After a state audit found up to four of five seniors weren’t on track to graduate, those students often had to make up years of work in far less time. Students attended after-school programs, evening classes, and weekend classes to gain the necessary credits.

The hard work of those who succeeded did not go unnoticed.

In their honor, the Oklahoma Pork Council this week sponsored the “Douglass High School Senior Celebration!” at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum. Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb, local officials and Douglass alumni attended.

Oklahoma Pork Council official Roy Lee Lindsey declared, “We believe these young people are the future for our state, and we want to recognize the students’ efforts and dedication to their education.”

To that we say, “Well done” — to the council, and especially to Douglass graduates.

Shelton remains steadfast, making the case for school choice in situations where parents are uncomfortable with the idea of a child’s teacher having a gun.

Shelton argues, “It is my job, not a teacher’s, to introduce guns to my children. Parents should be empowered to take their children out of any school that allows guns in the classroom.” Fair enough.

But school choice supporters reasonably argue: Why stop there? Should parents be forced to keep their children in a failing school, based solely on geographic proximity, so long as teachers don’t have weapons?

Shelton’s argument isn’t unreasonable, but it can apply to situations well beyond the “guns in school” issue.

Dorman authored a similar measure in 2012 that easily passed the House (where only three lawmakers opposed it), but was then killed in the Senate on a 27-13 vote.

HB 2228 must still clear several more legislative hurdles, but this appears to be a good idea that is sadly necessary to protect children. Dorman is to be commended for continuing to work on this issue.

Presently 65,000 visas are given to high-tech companies that want to hire skilled workers from other parts of the world. Another 20,000 are available for foreign workers who earned an advanced degree from a U.S. university.

The Homeland Security Department began taking applications Monday for this year’s visas, and expected to outstrip supply in just a matter of days. The Associated Press noted that political support has grown in recent years to proposals that would increase the number of available visas, and they’re now a big part of immigration reform talks.

Here’s hoping the politicians get this one right — the more bright people we have working in America, the better.

President Obama mentioned the College Scorecard during his State of the Union speech on Tuesday, and rolled it out the next day. It lets prospective college students compare such things as graduation rates, average costs and employment prospects upon graduation.

The scorecard doesn’t provide a ranking for schools, only a broad idea of where they fall in various categories. For example, it says the University of Oklahoma’s net price is low to medium compared with peer schools. OSU’s net price is at the low end.

The system isn’t perfect but the idea has merit. The same is true of Oklahoma’s A-F grading system for public schools, which has been heavily criticized by the education establishment. Why no such howling over the president’s plan?

Monson criticized her opponent for being so successful that “she does not have to work” and thus “spends much of her time volunteering.” She let voters know that students in the district are predominantly non-white and low-income. Imagine a campaign in a suburban district waged on the basis of a candidate being non-white or making too little money to understand the students’ needs.

Monson also blasted her opponent for sending a child to a private school. Bill and Hillary Clinton did that. So do the Obamas. So what?

Monson was ousted by Lynne Hardin, a product of public schools who wants to see them brought closer to the standard of excellence they once enjoyed. Monson? As the Black Chronicle put it, she “neither has the ability nor the ideas required” to improve the district. Hardin narrowly won the election.

So it’s encouraging that citizens in two districts voted this week to improve student services by consolidating the Dustin and Graham districts. The plan doesn’t require either community to close its school. Instead, the Dustin site will house prekindergarten through fourth-grade students, and the Graham school will be home to fifth- through 12th-graders.

One of the major resulting changes is that each school will now have just one grade per classroom and per teacher, instead of two, and students will have more electives.

By looking ahead instead of clinging to nostalgia, voters in these districts have truly put students first.

In a “cold day in Hell” moment, the Oklahoma House Democratic caucus is enthusiastically backing Republican state schools Superintendent Janet Barresi. Barresi is seeking nearly $300 million more for public schools this year. Last year she sought a $157 million increase that the Legislature ultimately rejected.

Democrats have made Barresi’s latest budget request part of their 2013 agenda, although they don’t explicitly acknowledge it, choosing to call the item “the State Board of Education’s request.” That’s likely because Democrats have made opposing Barresi and education reform a major emphasis and don’t want their base to realize agreement exists.

Barresi has rightfully shifted education policy to focus on results — student and school performance — not just appropriations, but acknowledges the need for funding.

If most Democrats emulated Barresi by supporting not only additional spending but also school improvement, then Oklahoma students would be better off.

Anderson, who has spent 19 years in the education field, said she plans to focus on “increased accountability, assessment reform and financial stability for Oklahoma’s public schools.”

Her announcement also makes it clear she’s no fan of some of the changes Superintendent Janet Barresi has backed that have proven to be successful elsewhere.

“The methods currently being promoted have no research-based success,” Anderson said. “We do not need to model education after any other state. We need to be Oklahomans who do the hard work to find our path to success, not run frantically toward unproven methods because of a political agenda.”

With nearly two years to go before the election, this race figures to get interesting.

