Stan Geiger

The State's University?

One of the many things that annoy me about state-funded higher education these days is the advertising. I turn on the evening news, and what do I see? I see an ad for OSU, or OU, or NSU, or TCC, or whatever.

OSU, like all of higher education, claims year after year that it doesn't have enough money. It lays claim to a need for more tax dollars, higher tuition, more money from football tickets, and anything else it can dream up. But the school always seems to have enough money for frivolous media advertising.

Do you reckon there is anyone in the state that is unaware of that fact that Oklahoma State University exists? I'd wager you'd have a hard time finding anyone in the nation that doesn't know there is an Oklahoma State University. So, why the need for advertising?

There is no need. It's just the political-educational complex at work. OSU, for example, takes some of your money and gives it to KOTV. That greatly lessens the possibility of any investigative reporting of, say, the exorbitant pay and benefits the school gives employees coming out of KOTV. That is to say, selected employees. You know, the "deserving."

I mean, hey, what private enterprise wants to bite the hand that feeds it?

That stuff aside, I caught an OSU ad last night. It's an ad I've seen many times. The ad calls OSU "the state's university."

I have a question: If OSU is "the state's university," why is it that a handful of unelected boobs called regents get to decide how much it costs a citizen to attend?

Dr. Zero: Education Lottery Winner

Dr. Michael Zolkoski, or Dr. Zee, or Dr. Zero, if you prefer, was recently ousted from his position as Superintendent of Tulsa Public Schools. His leaving was referred to as a "mutual agreement" between the doctor and the school board. In English, he was fired.

This marks, if I'm not mistaken, the fourth time in recent history that an Oklahoma school super has been sent packing. Well, the fourth instance I've heard of, at least.

I'm a little foggy on this one, but I seem to recall a report, about a year ago, of the Catoosa super getting fired because he couldn't seem to master the budgeting process. The district reportedly came up $600,000 short of being able to close out a fiscal year.

Oklahoma City super, John Q. Porter, was sent down the road because he was using the district as his own personal piggy bank, putting in reimbursement requests for everything from first-class airline tickets to cab rides to booze purchases.

Marble City super, Larry Couch, was canned for stealing. He reportedly embezzled a million dollars over 10 years. How he managed to get away with it for 10 years should be of primary interest to every taxpayer.

Now comes Zolkoski, apparently dismissed for plain old garden variety incompetence. Even the Tulsa World called for his head. Dude, a school super has to be pretty darn lame for that to happen. I mean the World badmouthing a public educator is like Rush Limbaugh badmouthing Ronald Reagan.

Zolkoski's demise seems to be tied to his failed experiment called the Tulsa Academic Center---which, it appears, was nothing more than a dumping ground for problem students.

Let's see, take all the bad attitudes in the district and cram them into the same building. Oh yeah, that should work.

The TAC, people should know, was never about kids; it was about money. I'm not solid on all the specifics, but I know state money for school districts is largely based on daily attendance. So, rather than simply sending the problem children home, you throw a sign on a building, call it a school, and stick those warm bodies in it. That way the district still gets paid.

TPS went all the way to Brownsville, Texas to find this guy. He was imported to Tulsa and given a 4-year contract worth over a million dollars. He held the job for 2 years before getting canned. Kind of leaves you scratching your head, don't it?

I noticed Zolkoski choked up while addressing the TV cameras. I don't blame him. Because of his contract, the district handed him a $400,000 check in exchange for his resignation. I've had nary a job that I wouldn't have been more than happy to leave if my boss had been willing to pay me $400,000 to do it. Hell, if I ever got that deal, I'd be downright ecstatic. I would run, not walk, to the door with tears of joy streaming down my cheeks.

Employment contracts for educators need to go, period. Most educators are overpaid for what they do in the first place, and that's bad enough. But to load up an armored car for them when they fail, well, that's beyond silliness.

Meanwhile, I fully expect to see news stories in the coming weeks in which TPS will complain of a lack of funding. Watch for it.

Good Deal or Scam?

Here's an interesting post from Green Country Values:

Tuition is probably going up this year at OSU…that’s not a surprise. What is interesting is that the university, according to it’s student-operated newspaper, is offering students the option to pay more now (15%) to lock in that rate for the next three years.

