Gubernatorial candidates debate at UMass Dartmouth

The Fall River Herald News reports that Governor Deval Patrick, Charlie Baker, Tim Cahill, and Jill Stein will debate at UMass Dartmouth on September 30th at 2PM in the Main Auditorium.
This is a link to the Herald News story
Dartmouth Finance Committee chair and UMass Dartmouth professor Shannon Jenkins will host the event.

Should be interesting and informative. Attend if you can. Click here to read on!

State's first public law school approved at UMass Dartmouth

The state Board of Higher Education approved the merger of Southern New England School of Law with the UMass system. That means that UMass Dartmouth will soon include a law school in their university offerings. Kudos to the many who worked to get this done. Congratulations to Chancellor McCormack, her faculty, and staff. The Fall River Times Herald article on the vote can be found here
No more after the jump


Click here to read on!

UMass law school decision Tuesday

The Fall River Herald News reports here that the Board of Higher Education will decide on Tuesday whether to accept the merger of the Southern New England School of Law (SNESL) with the UMass system. SNESL has offered to donate their campus and assets to the UMass system.
Arguments were presented by both sides of the merger question at a meeting of the Board of Higher Education this past Tuesday. The Herald News report on that session is at this link. One argument put forward by Former Attorney General Tom Reilly, who is representing a group of private law schools, is that the method proposed for funding the school is illegal. The proposal is that the new public law school would be largely funded by student fees rather than tuition. Mr. Reilly argued that all payments should be remitted to the state rather than be retained by UMass. If his argument was to be adopted, it would turn higher education funding at UMass on its ear. Fees are currently about 7 times the amount of tuition at UMass campuses and represent the bulk of the system's funding. If the colleges could not retain the fees, it would throw their entire budgets into question.
Massachusetts' financial support of our public universities is among the lowest per capita rate in the nation. The trend of that support has been downward as well. Well educated citizens have much higher earnings (and pay more taxes as a result) over their lifetimes than those without college degrees. I think it is in the best interest of the citizenry to support affordable public universities for that reason. What do you think?

And here is the rest.
Click here to read on!

Local campuses go green

Grant Welker had this article in the Fall River Herald News about the installation of 420 solar panels on roofs at Bristol Community College (BCC). The solar installation is part of a $500,000 program to cut energy usage at the campus. The solar panels are expected to generate 100 KW and add to the 10 KW produced by 50 panels that were installed previously. The low energy production from the installation points to a problem with solar power installations. The sun's energy per square foot on the earth's surface is low (on average about 164 watts per square meter) and the efficiency of the panels at capturing that energy is also low (around 30% efficient at best nowadays). So the most energy that we can collect on average is 50 watts per square meter. DURING DAYLIGHT HOURS! At our latitiude about 8 hours per day at this time of year. That yields a total of 400 watts per square meter per day.
To equal the peak output of the proposed Dartmouth wind turbine installation with solar panels, ...

... you would need to install 13,860 solar panels of the type that BCC used.
Mr. Welker had this article a couple of weeks ago about UMass Dartmouth's effort to reduce their energy consumption. The campus is considering solar panels and perhaps a wind turbine but most of the savings, as at BCC,comes from consuming less.
This points the way to how all of us can cut our energy use, lower the thermostat, use energy efficient lighting, disconnect small loads like computers, and other electronics when not in use. The average European home uses 30% less energy than they did 20 years ago and they are getting lower all the time. The US is still headed in the opposite direction.
Click here to read on!

UMass Law School approved by Trustees

The Standard Times reports in this article that the Southern New England School of Law will become a part of the UMass system.
Great news for our town and UMass Dartmouth, I think.

Congratulations to Chancellor MacCormack and the UMass community!
Click here to read on!

Governor backs UMass law school

The Fall River Herald News reports in this article that Governor Patrick has endorsed the merger of the Southern New England School of Law with the UMass system, UMass Dartmouth in particular.
The article by Grant Welker quotes Governor Patrick

“Our students deserve the same access to opportunity as those in 44 other states and should have the option of a high-quality and affordable public law school,” Patrick said, referring to what would be the state’s first public law school.

The momentum for a public law school ...

... in Dartmouth appears to be building. What do you think about having a public law school in our town and state?
Click here to read on!

UMass hosts noted language teacher

UMass Dartmouth will host a lecture on why learning a second language is important. The talk will be on November 16th.
The Staqndard Times article about the lecture can be found here

Contact Professor Mel Yoken, director of the Boivin Center at myoken@umassd.edu or favela@comcast.net, for more information, at (508)-991-5096.
Voyez-vous là! N'est pas?
Click here to read on!

