most prominent towers on the city skyline that were built in the latter part of the 20th century. Among them are 777 Tower and Union Bank Plaza, both on Figueroa Street, and Gas Company Tower at the foot of Bunker Hill near Pershing Square. The list of conversion candidates is confidential because publicizing them might 'put a scarlet letter around their neck' when most are 'actually very good office buildings,' said John Adams, a managing principal at Gensler. The architecture firm selected potential candidates for conversion, which have recently faced financial straits and low occupancy. The Gas Company Tower was sold to Los Angeles County last year for about $200 million, a steep drop from its $632-million valuation in 2020. The 777 Tower traded a year ago for $120 million, a 70% drop from its 2013 sale price, according to real estate data provider CoStar. Union Bank Plaza, a 40-story tower completed in 1967, is an attractive candidate in part because it has a retail complex at the base that would be a good amenity for residents as well as office tenants, Adams said. The 55-story 777 Tower, completed in 1991, was designed by architect César Pelli, who designed some of the world's tallest buildings including the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Part of its appeal is that it has separate banks of elevators for different tiers of floors, Adams said, which could make it easier to convert some floors to housing while others remain offices. With renovations, residents could have a separate lobby entrance from office workers. Many early 20th century office buildings downtown have already been converted to apartments and hotels, but housing advocates are now eyeing the newer generation of towers that dominated the office market in the last three decades. Among them are ripe candidates to become residences, mostly built from the 1970s to 1990s, Adams said. Their 'slick glass-and-marble aesthetic' is visually appealing, he said, and they were built in a way that the outer skins can be modified to include balconies and operable windows. 'These towers are hackable,' Adams said. The city is close to adopting a new building code that will make it easier for developers to get approvals to convert offices built after 1975. A previous code for conversions that focused on buildings erected before that year, when construction standards were less stringent, led to a boom in office, apartment, condo and hotel conversions starting in the early 2000s. Newer buildings such as the L.A. Care tower are 'night and day' more attractive to convert to housing than the midcentury buildings Lee's company, Jamison Properties, has converted in the past, he said. Downtown's Class A buildings have more modern systems such as elevators and electrical service, and may require fewer upgrades to meet seismic standards than older structures. The city recently determined that Jamison Properties did not need to perform a structural retrofit of the L.A. Care tower at 1055 W. 7th St., Lee said. Los Angeles County officials, meanwhile, have declared that Gas Company Tower is seismically safe, but are reviewing bids to perform more than $230 million worth of proactive upgrades 'to ensure that the building performs optimally in the decades ahead,' a representative said. The highest hurdle for private landlords considering turning an office building into apartments or condos is typically financial; it often costs more to acquire and convert a building than can be justified by expected rents. City leaders should consider offering financial incentives such as those found in other cities to bridge the gap to profitability, the report said, citing programs in other central business districts. New York, Washington and Boston have property tax abatement programs, for example. San Francisco offers transfer tax exemptions, and Chicago uses tax-increment financing to encourage some redevelopments. In Canada, Calgary offers direct grants. The Central City Assn. wants the city to consider financial incentives for conversions, even though it is experiencing budget shortfalls, McOsker said. As of May, the city faced a nearly $1-billion budget shortfall. McOsker suggested that the city form a team to focus on conversions and perhaps do it at a scale 'well outside of downtown Los Angeles.' Helping turn unused offices into housing is important to city officials, said Rachel Freeman, deputy mayor of business and economic development. 'We have a deep need for more housing at all levels of affordability,' she said. 'Adaptive reuse has the potential to be a tool to help achieve our goals towards housing production and also the revitalization of our core urban centers.' Zoning and building codes should be 'more supportive' of the process, she said, adding that the mayor's office also is open to the idea of financial incentives for builders. For the vibrancy of downtown and other core business centers also facing falling office values, Freeman said, 'there is a cost to doing nothing.'
