Tulsa Public Schools Spending

[TeeDub]

Can we quit comparing everything to 2008?   

In 2008 we were also pumping $150/barrel oil and paying over $4/gallon for gas.   Of course the revenues were at all time highs.

Compare it to say, 2006 or 2009...  It suddenly doesn't look so bad.

[swake]

Can we quit comparing everything to 2008?   

In 2008 we were also pumping $150/barrel oil and paying over $4/gallon for gas.   Of course the revenues were at all time highs.

Compare it to say, 2006 or 2009...  It suddenly doesn't look so bad.

Per pupil spending in 2008 was only $73 per student higher than 2006, a 1.8% increase over two years that didn't even cover inflation over the two years.

Try again.

[rebound]

Can we quit comparing everything to 2008?   

In 2008 we were also pumping $150/barrel oil and paying over $4/gallon for gas.   Of course the revenues were at all time highs.

Compare it to say, 2006 or 2009...  It suddenly doesn't look so bad.

Using CPI, the conversion factor from '09 to '18 is 1.17.  That makes 2009 equal to $2,962,091,964.   Which is still lower than the number shown for 2019.  (But, yes, not that far off.)   The problem is the decade(s) of  reduced spending, that have finally hit critical mass over the last year or so.  Also, the data seems to be being presented so as to say "hey, look at how great we are making 2019", as opposed to saying "we finally realized how bad we have been messing this up, and it's about time".  Failin' made her position clear with the teenager/car analogy.  She does not support bringing school funding back to historical levels, nor do a significant portion of the legislature.   I hope (but, honestly doubt) that voters remember all this come November and vote some folks out.

[joiei]

   I hope (but, honestly doubt) that voters remember all this come November and vote some folks out.

I am with you on this.  I plan on doing my best to remind them. 

[patric]

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said Oklahoma teachers who walked out of their classrooms to protest school funding cuts should "keep adult disagreements and disputes in a separate place."

Adjusted for inflation, Oklahoma spends nearly 30 percent less on schools than it did a decade ago. School buildings are crumbling in many parts of the state, textbooks are outdated and tattered, and about 20 percent of districts have moved to four-day school weeks. Oklahoma teacher salaries ranked 49th in the nation, according to a 2016 report by the National Education Association
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/education/wp/2018/04/09/betsy-devos-to-oklahoma-teachers-serve-the-students

[heironymouspasparagus]

Unions do hire people to hold those "shame on" signs and sit outside of places.  But not 1250 people

2 or 3.  And not likely by the NEA, either.   And there are all the rest in addition to the 1250 that are around the state locally right now.  Way more than 1250.

[heironymouspasparagus]

Can we quit comparing everything to 2008?   

In 2008 we were also pumping $150/barrel oil and paying over $4/gallon for gas.   Of course the revenues were at all time highs.

Compare it to say, 2006 or 2009...  It suddenly doesn't look so bad.

Pick a year.  Then reread the part about 50,000 more students.  It is that bad.  And worse.

Especially compared to states that do care about their kids.

[cannon_fodder]

Can we quit comparing everything to 2008?   

In 2008 we were also pumping $150/barrel oil and paying over $4/gallon for gas.   Of course the revenues were at all time highs.

Compare it to say, 2006 or 2009...  It suddenly doesn't look so bad.

1) I used the information the Governor used.

2) In 2008 we took a major step towards becoming a one party state and the revenue cutting push began in earnest.

3) 2008 is a 10 year period, a frequent guide for comparison.

4) If you run the numbers for those years, it doesn't change the argument.  It doesn't change the conclusion that a decade of cuts with an increasing number of students leaves us far behind. If by "doesn't look so bad" you mean it can change the data by a few percentage points, you are correct. Go run the numbers, I believe you will not be impressed. 
- - -

If you want to comment on the Governor's post, you may do so here:
https://www.facebook.com/GovernorMaryFallin/photos/a.780802695278925.1073741835.171988736160327/2391786840847161/?type=3

[patric]

Governor claims that children were raped, used drugs while teachers protested

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/education/wp/2018/04/14/kentucky-governor-claims-that-children-were-raped-used-drugs-while-teachers-protested

The fail doesnt end at Failin.