Joint Committee on Revenue meeting report

The legislature's Joint Committee in Revenue was in Fall River on a listening tour last night. I attended the meeting at the UMass Dartmouth Advanced Technology Center along with about 25 others. Representative Rodrigues of Westport hosted the meeting. Representative Kaufman, Senator Downing, and Representative Barrows of the Joint Committee were there as well as Representative D'Amico.
The topic of the evening was property taxes but the Joint Committee allowed comments about any aspect of taxation.
Daphne Kenyon of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy gave a presentation and took questions on property tax in Massachusetts in comparison to other states. Her data showed that Massachusetts property taxes are above the national average as a percentage of income but were the lowest in New England. She pointed out that all New England states have, so called, property tax circuit breaker laws that allow reductions for those whose payments exceed a certain percentage of their total household income. Only Massachusetts limits this tax break to those over 65 years old. Ms. Kenyon noted that the system in other states was more equitable as the age of the taxpayer is not considered. The representatives in attendance estimated that the current Massachusetts property tax circuit breaker costs about $30 million and that opening it up to all property tax payers would cost an additional $30 million. Ms. Kenyon noted that only about half those who are eligible typically apply for the relief.
Senator Downing then gave a presentation on the major sources of revenue and the major expenditures of the state and on the goals for tax policy. The Committee called upon and listened to comments from everyone in attendance if they chose to speak.
A majority of those in attendance were from the Coalition for Social Justice and spoke in favor of returning the income tax to 5.9% in order to bolster state revenue. The arguments were that the income tax was the most equitable, somewhat more stable than sales, excise or capital gains taxes, and that the state was failing to meet the needs of the citizens. Another suggestion was to increase the personal exemption to shift the tax burden away from low wage earners. The consensus of the legislators was that about $1 billion could be raised by a return to 5.9% rate.
When I spoke to the committee, I asked the Committee to consider different tax rates for commercial and industrial properties within the tax classification system. Currently, different rates are allowed between residential and commercial properties but not between different types of commercial properties. For instance, Walmart and CV Variety pay the same commercial property tax rate. I asked if the law could be changed to accommodate different rates within the commercial category although I haven't come up with a mechanism for differentiating the categories.
I also advocated for state tax increases (I prefer the income tax) so that towns are not burdened with increased costs and/or decreased revenues passed down from the Commonwealth. For example, the Commonwealth has discontinued payment for Quinn bill incentives to police officers. The town is left to pick up the state share. The Commonwealth has cut ...

... Chapter 70 school aid and other local aid. The municipalities have no means to increase their revenues in order to meet the added financial burdens even while the Commonwealth mandates our spending for schools, veterans and other expenses. Some small relief was provided by the meals and hotel local option taxes this year, but the property tax levy remains the main source of municipal revenue. Proposition 2-1/2 limits the ability of towns to increase the property tax, so in many cases the only alternative for towns is to cut services.
Mr. Roland Hebert of Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District (SRPEDD) advocated for new fees for regional rail projects in the state, including the commuter rail line from Fall River and New Bedford to Boston. He proposed a greenhouse gas emission tax on motor vehicles to provide the necessary funds. Motor vehicles would be assessed a fee, based on their size and class, when they register with the RMV. The fee revenue could be used to build and maintain public transportation alternatives throughout the Commonwealth according to the information provided by Mr Hebert.
Mr. Yawu Miller of One Massachusetts added his voice to those calling for increased revenue via a return to the 5.9% rate and endorsed a higher personal exemption on the income tax.
Fall River city councilor and mayoral candidate, Ms. Cathy Ann Viveiros asked the legislators to provide tax incentives for market rate housing in urban areas. She noted that Fall River valuations are stagnant or falling and the city's valuations are among the lowest in the Commonwealth.
Click here to read on!

Spillane on the UMass law school

Jack Spillane of the Standard Times has a couple of posts on his blog about the proposed acquisition of Southern New England School of Law by UMass. You can find them here and here
State Treasurer Tim Cahill and the Boston dailies have come out against the merger.
I said in this post that I didn't know Senator Montigny's position ...

... on the matter. Turns out that he supports the law school coming into the UMass system.
Click here to read on!

UMass Dartmouth tries for a law school

The Standard Times reports here on a proposal to have Southern New England School of Law (SNESL) donate their facilities to UMass Dartmouth and become the first public law school in the Commonwealth.
This would be a real feather in the cap for Dartmouth and the UMass system. Call or write to your legislator and tell them we want this! I have talked to Mr. Quinn about it ...

... in the past and he supports it. I don't know what Senator Montigny thinks of the issue. Still it doesn't hurt to let him know that his constituents would like this law school in our town.
This merger was attempted in 2005 and failed due to opposition from private law schools and the former Governor.
Click here to read on!

UMass Dartmouth receives top ranking

According to this article in the Fall River Herald News, US News and World Report has ranked our own campus of UMass as tops in the region. The news article says,

The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth is the top public university in New England of those that offer mostly undergraduate and master’s-level degrees, according to the U.S. News & World Report

Having this fine university in our community is a much unappreciated asset. Congratulations to the administration, faculty and staff of the campus.
Click here to read on!

UMass Dartmouth has scholarships for laid off teachers

The Herald News printed this article about a scholarship program at Umass Dartmouth aimed at helping teachers whop have been laid off. The article has the details and contact information. Click here to read on!