The visualizations below provide some insight into Scott Brown's victory over Martha Coakley. I was curious to see where the biggest gaps were between Obama's solid victory in Massachusetts and Martha Coakley's big loss.
This map provides a quick overview of Obama's margin of victory in each city and town in Massachusetts. The darker blue circles indicate where Obama won and the red circles indicate where McCain won. The size of the circle represents of the number of total votes in an area.
This map can be explored more closely by highlighting one of the color gradations. This will isolate the cities within that range. If you hover your pointer over any of the circles you will get details on particular communities. You can look at a specific community by searching for it or selecting it in the drop-down box marked city and town.
From a post last week I presented the margin of victory by Scott Brown. He made huge strides in the 495 area and central Massachusetts.
This map shows the gap between the votes Martha Coakley received in each town in 2010 versus Barak Obama's vote totals in 2008. It is interesting to me that her strongest margins of victory correspond to where she also lost the most votes relative to 2008 democratic voting. Her advantage was based in the cities and the majority of these population centers did not turn out to vote in the same levels they did in 2008.
Here is a map showing the differnce in total votes cast in each town between 2008 and 2010
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
MCAS Trend Analysis
Being a parent, I am naturally curious about the standardized testing that is used. I try to keep it all in perspective, this is just one piece of evidence which indicates the quality of a school for my kis
In Massachusetts, our standardized test is the "MCAS". My kids go to a small Montessori charter school in Newburyport with only about 30 students in a grade. This makes the testing interesting on a number of levels.
The most obvious of these is how does the school's performance compare to results from sending districts? Another question is since there are so few students in a grade what is the best way to see where the school could improve?
Below is a quick overview comparing average MCAS results for each of the school districts in my area.
You can use the interactive visualization below to look at a grouping of districts you are intersted in. Use the magnifying glass or scroll bar to find the school districts you want to compare. Make sure to check the box on the target districts. You can deselect the districts that are currently selected to avoid crowding your view.
In Massachusetts, our standardized test is the "MCAS". My kids go to a small Montessori charter school in Newburyport with only about 30 students in a grade. This makes the testing interesting on a number of levels.
The most obvious of these is how does the school's performance compare to results from sending districts? Another question is since there are so few students in a grade what is the best way to see where the school could improve?
Below is a quick overview comparing average MCAS results for each of the school districts in my area.
You can use the interactive visualization below to look at a grouping of districts you are intersted in. Use the magnifying glass or scroll bar to find the school districts you want to compare. Make sure to check the box on the target districts. You can deselect the districts that are currently selected to avoid crowding your view.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Massachusetts Special Election Results
The red circles indicate Massachsuetts communities Scott Brown won and the blue circles indicate where Martha Coakley won. The intensity of color indicates the margin of victory and the size of the circle provides a sense of the total number of votes in a city or town. You can isolate towns at each range by selecting a value in the "% of victory" sidebar. If you then hover your mouse over any of the highligted circles you will some detailed results information for the town.
The map below indicates the turnout in particular communities. Dark green indicates a higher turnout and dark red the lowest turnout rates.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Amesbury Budget Trends
The tax rate in Amesbury is a source of constant debate and through all the bickering I find it very difficult to understand what the true facts are. I was curious how how much services cost and how they have grown relatively to other towns in Massachusetts.
I went to the Mass DOR databank pages and downloaded historical expenditure data for all cities and towns in Massachusetts to find out.
I went to the Mass DOR databank pages and downloaded historical expenditure data for all cities and towns in Massachusetts to find out.
Below is a Table for Amesbury expenditures from 2000 to 2008 showing the cost per person to run specific functions. (click on all tables and graphs to increase size for viewing). For example if you look at the 2008 column on the Fire row you will see that the budget for Fire in Amesbury was 186 dollars per person.
The Table Below indicates the % change each year from 2000 to 2008.
The Growth rate peeked in 2006 with the large debt service in that year.
This table looks at the difference in per person expenditures between
Amesbury and State averages.
I thought it made more sense to look at Amesbury in terms of peer communities. I took 2007 census data and picked the four closest towns in population, land size and average income. Those communities are Auburn, Hudson, Medway and Millbury.
Below is a graph showing the growth of Amesbury expenditures - (it excludes debt service education and total which throw of the scale in parts).
Observations and Questions:
Education is the most complicated local budget item for all towns because of state/federal mandates, dependency on reimbursements and seemingly inequitable Chapter 70 implementations.
Where is the growth in the education budget coming from? Is it like most communities where the majority of growth is coming from SPED and retiree health benefits?
Can Amesbury advocate for more equitable treatment with Chapter 70?
See Chapter 70 post below for some thoughts on this topic.
The 200+ dollars more per citizen that Pentucket receives in Chapter 70 would be a good start.
Can we over the long term look to peg our Police and Fire costs with comparable communities?
What does the revenue side look like?
Can we add more office and industrial to the town?
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