Is this more like futures trading, or gambling? You decide.

Judging from news reports, I don't think there is any "probably" about it. Relative to the end question put, I'd say there is a little of both involved. But there is a greater question to be asked: Is there a grand opportunity here for the university to screw people?

A recent KTUL report on the matter said the average full-time student would pay $6,200 for the coming academic year. Hence, a 15 percent premium is no small number. It comes to $930.

So, a student coughs up an extra grand for the university. Then what happens? Any number of things are possible.

If the university continues to follow the pattern of the past couple of decades, tuition might well go up every year for the next three. But then again...

Though largely to deaf ears, I have been screaming about the constant uptrend in tuition for years. But I think the educators may have finally pushed things far enough to get people's attention. The educators, in other words, might be looking ahead to public pressure putting an end to annual tuition hikes.

If a student paid the premium this year and tuition stayed flat for the next three, definite screw job. The university, meanwhile, would come out in good shape. It would get to keep the extra grand.

Then there is the dropout factor. I recall reading statistics from my days at OSU, back in the '70s. In rough numbers, there were 20,000 students in Stillwater. Of that number, about half were freshmen. Very clearly, there are a lot of students that bop off to universities for a year then leave and never go back. I recall a number of my high school classmates that accompanied me to Stillwater that did that very thing. My first roommate, in fact, left after one semester.

If freshmen jump on the 15 percent deal then decide college isn't the place for them and go home for good, definite screw job. The university, however, comes out in good shape. It gets to pocket the extra cash.

Then there is the fact that life happens. Many students ultimately get a bachelor's degree, but it takes a while. Things come up that interrupt the process. Such was the case with me.

I arrived in Stillwater in the fall of 1976. As noted, a number of my high school friends went as well. I was all excited and full of beans. Unfortunately, I also came down with a bad case of freshmanitis. In other words, I spent more time in bars and in the sack than I spent going to class and studying. Naturally, from an academic standpoint, my first year did not go well.

I went home for the summer. During that time, my high school love broke up with me. I was heartbroken, of course. I recall seeing Billy Graham on TV once, talking about his longtime wife and how wonderful life with her had been. But he spoke of having to leave his first love in order to follow what he felt was God's lead. He said it hurt. He said, "It may have been puppy love, but it was real to the puppy."

I guess most folks have been there at one time or another.

Anyway, when year two rolled around I wasn't in the best state of mind. I had lost my babe, and many of my old pals didn't return after year one. It wasn't the same. The beginning of year two brought with it no excitement. Returning to Stillwater in the fall of '77 was more of a task, something I did just because. My performance as a student improved a wee bit. Not much, mind you, just enough to keep me from getting kicked out. But my heart wasn't in it.

Beyond that, I reckon I was a little tired. For as long as I could remember I had sat in classrooms and taken tests. I was burned out. I needed a break.

Me sainted mum wasn't happy with me. She challenged me to make a decision. Did I want to go to college or not. If not, I was just wasting time and money. I figured she made a good point.

I didn't go back for year three. I stayed home, worked a job and took a class or two at the local junior college. In the event that I returned to Stillwater, I reasoned, the hours would transfer.

After about an 18-month layoff, and a lot of reflection, I decided quitting was a bad habit to get into. I had started and I wanted to finish. I still wasn't all that enthused, but I returned to OSU and stayed until I closed the deal.

The point here is, not everybody enrolls and makes a continuous 4-year run. I laid out my personal experience, but other things could happen. It is certainly easy to imagine a student running out of money these days and having to take some time off. Maybe mom or dad passes away while a youngster is in school, prompting a layoff.

And don't forget about transfers. A student might enroll at OSU initially but then decide he or she would rather go to TU, for example.

If a student signs up for the deal, and ups the extra grand, then takes some time off or transfers to another school, definite screw job. No problem for OSU, though.

Tuition futures? Gambling? Well, sort of. But I'd say it's just another educator scam. While I acknowledge an individual here and there might benefit, on balance it's a scam.

