Weekly Opinion Editorial

Feeding the Education Machine!
by Steve Fair

Governor Mary Fallin said last week she wants Oklahoma to produce 1,700 more college graduates a year. “We need a much higher number of college-educated graduates in our state,” Fallin said at an OSU town hall meeting. Currently Oklahoma produces about 27,000 college degrees a year.
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In “ Brain Gain 2010,” a 1999 strategy by the Oklahoma Regents for Higher Education, http://www.okhighered.org/studies-reports/brain-gain/braingainreport.pdf, the lofty goal of thirty eight percent of Oklahoma’s population was set by the Regents to have completed an Associate degree or higher by 2010. They failed to reach the goal- only about 20% of Oklahoma’s workforce has a college degree.
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The higher education lobby in Oklahoma has been very successful at feeding the education machine, but they have done little to improve the states per capita income. In fiscal year 2012, Oklahoma higher education will get 14.5% of the state budget.
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State Representative Corey Holland, (R-Marlow) wants higher education to be more accountable for the money they get from the taxpayers. Holland said in a June 2nd interview with The Duncan Banner http://duncanbanner.com/x775914909/Holland-hones-in-on-education-reform that he believes that higher education should be scruntized more. “I still think there are some areas that we really need to look at,” Holland said. “One of those is the spending that occurs in the higher education areas. “Essentially, all the other state agencies, when they incur cuts, they make cuts. They live in the reality of the economic climate. Colleges and universities, though, when they cut their budgets cut, they raise the prices for tuition. They pass it on to the students. There needs to be a lot more accountability on higher ed.”
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Of Oklahoma’s common education superintendents, more than two hundred make more than $100,000 annually. In contrast, Holland, a former teacher, said more than 2,000 higher education employees make more than $100,000 annually. “That’s just ridiculous,” Holland said. “It’s because there is not enough ability for the legislature to provide adequate oversight on their spending. If that doesn’t change, it’s going to continue to be a detriment of K-12 schools statewide.”
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Holland is correct that higher education has a funding mechanism that state agencies don’t have. Their consumer- the student- pays a large portion of the cost of their education. Colleges and universities just increase tuition to make up for the budget shortfall. They seldom lay off Profs or administration- they just take a price increase in tuition. At the town hall meeting in Stillwater, Fallin failed to mention that when the Oklahoma legislature cut higher eds budget this year (by 6%), OSU, OU and other state college students got a +4.8% tuition increase. An in-state OSU student is paying about $500 more this year, making the yearly tuition about $7,200.

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At the town hall meeting, Fallin agreed that asking State colleges and universities to produce more graduates would logically lead to a call for more higher education funding, but she did not commit to asking the legislature to increase higher eds budget, saying that savings should be squeezed out of ‘other areas.’
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Fallin also announced that Oklahoma would participate in the “Complete College America” http://www.completecollege.org/program, a program whose stated goal is, “to significantly increase the number of Americans with a college degree or credential of value and to close attainment gaps for traditionally underrepresented populations.” Funded by several foundations, including the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, correctly state that while Americans are starting college at a record level, the graduation rates are flat.
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Oklahoma colleges already have a ‘Reach Higher’ http://www.okhighered.org/reachhigher/ program that encourages older students to complete their college degree online. The Reach Higher courses are repetitive and not very practical and while the ‘Reach Higher’ marketing brochure touts completion of the program as a stepping-stone to a better life, more pay, and personal satisfaction, little or no placement services are offered to graduates of the program. Like many higher education programs, it’s all about the tuition money.
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Educating Oklahomans is a worthy lofty goal, but is only one part of the puzzle. If Oklahoma college graduates don’t have a place to work when they get out of school, then Oklahoma colleges and universities are nothing more than a taxpayer funded business enterprise producing a product for other states and their industries. The key is moving Oklahoma forward is creating a business environment that will attract business and industry for those completing their education.
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Fallin said the future of Oklahoma’s prosperity depends on education. The reality is Oklahoma’s prosperity- humanly speaking- is dependent upon our marketing our state’s geographic location, citizen work ethic, natural resources and lifestyle. Just feeding an Oklahoma higher education machine is not the answer to moving Oklahoma forward.