Our Children

[DolfanBob]

Ok. You guy's are way to serious on the State question 744 to get my sarcasm so I'll just start another thread.
Channel Six has their Oklahoma impact team. And they started to tell us where all this lottery money was or is going.
I got nothing out of their report. So I ask you, my all knowing TNF friends. Why do we need another vote or bill for "our Children" ? if the all powerful, all sinful, mighty lottery was supposed to answer all our Childrens needs.
Was it just another way of passing a bill by saying it's for the good of the Children ?
It just seems that this State voters will vote for anything if you throw any hint of Education for the Children in it.
I have Children and I cant for the life of me think of a Year when they were younger that I didnt have to supply extra materials for the less fortunate in the classroom. ie pencils, paper, tissues, markers etc. etc. etc. And I'm in the Broken Arrow District.
So please inlighten me to my ignorance. Where am I missing it ?

Also Mike. Luv ya big Man. When you run with the wolves, there is always going to be a stray nipping at the leader. I like your stand and glad you stick to it. Bravo !

[RecycleMichael]

45 % of the lottery funds go to Higher Ed.

http://www.lottery.ok.gov/beneficiary_vhtml.asp

When you buy a lottery ticket, much of the money goes to Redlands Community College, Murray State College and the Ardmore Higher Education Center.

[DolfanBob]

Oh Higher Education ay ?
I have always said. If you pay anything in life. At least pay attention.
Colleges huh ? Dont they collect tutions and by all accounts self supportive ?
There again my ignorance proceeds me.

[Conan71]

Does Oklahoma have a disproportionate amount of community colleges and public universities compared to other states in the region?  Again, this decentralization of services, while it helps as a matter of convenience and spreading jobs around sure is costly.

[swake]

Oh Higher Education ay ?
I have always said. If you pay anything in life. At least pay attention.
Colleges huh ? Dont they collect tutions and by all accounts self supportive ?
There again my ignorance proceeds me.

Not even remotely. Tuition supplies only a portion of the revenue needed to run a public university.

[sgrizzle]

Does Oklahoma have a disproportionate amount of community colleges and public universities compared to other states in the region?  Again, this decentralization of services, while it helps as a matter of convenience and spreading jobs around sure is costly.

No

[sgrizzle]

Oh Higher Education ay ?
I have always said. If you pay anything in life. At least pay attention.
Colleges huh ? Dont they collect tutions and by all accounts self supportive ?
There again my ignorance proceeds me.

TU is self supportive and the cost per semester and is a multiple of what OU, OSU, etc cost.

I am all for money for Higher Ed as Oklahoma actually sucks worse at Higher Ed than primary ed (which is almost unfathomable) Degree completion rates make the lottery seem winnable.

[RecycleMichael]

...Higher Ed as Oklahoma actually sucks worse at Higher Ed than primary ed

But we have such good football teams.

[RecycleMichael]

Here is an interesting link on state employees especially in Oklahoma Higher Ed...

http://opea.org/does-oklahoma-have-too-many-state-employees

Oklahoma is 16th in the nation in per capita state employees.  Oregon, with a population similar to Oklahoma has 59,619 state employees, compared to Oklahoma which has 69,916 state employees, or 10,000 more state employees than Oregon.  If you examine the data closely, you will find that Oklahoma has 29,111 full-time-equivalent employees (FTEs) in higher education and Oregon has 19,708 higher education FTEs.  (The source of this data is the latest available from the U.S. Bureau of Census 2007 state comparisons.)

Below is a comparison of the number of employees in higher education and other state government since, 1982. (The source of this data is the Office of State Finance, which has the most recent numbers on Oklahoma state employees.)

                       Higher Education                      All other functions of state government

1982                21,207                                                 34,179
1992                23,572                                                 39,325
2002                29,541                                                 36,074
2009                32.351                                                 37.187