I advise people to avoid the offer, and instead bring pressure to bear on state government to put an end to the constant increase in the cost of higher education. A good start would be for you to tell your elected representatives you want the power to raise tuition and fees taken out of the hands of the unelected bureaucrats we call regents and put back in the hands of elected legislators.

It's OU's Turn

Oklahoma State announced its 10 percent tuition hike, so it is no surprise to hear that OU is set to announce the same.

From Okie Campaigns:

Tuition hikes of nearly 10% will be considered this week for students at the University of Oklahoma, Rogers State University in Claremore and Cameron University in Lawton.

OU regents govern all three schools and will begin their annual retreat in Ardmore tomorrow. They will consider business items from Rogers State and Cameron tomorrow, with OU business set for Wednesday.

Regents will consider raising rates for OU's tuition and mandatory fees by 9.9%. Rogers State students also could face a 9.9% hike, while Cameron officials have requested a 9.4% tuition and fee increase.

Other items on the agenda include potential raises for OU athletic director Joe Castiglione, football coach Bob Stoops, men's basketball coach Jeff Capel, women's basketball coach Sherri Coale, baseball coach Sunny Golloway and softball coach Patty Gasso.

OU President David Boren also is set to receive his annual performance review, during which he could be offered a raise.

Annual retreat in Ardmore. Gee, I wonder who pays for that.

That point aside, this report is telling of the abomination state-funded higher education has become. Students get hit with a huge tuition hike why? Well, so millionaires can have pay raises, of course.

I don't know what Golloway and Gasso make, but it's safe to assume they are both pulling down six figures.

Castiglione was recently given a raise, and makes well over $200k already.

Sherri Coale was recently given a healthy raise of a quarter of a million per year, which pushed her salary to $800k. As I recall, Boren lied to justify that raise. The University of Texas was courting the coach, trying to steal her away, he claimed. Texas issued an immediate comment in response that said the school hadn't so much as talked to Coale and had no interest at all in hiring her.

Jeff Capel, just months ago, was given a stout raise. He was given a new contract that pays him over $1 million per year and a $600k bonus payable after 6 years.

Bob Stoops was given a $50k raise last year, pushing his annual salary to a staggering $2.55 million per year. He also gets a $3 million bonus come December 31st.

Boren is reportedly making $364k per year. And that salary is magnified by the fact that he doesn't have to spend it. He gets a free house, a free car and a free everything else.

Big fat tuition hike for students that can't afford it; big fat raises for educators that don't need them. There's something terribly wrong with the picture, wouldn't you say?

OSU Rips Off Student Body---Again

I flicked by KTUL's newscast last night and caught a report that Oklahoma State University has upped its tuition again---by nearly 10 percent. Even though inflation has picked up a bit, OSU's single-year increase is double the current inflation rate.

The report said a full-time student will now pay about $6,200 per year in tuition. And that, of course, is just a small portion of the total cost involved.

Anchor Carole Lambert said OSU is raising its tuition for the "second consecutive year." Boy, I'd have to call that the media understatement of the decade. Why don't you go back about 25 years, Carole, and tell me how many of those years have been marked by OSU tuition increases.

OSU has committed a shameful act of unmitigated greed, and the university should be condemned by every Oklahoman---starting with the alleged "leaders." I mean not even a billionaire opening up his wallet to the university could prompt it to take a one-year break in its constant assault on students and parents.

Boone Pickens is paying to renovate OSU's football stadium, and has pledged to foot the bill for an entire "athletic village." He recently gave $100 million to the school for endowed chairs and professorships. That contribution, if you were unaware, commits the state to giving OSU another $100 million in matching funds. And, if I'm not mistaken, I heard a brief mention of yet another Pickens contribution, one of $9 million to the geology department.

OSU responds to its windfall by upping tuition on its already-debt-laden students.

Meanwhile, OSU just paid a failed basketball coach a couple of million just to quit. Then it hired a new coach, paying him $1.3 million a year, which is nearly twice as much as the school was paying the guy it just paid the couple of million to quit. The school also just hired a new president (I use the term loosely), at an annual salary of $350,000, which is $75,000 more than his predecessor was making.

