STATE HOUSE — High costs for employee health insurance and special education have reduced the resources school districts can invest in other areas, including extended learning time, books, technology, arts, and counseling, according to a report released Monday by a commission charged with evaluating the state's school finance law.
The Foundation Budget Review Commission, established by legislation in 2014, called in its report for updates to how the state calculates the per pupil cost of delivering education in Massachusetts, saying that the current system's starting point — known as the foundation budget — underestimates the cost of educating students by at least $1 billion per year.
In this increasingly permissive age, we are told that drug abuse is a victimless crime. The Wikipedia entry for "victimless crime" includes "recreational drug use." In July, President Obama commuted the sentences of nearly four dozen men and women convicted of selling drugs (mainly crack or cocaine), downplaying their crimes as "non-violent drug offenses." Libertarian groups such as the Cato Institute and even some Republican candidates such as Senator Rand Paul say it is time to end the war on drugs.
The notion that drug abuse – much less drug dealing – is a "victimless" crime is sheer and utter nonsense. So is the description of drug dealing as a "non-violent" offense. The fact is that illegal drug use kills tens of thousands of Americans each year, including many who were not themselves drug users. This death toll does not even include the thousands of persons murdered each year in drug-related gang violence.
