Of the many ideas for changes to state policy following May’s deadly tornado outbreak — changing building codes to make public structures safer, requiring shelters in new school buildings, providing money to upgrade schools without shelters — the one that has the best chance of actually happening is ‘tornado days.’ Local superintendents don’t need any [...]
State Question 766 passed in November 2012, and eliminated the tax on intangible property: business licenses, trade secrets, company logos, things with value beyond their physical traits. Before the election, the state Tax Commission estimated 766 would mean revenue losses of around $30 million for Oklahoma public schools. Five months later, a new estimate predicts [...]
A candidate’s position on public school funding will be an important consideration among Oklahomans voting for state legislators in November, according to a new SoonerPoll of 495 likely voters. From the Tulsa World‘s Randy Krehbiel: Almost two-thirds of Oklahomans say they are very concerned about the funding of their local public schools, and more than [...]
Faculty growth has outpaced student enrollment at Oklahoma’s public colleges and universities over the last 15 years, The Oklahoman reports. But faculty doesn’t necessarily mean tenured professors, and some of the observed growth could be an increase in adjunct faculty — untenured, temporary, cheaper instructors.
We’ve been examining the types of degrees granted most recently at state colleges and universities. When it comes to fields of study, doctorates appear the most diverse, data show.
State-funded colleges are awarding lots of degrees in business and medicine and certificates in family and consumer sciences. Oklahoma universities are training a lot of teachers, too.
In Oklahoma, most first professional degrees granted by state colleges and universities are in the medical field. This state trains a lot of pharmacists: 200 in 2008-2009, while medical doctors and future lawyers are just about tied for the No. 2 slot, the most recent data from the state Regents for Higher Education show.
Education has a major impact on employment, but the benefits aren’t limited to college diplomas. Certificate programs are short, specialized and affordable. And thanks to the recession, they’re more popular than ever. Oklahoma tech schools and community colleges awarded 586 certificates last year, state data show. Almost three-quarters of those certificates were in family, consumer [...]
Employment usually parallels education, and state education officials have made boosting college completion their No. 1 mission. Higher education officials want to add more than 20,000 degrees and certificates over the next 12 years. Moving forward, it’s important to know where Oklahoma currently is. Five fields of study account for about half of all four-year [...]
We kicked off our three-city roadshow on the state budget last night, and the Tulsa event couldn’t have gone better. The two lawmakers on our panel — state Sen. Tom Adelson, D-Tulsa, and Rep. Earl Sears, R-Bartlesville — talked about their priorities for the upcoming legislative session and highlighted the budget-related topics most likely to [...]
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