I'll stop with just the state employees mentioned. And I will forgo any mention of perks, which are given to university employees by the truckload. Otherwise, we might be here all day.

I think it's time we took a look at the mission statement for state-funded higher education. Do we pour tons of tax money into these institutions for the benefit of the masses, so any Oklahoma with the desire to seek it can afford post-secondary education? Or do these institutions exist merely for the benefit the few at the expense of the many?

Evidence very clearly points to the latter.

Michelle Rhee: You Go, Girlfriend!

CBS Evening News, the other night, published a story on a young lady named Michelle Rhee. She's the boss of the Washington, D.C. public school system. And, according to the report, she's takin' care of some b'ness.

The report said Rhee, backed by the mayor, has closed 23 under-performing schools, fired 24 under-performing principals and offered buyout packages to 700 under-performing teachers.

It seems Rhee can't fire bad teachers. The teachers' unions, I'm sure, have seen to that. But it appears there are 700 D.C. teachers that are so pathetic Rhee is willing to pay them to quit and get the hell out. I'd call that a sad comment on the quality of a group of people that lay claim to being "professionals."

I did some Google searching, to see what I could see. I found a recent press release from a thing called the American Federation of Teachers. The release said teachers should get pay bumps of 30 percent, at a cost to taxpayers of $15 billion nationwide. The release said school teachers should be paid on a level with doctors and lawyers. I can think of nothing in the realm of public discourse more ridiculous than that argument.

I also found an article published by Reuters in May 2007. Citing Census Bureau data, the report said D.C. ranked third in the nation in 2005 in per-pupil spending, coming in at a staggering $12,979 per student.

The article went on to say D.C. "has among the highest spending in the country but its students have among the lowest scores on standardized tests..."

The report also noted the low-spending states. Utah came in dead last, spending a mere $5,257 per student.

I found that fact interesting. I flashed back to an editorial I once read in the Tulsa World, about 12 or 13 years ago. The editorial compared Utah to Oklahoma. Utah had more bachelor's degree holders and higher average wages than Oklahoma, the piece said. Naturally, the leap was made to more money for education equals more prosperity in general.

According to recent data, Utah spends less on common education than any state in the union. Nonetheless, it has an educated and prosperous populace. What do the Mormons know that has escaped the rest of the nation? They certainly seem to be able to get a little bang for the taxpayer buck. Maybe we should have picked Mitt Romney.

Meanwhile, D.C. spends a fortune on common education yet the quality of education there stinks on ice.

So much for the nonsense argument---put forth by educators and liberal allies---that more money for education equals better education.

As for teacher pay, I found a job-search website, called simplyhired.com, that says the average teacher pay figure in D.C. is $58,000 per year. That's just salary; benefits not included.

So much for the nonsense argument---put forth by educators and liberal allies---that higher teacher pay equals better education.

There is much talk, these days, about incentives for teachers. If the student works harder and does better, teacher makes more money. That's some more nonsense. People shouldn't make more money because somebody else works harder.

Beyond that, bonuses for teachers based on student performance provide an excellent incentive for cheating. I don't think we need that.

I like Rhee's incentive plan for educators. It goes like this: Do the job you are getting paid to do or you won't have a job.

You go, Michelle!

Marble City, Couch Back in the News

KOTV did another story on Larry Couch, former super of Marble City schools, last night. You remember Couch. He's the guy that stole nearly a million dollars from the school district he was running.

According to the report, Couch wasn't just stealing tax money, he was cheating on his taxes as well. The report noted a year in which Couch reportedly made $142,000 but showed an income of $24,000 on his returns. So he was getting paid, legitimately, with tax dollars, and he was stealing tax dollars on top of that, yet he was lying to avoid paying taxes. Beautiful.

More money for education? Well, hellzzzz yeah. I mean if we don't give education more tax money, the vaunted educators---those self-proclaimed most important people in your child's life---won't have anything to steal.

The report said Couch is facing up to 5 years in prison. But you know how it will go. He'll get sentenced to 5 years, then spend about 4 months in a wiener farm because we don't have cells to waste on douche bags like him.

Ironic, don't you think? We don't have cells enough to hold educator crooks because education eats all the tax money. Ya gotta get a chuckle out of that.

