Stan Geiger

You Go, Lady Boomers!

Back in 1971 it was! The OU Boomers collided with the Nebraska Cornhuskers on the gridiron in what was dubbed the "game of the century."

Last night, there was another "game of the century." This time, however, the battle took place between ladies in a gym. The second-ranked Boomer gymnasts engaged the top-ranked gymnastics team from Alabama. The Boomer ladies, by the slimmest of margins, prevailed.

I love lady gymnasts. They are cute as all get out, for starters. But they also do incredible things. Assuming I could do a back flip, for example, which I can't, I would be proud of myself if I could actually land on the floor. A little cutie can do one while landing on a 4-inch piece of wood. I find that amazing.

Major kudos to the lady Boomers!

Focus on Three Things

Educators won!! Taxpayers lost!! No surprise. That's usually the way it goes with school bond issues these days. They pass with 70 percent, 80 percent or even 90 percent yes votes.

Such was the case yesterday. All four TPS measures passed, by an average yes vote of 75 percent.

There are a couple of points to make concerning the numbers.

First, there is the low turnout. Only about 25,000 people showed up to cast a vote. In a city with a population of nearly 400,000 people, most of which is covered by TPS, only 25,000 showed up to vote.

School districts rely on low turnout. That's why they set school bond votes for days when there is nothing else on the ballot. About 6,000 staunch citizens showed up to vote no. Roughly 19,000 showed up to vote yes. I suspect almost all of the roughly 19,000 yes votes came from TPS employees and their family members.

Somebody wrote, two or three hundred years ago, that democracies fail when people realize they can vote themselves money from the tax coffers.

Relative to education, I'd say we're about there.

Second, there were about a thousand votes less cast on the third and fourth propositions than there were on the first two. That tends to indicate about a thousand voters didn't have sense enough to turn the ballot over. That's a sad comment on the state of our society.

Whatever, the measures passed. TPS gets a whopping $354 million to spend. The rug-wearing dick of a superintendent is gleeful. Good for him.

I recall reading about the super of the day, back in the '90s, getting a fat bonus because of the passage of a bond issue. Do you reckon the current super is having an orgasm because he gets a bonus due to the passage of this bond issue?

Maybe somebody in the bona fide media should ask.

I request that you pay attention over the next few years. Supposedly, this bond issue, set to expire in 2016, constitutes the last leg in a 20-year plan to make TPS all shiny and new. Fine. Pay attention.

Pay attention to performance. I mean after several hundred million dollars in borrowed money has been pumped into TPS, performance should be enhanced. I'd say dropout rates would be a good thing to watch. Currently, they say a fourth to a fifth of students entering high school don't graduate. Let's see if all the "shiny and new" changes that.

Pay attention to your tax bills. The educators claimed pumping $354 million into a school district wouldn't affect your taxes. Validate that claim.

Pay attention to the end. As I said, this bond issue is supposed to be the end of a 20-year run. Let's see if that comes to pass. Let's see if the school district quits now that all its dreams have come true.

Pay attention.

School Bond Money and Salaries

I've heard it issued almost like a disclaimer in news reports about TPS' enormous proposed bond issue: Bond money can't be used for salaries. Well, that's not quite true.

In my previous piece, I wrote of the big lie about how people can vote $354 million to a school district without incurring a tax increase. Your property tax goes up every year. The more junk you have loaded on that bill the more the annual increases will be. Of course this bond issue will cost you money if it passes.

But even accepting the claim as true, there is still no good reason to vote yes. I mean I can come up with a plan. I can argue the government should borrow $5 million and give it to me. It would be good for the economy because I would get rich, and could go out on a spending spree. And my plan could certainly be implemented without raising your taxes.

Would you vote for that?

If not, you shouldn't vote $354 million in bond money for TPS just because the educators claim it can be done without raising your taxes. That's not a good enough justification.

On the matter of bond money not paying salaries, it can be done and is being done---indirectly.

Reports say $260 million is to go to capital projects, renovations, classroom construction and, of course, athletic facilities. I think this part of the bond proposal definitely overreaches. That point aside, it is at least valid to pay for capital projects with borrowed money.

