Council in the News
Massachusetts High Technology Council media coverage.
Ballot campaign to end MCAS graduation requirement gets underway
The Protect Our Kids’ Future: Vote No on 2 campaign began with a $250,000 ad roll-out, while the union reportedly has already spent $1 million during their mission to certify the ballot question.
Business-backed group against MCAS ballot question unveils costly ad campaign
The Protect Our Kids’ Future: Vote No on 2 campaign began with a $250,000 ad roll-out, while the union reportedly has already spent $1 million during their mission to certify the ballot question.
Parent, Teacher Featured In New MCAS Ads
Protect Our Kids’ Future, a coalition opposing Question 2, which aims to eliminate the use of the MCAS exam as a high school graduation requirement, rolls out new ads featuring a parent and a teacher that focus on standards and accountability.
So it begins: Business-backed group opposing MCAS ballot question rolling out $250,000 ad campaign
A group backed by business leaders and nonprofit money is rolling out an initial $250,000 advertising campaign urging Massachusetts residents to vote against a ballot proposal that would eliminate the MCAS exams as a high school graduation requirement, hinting at the pricey political fight ahead.
America’s 10 best states for getting a job in the AI boom rather than being replaced by it
As part of its 2024 America’s Top States for Business rankings, CNBC identifies the10 best states for getting a job in the artificial intelligence boom rather than being replaced by it.
Sadly, the MCAS ballot-question battle is on
The Boston Globe Editorial team weighs in on the MCAS ballot question, encouraging voters to “press Massachusetts Teachers Association members on their union’s effort to do away with the statewide test as a graduation requirement, since that would leave the state without any mode of assuring that a high school diploma means the same from school district to school district.”
Business, policy leaders say AI can help Mass. keep lead in biotech, healthcare
On June 4, 2024, the Massachusetts High Technology Council and Boston Consulting Group unveiled a new white paper with recommendations for applying AI to boost the state’s life sciences and healthcare industries.
Massachusetts official warns AI systems subject to consumer protection, anti-bias laws
Developers, suppliers, and users of artificial intelligence must comply with existing state consumer protection, anti-discrimination, and data privacy laws, says the Massachusetts attorney general.
Kim Carrigan & Joe Shortsleeve Speak with Doug Banks, Chris Anderson, Robert Mellion & Dexter Ang
Kim Carrigan & Joe Shortsleeve chat with Chris Anderson, President of the Massachusetts High Technology Council about the health of the business sector on the New England Business Report. Segment begins at 16:00.
MCAS ballot question pits Massachusetts Teachers Association against business community — again
Removing the MCAS standard as a diploma requirement, business leaders say, would harm one of the state’s biggest selling points: its strong public education system — considered crucial to attracting and retaining talent as well as preparing our future workforce.
Editorial: Making Massachusetts No. 1 should be top of mind | Boston Business Journal
At a talk before the Mass High Tech Council this week, Yvonne Hao continued her economic development plan roadshow, calling on Massachusetts business and policy leaders to remain “relentlessly paranoid about the progress of other states.”
Center Pitched To Focus On AI In Finance
Business and tech leaders working to solidify the commonwealth’s competitiveness broadly previewed a handful of ideas at a Mass High Tech Council MassVision2050 discussion with Economic Development Secretary Yvonne Hao.
Steve Pagliuca, others want to ‘turbocharge’ drug discovery with new Cambridge institute
In 2020 Pagliuca partnered with the Massachusetts High Technology Council, healthcare leader and business executives to create return-to-work guidelines. “We had a four-part recommendation, and one of them was to really turbocharge, to speed up therapeutics, vaccines.”
Healey, Not Baker, Gets To Sign Tax Relief Law
The nearly two-year affair that spanned a pair of governorships came to a close Wednesday with Healey’s approval of the tax ‘relief’ bill. The Massachusetts High Technology Council gave it a mixed review, arguing that it will “only marginally change how Massachusetts compares with other states.”
THRIVE Act: What’s in the bill that impacts MCAS for students & schools
New legislation is trying to end the MCAS graduation requirement and change the state’s school takeover system, but not everyone is on board. Currently, Massachusetts students have to pass the MCAS in order to graduate.
Tech trade group ‘evaluating’ legal challenge to Legislature’s tax cap law reforms
The Mass High Tech Council argued the change to the distribution formula of Chapter 62F is unconstitutional. The voter-approved law has only been triggered twice, 1987 and 2022, and refunds were distributed based on personal income tax from the preceding tax year.
Mass. tax relief package has a little something for everyone (to hate)
Businesses see only marginal improvement to the state’s competitive standing. Equity advocates say the legislation doesn’t go far enough.
Massachusetts lawmakers unveil $1 billion tax relief deal, with vote this week
Massachusetts lawmakers will begin voting Wednesday on a $1 billion tax package that would boost tax breaks for families, seniors, and others while slashing state taxes on profits from short-term investments, a change that had divided Democrats.
Mass. business groups push feds to speed up work permits for migrants
Many of the state’s business groups urged the Biden administration Monday to allot more federal funding to address the migrant crisis and to speed up work authorizations for migrants.
Ballot question season already at a boil
A coalition of business and education groups, who objected to the MTA-backed ballot initiative to remove the MCAS requirement for high school graduation’s certification in August, said its members are “prepared to fight this measure.”
MCAS Critics Ready To “Sprint” Toward 2024 Ballot
Attorney General Andrea Campbell ruled Wednesday that two proposed ballot questions related to the role of the MCAS exam are legally sound, keeping open the possibility that Bay State voters could decide next fall whether passing the standardized test should remain a requirement to graduate high school here.