Restitution is part of the deal. But hey, you can't get blood out of a turnip. If Couch was smart enough to hide some of the money he stole, he does his brief time at the wiener farm, moves to Florida and lives happily ever after. And, by the way, probably still draws his educator pension for all those years of "public service."

Your tax dollars at work in public education.

Oklahomans Wising Up

According to recent poll numbers, there may be hope for this state yet. Nearly half of participants say they want lawmakers to pull their heads out of their behinds, stop giving the state away to educators and start to work fixing our ever-deteriorating infrastructure.

Courtesy of Mike McCarville:

The latest edition of The Sooner Survey reports Oklahomans want legislators to fix their roads and bridges before doing anything else, a shift in past public opinion that has favored pay raises for teachers as their first funding option.

Survey Director Pat McFerron writes, "Fully 46% of those surveyed say that speeding up funding for road and bridge repairs should be the top priority for the legislature, while 32% said giving teachers a $1,200 a year pay raise should take to top spot. Additionally, 9% wanted to build more prisons so criminals are not released early and 4% favored increasing investment in our state universities."

I can't believe 32 percent would still say giving school teachers pay raises is more important than fixing crumbling bridges that threaten to kill people. But then, there are so many school teachers on the payroll, and so many relatives of school teachers, it's probably a difficult task to do a random survey without getting a strong pay-the-teachers more number.

Meanwhile, support for more money for universities is virtually nonexistent. It seems people feel we've dedicated enough money to making millionaires out of university employees.

It's taken longer than it should have, but it appears Oklahomans are finally wising up.

World Endorses Tax Hike Who Woulda Thunk It?

The bonehead editors at the Tulsa World, in this morning's edition, called for a yes vote on the TCC tax. That news should shock no one. The World endorses every tax hike proposal, period.

I suppose it is a newspaper's prerogative to espouse the view that everybody should be in an 80 percent tax bracket, but it would be nice if they came up with something new every now and then. This morning's editorial was full of the same tired drivel that appears in every World tax hike endorsement.

The writer threw out the old 'cup-of-coffee argument.' The tax hike would only be a few bucks a month. Hey, it's just a cup of coffee! C'mon!

The problem is, the government around here seems to want people drinking coffee by the pot.

The writer denigrated anyone opposed, calling them "anti-tax, anti-growth, anti-prosperity and anti-community." And said folks opposed to higher taxes "don't care what they tear down, so long as they don't have to pay for the conveniences of living in a civilized society."

What a hoot! Why don't the World editors just call their readers "knuckle-dragging butt faces" and save some ink.

I would be interested to know how saying no to high taxes is tearing anything down. What Randi Miller and her crew did to Bell's, see, that's tearing something down. The Lorton's turning historic downtown buildings into parking lots, that's tearing things down.

The article closed with the standard line of poop about how prospering TCC prospers the county. In other words, more tax money for public education equals prosperity for you.

Well, Tulsa County has 4 TCC campuses and 4 public-subsidized university campuses. There is also the Tulsa Technology Center---which, by the way, just gave longtime tax-mongering World editor Ken Neal's wife a cherry job. Tulsa Tech has morphed into a junior college, and it has 4 campuses.

Just how much prospering of education do we have to do before the prosperity for everybody else kicks in?

TCC and Terrible Timing

I'm not sure I could think of a worse time for Tulsa Community College to seek more money from taxpayers.

Gasoline prices are at all-time highs, they are going higher every day, and they may hit prices people could only joke about a couple of years ago.

Food prices are high, going higher every day, and are predicted to continue to rise for several years to come.

I don't know what happened to it, but earlier in the legislative session certain lawmakers were pushing for a statewide vote on a property tax limitation bill. Legislators supporting the bill said the most consistent complaint they hear from constituents has to do with the constant rise in their property taxes.

And here comes TCC, amid all of that, asking Tulsa County voters to increase their property taxes.

I must say, I can't blame TCC for being cocky. For the past 20 years or so, educators have had no problem getting more money. Ask, and it shall be yours. That's been the gig.

At some point, reasonable people must draw a line in the sand. Tomorrow would be as good a time as any.