The rest of the money, some $90 million, goes to other stuff. The other stuff, like computers and software, buses, technological gadgets for teachers, television sets and textbooks, come under the heading of supplies and equipment. They should be purchased using annual operating money.

If tens of millions of dollar's worth of expenditures can be moved out of operational spending and financed with debt instead, tens of millions of dollars in operational funds are freed up for salaries.

It's a shell game, folks. The educators are just moving the pea.

Vote No

Tomorrow, a vote will be held. Tulsa Public Schools is going for a state record $354 million in borrowed money. Vote no across-the-board.

I cannot imagine, in my wildest dreams, that TPS has 354 million dollar’s worth of dire needs. I guess that’s as good a spot as any to start. The world is falling apart around us. We should not borrow money for schools just because. And it seems that is what is being marketed here. The district is going for the money just because it thinks it can get it.

I’ve been amazed at the TV ads. They promote no specific needs. They show people shooting lip, they might show video of cute little kids, but they cite no specific needs. The biggest selling point seems to be that of a yes vote not raising your taxes. Well, hell, that’s a good reason to hand a school district $354 million.

The ads fail to mention a no vote will reduce your property tax burden. The ads fail to mention a redirection of this public money might lengthen your lifespan, not to mention the lifespan of your child. I mean what’s more important, a renovated library at your child’s school or a bridge your child can pass over or under without dying?

Putting that stuff aside, the argument that a yes vote won’t raise your taxes is a lie. Maintaining the status quo relative to tax rates, do you expect your property tax liability to be the same in five years that it is today? If so, you haven’t been paying attention.

I recall a TPS bond issue from, oh, fifteen years ago, give or take. It was a big deal. I guess it was a big deal because it was the first time a TPS bond issue moved into the 9-figure range. The district was asking for $100 million. The superintendent humped it; Mayor Susan Savage humped it; various civic leaders humped it; the Tulsa World, of course, humped it. The measure passed, and there was a great celebration.

The measure on the ballot tomorrow is 3.5 times---or 250 percent---larger than the one passed some 15 years ago. School bond issues get bigger all the time. If approving them doesn’t raise your taxes, from where does the money come?

If you need more, I’ll give you more. Let’s look at some recent local reports that have come out of public education.

Oklahoma City Public Schools hired a new super not too long ago. He lasted, maybe, a year. He was using the district like it was his own personal piggy bank. He was putting in reimbursement requisitions for every dollar he spent---up to and including his booze purchases. It’s pretty easy to get rich when you’re getting overpaid for your job and then you don’t have to pay for anything.

Sequoyah Public Schools had a superintendent that was convicted for embezzling a million bucks over a 10-year span of time.

The big story now is Skiatook Public Schools. Current reports say that district squandered half a million bucks on janitorial supplies.

The official word from the district is standard. “Mistakes were made,” they say. Nobody noticed. That’s a lame excuse. But it’s good enough to roll some heads. I mean if Skiatook schools employs people that are too stupid to notice $529 is too much to pay for 3 mop heads, then the district employs people that are too stupid to hold jobs.

What any person with any sense knows is there were no “mistakes.” It was a deal-deal. The people in charge of the money were getting kicks.

The state auditor says there are currently half a dozen school districts under the microscope for various reasons. Oklahoma has over 500 public school districts. If the auditor’s office had greater resources, I figure they would all be under investigation.

If there is money to steal, schools are overfunded. Don’t give TPS $354 million just because.

Education and the Constitution

Educators need to be slapped down and put in their places.

Just the other day I wrote of a school district that put remote-controlled cameras in the bedrooms of teenagers. If educators haven't yet been informed, I'll tell them now: kiddie porn is illegal.

Now comes another story, this one from Illinois. A young man was handed a 5-day suspension because he posted a negative comment about a teacher on his Facebook page. The young man posted his comment on his own time, in his own home, using his own computer.

There is a reason the First Amendment is the first amendment. When a citizen has no right to criticize his or her government with impunity, that citizen has no rights at all.