[Conan71]

Governor claims that children were raped, used drugs while teachers protested

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/education/wp/2018/04/14/kentucky-governor-claims-that-children-were-raped-used-drugs-while-teachers-protested

The fail doesnt end at Failin.

So teachers exist to prevent drug use and sex.  That's a new one on me.

[heironymouspasparagus]

So teachers exist to prevent drug use and sex.  That's a new one on me.

Nothing new...sounds like 1967...

[Conan71]

I figured this was as good a place as any to drop this link.  Former Senator Coburn and his group are seeking to get a repeal of the teacher funding package on the ballot in November and let the voters decide.  So if the voters decide to keep the hikes as they are, who is to say the legislature won't pull the same stunt they did when the criminal reform bill passed, basically saying voters were too stupid to realize what the bill did.

I think it's pretty apparent that state agencies have all taken cuts in recent years.  Basically, the theory is, other agencies could all sustain cuts which would fund the teacher pay raise.  Never mind the ask for additional classroom spending.

I felt the funding package was equitable:  A new tax on cigarettes, raising the GPT from 2% to 5% as it is artificially low in the first place, and fuel and diesel taxes when Oklahoma has consistently some of the cheapest fuel prices in the nation. 

http://www.tulsaworld.com/homepagelatest/group-files-petition-to-overturn-tax-increases-that-funded-teacher/article_5ca780d9-5a98-5d49-bbee-bc0199e5f490.html

[heironymouspasparagus]

I felt the funding package was equitable:  A new tax on cigarettes, raising the GPT from 2% to 5% as it is artificially low in the first place, and fuel and diesel taxes when Oklahoma has consistently some of the cheapest fuel prices in the nation. 

But your biggest problem with your feelings about this is that you actually have a brain, and you use it.  As compared to Coburn, and that group of slimeballs he associates himself with who are actually out to destroy public education.

[heironymouspasparagus]

I think we need a reminder.  So many are either willfully ignorant or morally bankrupt in their desire to intentionally hurt our children in this state.  As well as ALL the other public employees who have been so badly treated during the Failin' and Clown Show regime.


Public education does not exist for the benefit of students or the benefit of their parents. It exists for the benefit of the social order.

We have discovered as a species that it is useful to have an educated population. You do not need to be a student or have a child who is a student to benefit from public education. Every second of every day of your life, you benefit from public education.

So let me explain why I like to pay taxes for schools, even though I don't personally have a kid in school: It's because I don't like living in a country with a bunch of stupid people.

– John Green

[patric]

TPS notifies 84 district office employees whose positions will be recommended for elimination

Tulsa Public Schools spent the week notifying district office employees whose positions are being recommended for deletion as part of Superintendent Deborah Gist's extensive budget-reduction plan.

Administrators notified 84 affected employees this week, both through face-to-face meetings and certified mail, about the proposal to eliminate their jobs. Friday morning, Gist sent a district-wide email announcing that all notifications have been completed.

The potential reduction in force is part of the superintendent's Shaping Our Future plan, which requires slashing about $20 million from the 2020-21 budget. Gist proposed most of her budget-reduction recommendations at last week's school board meeting. They involve closing four schools and slightly increasing elementary class sizes.

On Tuesday, the board received a memo from Gist detailing her recommendation to eliminate and defund certain positions across all service areas considered part of the district office. The affected positions are assigned to the Education Service Center, the Enrollment Center, the Wilson Teaching and Learning Academy, the transportation office, the maintenance office and other offices within school buildings.

TPS officials say they can save approximately $6.1 million through personnel reductions, which include salaries and benefits, and $7.3 million through non-personnel reductions at the district office.

Affected staff members will continue their employment until June 30 if the board approves the recommendation, which also would create new positions to absorb the "critical functions of certain positions proposed for elimination or perform different work," Gist stated in her all-staff email.

https://www.tulsaworld.com/news/local/education/tps-notifies-district-office-employees-whose-positions-will-be-recommended/article_d55e239f-6952-52eb-848a-c5d4f9484d80.html

So this is the perfect time for the city to abandon its moratorium on installing more glare-prone, energy-wasting streetlights simply because someone believes the long debunked notion that streetlights eliminate crime.