Demand funding for public schools
Subject: “To improve Texas schools, the state must help – Our public schools need support from all of us, too, writes former Texas House speaker,” by Joe Straus, Monday Opinion.
Missing from Straus’ column on the need for more funding for public schools is a key action plan for all public school advocates in Texas. That action step is for all of us to contact our legislators right now via email, phone, and text (if you have their cell phone numbers) and ask them to more heavily fund our public schools in January when they return to Austin.
And if you oppose a voucher program that takes even more money away from our schools, let them know that, too. Tell them how unhappy you are that our schools have not received an increase in funding since 2019, despite a record amount of available funding.
Do it often. Ask your family and friends to advocate for public schools, too. Our lawmakers need to hear your voice loud, clear, and often. Things won’t change until they hear from us consistently.
Don’t forget to contact the Governor and Lieutenant Governor. Need help finding your district’s legislators? Use this link: https://wrm.capitol.texas.gov/home. Only through your active voice for public education can we make a change.
Rebecca Good, Allen
Leave Southwest alone
Subject: “Has the LUV expired for Southwest?” Sunday news report.
Thank you for this insightful article about the past, present, and possible future of Southwest Airlines. Activist investors are challenging the status quo of a remarkable airline in an effort to “increase profits and shareholder value” – with premium seating, baggage fees, and other little extras at the expense of passengers. In other words, give up your specialness and become like everyone else, who, by the way, has experienced more than one round of bankruptcy filings.
Why would anyone want to follow the failed path of its competitors? If the airline has faced headwinds, wasn’t it the result of a misguided attempt to become like others through expansion?
To the current leadership of Southwest Airlines: Stand firm against Elliott Investment Management and others who are only trying to squeeze more money out of shareholders. Customers know that premium seating is synonymous with fare increases and baggage fees are just a money-making scheme. Leave us alone. We LOVE our airline the way it is.
Stan Thiebaud, Dallas
“Waiting in Mexico” – a sad idea
This letter responds to the proposal to reinstate “wait in Mexico” conditions at our southern border.
I have visited the border at Matamoras-Brownsville twice and interviewed asylum seekers while they waited in the international line in Mexico. It is a horrific situation that no human being should have to endure, and yet some have been waiting there for years.
During my first year there, migrants slept on cold, wet or hot cement and shared a urinal that the gangs charged 25 cents to use, meaning the majority had to go to a small grassy area to relieve themselves.
They were forced to bathe and wash clothes in the Rio Grande, which contained raw sewage, and as a result many of the migrants developed contagious skin rashes. They were also terrorized by gangs who kidnapped them and took them to unknown areas to hold them hostage until relatives in their home country paid a ransom.
All of this has happened and continues to happen to migrants after their physical, dangerous and frightening journey of thousands of miles to the US border. The grim, torturous idea of ”stay in Mexico” casts a sad light on our country.
Kay Schecht, Irving
Left is not center
Subject: “Real Conservatism Needed,” by Doug Moore, Monday Letters.
Like Mr. Moore, I am a conservative Republican and have voted in every presidential election since 1972. And like him, I voted once for a Democrat – for my uncle, who was elected justice of the peace in Dallas in the 1970s. And that is where my similarities with Moore end.
He urges all non-Trump supporters to vote for the Harris-Waltz ticket. He admits that he does not agree with all of the policies supported by Kamala Harris. I would like to know what measures he supports or would tolerate to keep Donald Trump out of the White House.
Could it be Biden and Harris’ policies that have increased inflation, or the open borders? Or their proposed tax increases or price gouging, both of which will hurt Americans and the economy? Or the student loan payments that are unfair to taxpayers?
Moore wants to send a message to the Republican Party: avoid extremism, return to the center, work across party lines, and return to true conservatism. I have no “fascination with the former president” as he claims, but if Moore thinks his goals can be achieved through a far-left Harris presidency, he is sorely mistaken.
Fred Brewer, Argyle
Wow to the Sunday columns
Subject: “Love thy neighbour (all) – Imagine an election season full of better angels instead of a toxic choir,” by Peggy Wehmeyer, and “Screen responsibility goes both ways,” by Abby McCloskey, Sunday Opinion.
I said “Wow” out loud after reading both of these columns. Wehmeyer’s story of her evolving relationship with her neighbor was a story of humanity that offers hope for our species.
McCloskey’s article on the use of electronic screens in schools was a series of supernatural suggestions for schools and parents in today’s culture. The best part is that I haven’t finished reading the Sunday paper yet. Wow, I love this paper.
Dan Siculan, Royse City
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