Public schools are public enterprises. If we lose the right to criticize them, we lose everything.

Lottery Impact

KOTV's Oklahoma Impact series continued last night with a story on the lottery. It was a nice piece. The News on 6 continues to be my local station of choice---from 5 o'clock through the end of the evening, at least.

The story focused on that omnipresent ad featuring the cute little kids shouting out about what lottery proceeds "could" buy---things like 1,500 school buses and 75,000 computers.

Maybe lottery proceeds to this point could have purchased those things, but they haven't. Schools don't buy such things with lottery proceeds. In fact, schools don't buy such things with operating budget money at all; they float debt to buy such things these days.

The overall impact of lottery money is overstated in the ad. The figure thrown out is $300 million. But, as a fellow interviewed noted, that figure is from inception. The average annual amount going to education is about $67 million. Common education---of which the little kids in the ad are a part---gets 45 percent of that, or about $30 million per year. There are over 500 public school districts in the state, so it averages out to about $60,000 per school district per year. The money is apportioned, so the bigger, more affluent, school districts get the lion's share. Smaller school districts that might actually need the funding get something on the order of spit in a bucket.

One of the key stats mentioned in the report should be well-noted by everyone. The report said 85 percent of lottery money that actually makes it into school districts is absorbed by payroll. The ad speaks of computers, buses, desks, microscopes and books. But, in reality, lottery proceeds go home with the educators.

If you really believe your child's school is in need of more of your money, I have a suggestion for you.

Running the numbers, 35 percent of the lottery's gross goes to "education." The rest goes to administrative costs, prizes and advertising. Of the 35 percent, common schools get 45 percent. So if you drop a dollar on a lottery ticket, common schools get 16 cents.

If you want your kid's school to have the money, instead of buying a dollar lottery ticket just go down there and hand over 16 cents. It's a whole lot cheaper that way.

I would be remiss if I closed out this writing without mentioning the negative macroeconomic impact of having a lottery in the state.

As we all know, the state's economy is not in the best of shape. Unemployment is up. Consumer spending is down. The state government, as a result, is facing a billion dollar shortfall. Without a doubt, we would be in better shape if the lottery didn't exist.

A lottery is a nonproductive entity that sucks money out of the economy. In other words, money that could be going to productive commerce is going into our state-owned gambling operation instead. That feeds unemployment and dampens consumer spending. In turn, those things cause a drop in state revenue.

Installing a lottery was one of the dumbest moves this state has ever made. We should move to do away with it.

Obama's Yawner

I tried to watch the Obama Show the other night. Seriously, I tried. But I'm afraid I dosed off before the end came. Maybe I've sat through too many platitude fests. They offer nothing to me anymore.

The media, and much of the public, seem to hold Obama up as some kind of intellectual giant and great speech maker. I find him neither. I find him boring.

Obama has this thing he does that really annoys me. He makes a statement then stands with his nose in the air as he receives his applause. That's body language. That's body language that says this: I'm better than you. I'm the great one, with wisdom unfathomable to the mere mortal. Do as I say without question.

I hate that.

Part of the show, of course, had to do with the two clapping monkeys seated behind the prez. I found them somewhat annoying as well. They smiled, applauded, got up and sat down, all the while, no doubt, thinking only of the taxpayer-provided after-party, complete with French champagne and caviar.

Obama made one comment, before my nap, that caught my attention. He said it was time for colleges and universities to "get serious" about making higher education more affordable. That brief statement---though 20 years overdue---was appreciated.

The problem is, the president is calling for the hogs to withdraw from the feeding trough voluntarily. And that ain't gonna happen.

Professors, administrators and coaches aren't going to give up fat salaries and lavish benefits just because somebody shoots some lip; they aren't going to give up the good life just to bring tuition into line with reason. They will have to be forced.

No First Outcry

There has been considerable public outcry over Tulsa Public School’s issuance of pay raises to a select group of “executives” in the midst of an alleged financial crisis. That’s a good thing. But I am disappointed by the lack of public outcry over the first round of reported pay raises in the midst of the same alleged financial crisis.

