Articles

If you’re white you shouldn’t sing a Rihanna song. That’s what a white student in a human relations theory class at the University of Oklahoma was told during a recent lesson on “privilege” and “microaggressions.”

A recent SoonerPoll survey asked three interesting questions about higher education in Oklahoma. The Chancellor of Higher Ed makes more than $411,000 a year. Is this too much? Eighty percent said it was. Could our public colleges and universities be run more efficiently? Eighty-two percent said they either strongly or somewhat agree they could. Should professors be paid by how much they teach, or how many hours they dedicate to non-teaching activities? Seventy-nine percent said teachers should earn their pay by teaching.

According to a new SoonerPoll survey, Oklahomans believe there is room for greater efficiency in the state’s higher education system. Consider the following questions and responses.

The vast majority of Oklahomans agree that teachers have earned a significant pay raise. But hiking taxes to fund raises is a risky and damaging proposition. Fortunately, my colleagues have identified hundreds of millions of dollars in annual savings in state spending that would fund those raises, with no tax increase at all.

Oklahoma’s higher education system employs far too many non-instructional workers relative to the national average. This bloated workforce drives up the cost of higher education, and a significant share of these costs falls on the shoulders of Oklahoma’s taxpayers.

By eliminating some of this unnecessary spending, Oklahoma could pay teachers what they deserve without raising taxes or jeopardizing funding for roads, bridges, public safety, or the social safety net. That’s a better path – one Oklahoma lawmakers should take in the upcoming 2016 legislative session.

Students across Oklahoma have returned to college campuses, and many are feeling the pinch from higher tuition costs. Higher education officials often blame tuition hikes on reduced state appropriations, but could there be other factors in play?

One of the great ironies of the school choice debate is that the United States has long been a world leader in school vouchers—for higher education. In fact, soaring tuition costs and outrageous bloat in higher education are not so much a result of government monopoly as they are a result of flaws in our collegiate school choice programs.

As Oklahoma legislators completed their budget deliberations this year, we heard the usual chorus from critics complaining that education was being shortchanged. Much criticism came from those in higher education, who perpetually demand more tax dollars and tuition increases.