The district’s legal counsel, Tammy Carter, gave board members a “confidential memorandum” spelling out problems with the charter school applications. She later rejected The Oklahoman’s open records request to see the memo.Carter contends that because the memo was from her to the board, the documents are shielded by attorney-client privilege.

According to the law, that privilege applies only if documents deal with pending litigation where disclosure “will seriously impair the ability of the public officer or agency to process the claim or conduct a pending investigation, litigation or proceeding in the public interest.”

How does that apply in this case? It doesn’t. As Oklahoma State University professor and open records expert Joey Senat put it: “The school district’s playing games with the Open Records Act.”

It’s just the latest in a long line of cases where public bodies in Oklahoma have skirted, often intentionally, the state’s open records and open meetings laws. Shameful.

A news release by Garrison, D-Muskogee, said he had spoken to several superintendents in his district and they want a composite ACT score of just 14 to be allowed to replace EOI tests.

“Garrison said he agrees with the superintendents and will share their concerns when the bill is considered in committee,” the news release said.

He agrees? A 14 on the ACT won’t get students into any of the state’s four-year colleges, and is well below the statewide average of 20.7. Garrison should have thanked the superintendents for their input, and then dismissed it.

If he truly agrees they’re on to something, it gives an idea of what his ultimate goal really is.

Just ask officials at Oklahoma State University, who are hacked off that newspapers are wondering why the school didn’t notify Stillwater police after students reported they had been assaulted by another student. OSU says a federal privacy law prohibits the release of names or information about victims and witnesses in the case, and that university officials encouraged the alleged victims to contact police.

“The press has tried to indicate we tried to hide something,” said Gary Clark, OSU’s general counsel. “It’s not our place to try to force them to do something they don’t want to do in this regard.”

OSU could have given the identity of the suspect to police after wrapping up student conduct hearings involving the alleged perpetrator, but Clark said officials didn’t think that would have been useful. “What would the police be able to do with that information? Nothing, as far as I can tell,” he said.

Stillwater police Capt. Randy Dickerson said he wished his office had been contacted sooner because delays can hurt investigations. The first assault allegedly occurred Nov. 3. Police didn’t learn of it until last week — after being asked about it by a reporter with OSU’s student newspaper.

And now OSU President Burns Hargis has requested an inquiry into the handling of this case.

That danged media, always stirring up trouble.

For a while it looked as though no one would run for her District 1 seat, but on the final day of the filing period, three people signed up. In advance of that, Watson said she had approached several people about running, “and for many people it’s a time issue and a commitment, and I understand that.”

Indeed work on a school board is time consuming and offers the potential for plenty of headaches for little or no pay. But the job is vitally important. That’s especially true for the Oklahoma City board, which oversees a district full of challenges.

Worst of times: TU’s athletic director may not be at the game.

Ross Parmley was suspended Tuesday just hours after joining Tulsa Mayor Dewey Bartlett in a celebration of the football team’s success. The FBI said Parmley is an “admitted gambler” involved with an Oklahoma City bookie now under investigation.

Parmley has been AD for less than a year  —  much longer than the 74 days TU President Geoffrey Orsak served before getting fired in September for undisclosed reasons.

It’s been a rough year for TU’s administration, but the team deserves plaudits for its success on the field. At least one Oklahoma university has a shot at conference football championship this year.

The measures range from a sales tax hike in Arizona to income tax increases in California. At least those ballot measures are transparent about who will pay the price. Oklahoma’s SQ 744 provided no such details. The proposed massive infusion of money would have been the largest unfunded mandate in Oklahoma history.

Sadly, those pushing for higher education funding in Oklahoma — such as the group “49th is Not OK” — continue to duck that issue. They refuse to say what taxes they’d raise or what programs they’d cut to boost K-12 funding, which already gets 34 percent of all state appropriations.

There are pros and cons to the proposal, but one attack trotted out by opponents doesn’t hold water.

Melissa Abdo, a parent coordinator with the Tulsa Area Parent Legislative Action Committee, argues that school boards are elected by all local citizens and the trigger law would give outsized influence to just a handful.

In reality, turnout for school board elections is often abysmal. That’s not necessarily the fault of the schools, but a petition with 51 percent participation would dramatically exceed turnout for most school board elections and send a clear message from voters.

Fears, 67, was a classics professor at OU, where he spent 22 years including a stint as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. OU President David Boren said flatly: “Rufus Fears was one of the greatest teachers in the history of our state.”

Fears was a popular lecturer and writer, usually tying the lessons of the past to the politics of today. In an op-ed in The Oklahoman in January, he cited the Federalist Papers, the Magna Carta and even Pericles in explaining the power of the purse held by the U.S. House of Representatives.

He was a distinguished fellow at the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, a conservative think tank. “There are very few people who have done more for the cause of liberty or more to preserve the history of our great republic,” said Dr. David R. Brown, OCPA’s founding chairman.

Fears will be missed, on campus and off.