In the recent case, TPS passed out raises of as much as 30 percent, as much as several thousand dollars per year, to a handful of chair jockeys. The super says the raises aren’t really raises. The raises are really pay bumps created by promotions. He claims the people on the receiving end of the money have been asked to do more, ergo, more money is justifiable.

So, according to the super, you can change a guy’s job title from ‘dude that orders toilet paper’ to ‘director of toilet paper requisitions’ and that guy gets a six grand raise. And/or you can point to a guy in the organization that has been told to do more ass scratching in the course of his “work day” and give him another six grand per year. That’s all perfectly reasonable---even in the face of some losing their jobs completely.

What TPS just did is symptomatic of a larger problem in this country. It runs coast to coast and border to border. It runs through both public and private entities. The special few, the deserving, get the goldmine; everybody else gets the shaft.

But, putting the special few aside, a round of pay raises was reported by KTUL a few days back. Sandwiched in between reports of crisis at TPS came the news of raises for teachers of $400 to $500 per year. And the raises, it appears, ran beyond the classroom teacher and into the ranks of the lower-level administrators, since KTUL reported the raises would cost the district $2.2 million per year.

No public outcry.

Either the district is in a bind or it isn’t. If it is, nobody should be getting a raise. Nobody. But TPS, even while claiming poverty, has passed out raises like Santa throwing candy at kids during a Christmas parade.

As long as I’m on the subject, why is it I’m only hearing about TPS’ financial problems? I mean other school districts are facing the same reductions in state funding, right? If I’m not mistaken, there are 15 public school districts in Tulsa County. I only see reports about the financial struggles at TPS. Why do I not see the same reports about Union, Jenks, Bixby, Broken Arrow, Owasso or Sand Springs?

TPS’ last super made it through two years of a four-year contract before being tossed. Maybe it’s time to consider another early change.

I say that knowing full well it would cost a bundle to bounce him. I mean the current turd-in-charge’s predecessor was given $400,000 on the way out the door. But it might be worth the buyout in the long term.

We should fire the current super. We should replace him with an at-will employee. I see no reason why school superintendents should have contract protection. If you take the job, you do the job. Otherwise, you get fired---without being able to pull the ripcord on a golden parachute.

They've Become Red

I had a job, oh, 20 years or so back. One of my fellow workers was, well, a rather practiced moocher. I don’t recall his actual name. He had a carrot top, so everybody just called him Red.

Red, they told me, was homeless before an acquaintance employed by the company got him a job. He was living on packets of wieners, beer and pool tables. He was a pretty fair pool shooter.

There was a little hole-in-the-wall beer joint on North Sheridan at which a few of the crew would gather after work. We’d sit down at a table and somebody would order a round. Then the next guy would buy a round, then the next guy and so forth. Everybody would take a turn. Everybody, that is, but Red.

Red would enter the bar with the crew. But after getting his first beer he would wander off to the pool table. He would do his own thing---until somebody in our crew hollered at the bartender for another round. Then, all of the sudden, Red would be standing around the table.

Like I say, he was practiced.

One day Red came to me with a plea for twenty bucks. He said he would pay me back come payday. I obliged. When payday rolled around, as promised, Red paid me back the twenty. A couple of days later, however, he reappeared at the loan window. I obliged again. He paid me back again.

This process became a ritual that lasted for several pay periods until I finally cut him off. Red never failed to pay me back. But what I realized was Red always had twenty bucks of my money. I didn’t have it; he had it.

So it goes with school districts these days. They come out with lists of needs. Bond issues are passed to pay for the needs. Taxes are collected for years to pay off the debts---plus interest. And just about the time old debts are set to be retired, school districts come up with new lists of needs. New bond proposals are put forth.

Hence, the debt never goes away. It’s always there. It’s a Red scenario.

School districts always argue the new debt won’t increase taxes. That’s not quite true. It can’t be true. If it were, the new bond issues wouldn’t be bigger than the old bond issues. Because old debt is retired as new debt is issued, the millage might not increase. But taxes paid increase. Inflation sees to that. The more valuable the property the more money the mills produce.

It is time to put an end to this game.

Is it Time to Start Saying No?

The national debt is over $12 trillion at present. About half of that, if I have it right, is so-called “intra-government debt”---or Uncle Sam’s IOUs it has issued over the years in exchange for politicians spending surplus funds collected by Social Security and Medicare. The federal government is expected to borrow another $1.5 trillion during this fiscal year.

Those are terrible numbers, to be sure. But one can’t stop with the federal government when examining the total public debt in this country. States borrow money. Counties borrow money. Cities borrow money. Authorities, such as the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority, borrow money. Public colleges and universities borrow money. And public school districts borrow money. Public school districts borrow a lot of money.

Earlier this week, voters in Broken Arrow approved a state record $295 million school bond issue. The record most likely won’t stand long. Tulsa Public Schools is going for $354 million in the spring.

Broken Arrow’s bond issue passed with a 70 percent yes vote. I wonder when people will wise up and start saying no. I wonder how much outstanding debt in this nation is attributed to public school districts.

If you take the $295 million Broken Arrow just passed and add the TPS bond issue of $354 million---assuming it passes---you come up with a total of nearly $650 million in debt for but 2 school districts in a state that has over 500. Try to imagine the number if taken nationwide.

Broken Arrow schools, apparently, have some valid needs. Students are attending class in outbuildings that have been in place for many years. So borrowing a few bucks to construct some classroom space with a long life seems reasonable enough. Of course, one can question why addressing such a valid need has been pushed back for so many years while bond money has gone to other things. I mean why wasn’t the need for more classroom space addressed by the last bond issue?

Well, one might suppose a school district has to keep some kind of physically-visible reason for going into debt in place at all times. Otherwise, voters might get the notion that the debt issue is more about funding wants than funding needs.

I read a report that said $11 million in Broken Arrow bond money will go to the construction of an indoor athletics practice facility at the high school. The district’s website put the number closer to $3 million. Pick the one you like best. Either way, I’d call an indoor practice facility for high school athletes a want, not a need.

The high school I attended, back in the mid ‘70s, had a basketball court and a swimming pool in its basement. Beyond those, there were no practice facilities. The football team practiced at Lee Elementary---outdoors in the elements. The baseball team practiced at Newblock Park---outdoors in the elements, in February. The cross country team, I guess, just on put jocks and shorts and ran the city streets.

Nowadays we need to borrow millions to build indoor, on-campus, practice facilities so the little darlings can practice without getting wet or dirty, in an air-conditioned or heated environment? Puhhhlease.

Ten million dollars of the bond money is slated to go to the purchase of school buses. A large chunk is slated to be spent under the vague heading of “technology.” I think I read this bond issue is to be paid off over a 9-year span of time. How long does a school bus last? How long does “technology” last these days? I mean, geez, it seems a guy can go out and purchase something that is cutting edge only to find a newer, better, yet nonetheless cheaper, product on the market in 6 months. Should we borrow long-term, plus administrative costs relative to issuing the debt and years-long interest, to buy things that have short life spans?

Educators have, skillfully and quietly, moved things that should be paid for with operational funds into the capital improvements category. That has freed up operational money so it can go to pay, bonuses, free vacation trips, pensions and other benefits for employees.

Our Tulsa city “leaders” have done much the same. Money from the added-penny capital-improvements tax has been diverted to other things. That’s why our streets went to crap, and our streets going to crap led to a brand new half-a-billion-dollar tax increase.

I have a problem with school district bond issues in general. It seems there is no oversight relative to how the money is spent outside the district itself. In the Broken Arrow case, $295 million has just been piled on a table. How many folks out there, do ya think, would be willing to throw a little bribe money around to get a piece of that pie?

The most recent figures I could find say Broken Arrow Public Schools has 22 schools housing a student population of a little over 16,000. So BAPS just borrowed over $13 million per school in the district, and over $18,000 per student enrolled in the district.

At what point do we start saying no?