Austin American-Statesman Letters to the Editor: March 26, 2023

Abbott embarks on the first step

to dismantling public education

March 22 article, “Gov. Greg Abbott vows Texas Legislature will pass school choice proposals. Here's why."

Instead of working to fix an antiquated funding system for public schools in Texas, Greg Abbott chooses to take taxpayer money and give it to private schools.

Shouldn’t this require voter approval? This is the first step to dismantling public education in this state. Take the money away from public schools that are already struggling, and give it to private schools.

Private schools have admission policies and can dismiss unruly or troublesome students easily. Public schools must serve the masses. When the playing field slants in your direction, you can’t help but succeed.

 Tip Giles, Austin

Bill would bypass librarians and

leave judgments to book vendors

Re: March 23 article, "Texas House bill would ban some books from school libraries. Here's what's proposed."

Instead of trusting Texas school librarians, who are required to have a master's degree and at least two years of teaching experience, this bill, House Bill 900, bypasses our role and places the responsibility for making these judgments on book vendors — basically salespeople. And why assume parents will trust the vendor’s ratings over the judgment of their local school librarians?

As written, the bill is confusing and burdensome. I fear it will drastically slow the process of purchasing books. Children clamoring for the latest book in a favorite series will have to wait. And wait.

In an age of TikTok, YouTube and Instagram, librarians encourage students to read. Reading for pleasure is critically important because the more students read, the more their reading comprehension, attention, writing skills, test scores and empathy grow.

Sara Stevenson, Austin

The right thing to do is to fix public

schools, not deprive them of funding

March 22 article, “Gov. Greg Abbott vows Texas Legislature will pass school choice proposals. Here's why."

I hope the legislature will “Stand with Parents,” all of whom I know are against taking money out of their neighborhood schools.

Advocates for “school choice” (vouchers) hold signs saying, “My child, my money, my choice.” To them I say, “My grandchildren, my money (taxes), my choice.” If students are trapped in underperforming schools the right thing to do is fix the schools, not starve them of funds.

The legislature has a good opportunity with the budget surplus to make meaningful improvements, starting with increasing teacher pay and limiting class sizes.

Caren Floyd, Austin

Training experience could offer

a fix for state's nursing shortage

March 22 commentary, "The nursing shortage is a code red for the Texas legislature."

Decades ago I graduated from an X-ray technician program affiliated with a Chicago hospital. My classes were held in a hospital conference room. I did clinical training under the supervision of registered technicians and I received a small stipend. For a reasonable fee, I lived across the street in a dorm for nursing and X-ray students. I felt safe and protected.

After completion of the program, I passed the state registry as did the other people in my cohort. We all got jobs afterwards.

I realize that today's world has changed dramatically and the experience I described cannot be easily duplicated, but maybe something similar can be implemented here as a remedy to the state's nursing shortage. It's worth a try.

Valerie Goranson, Round Rock

Private schools would still be out

of reach for most Texas families

There is a common misconception about school vouchers. The wording "families would receive the $8,000" used in some news reports is misleading. Families would not receive any money. Instead, an ESA, or education savings account, would be created in their name and would be administered by the state. The money would be parsed out directly to the vendors, and only to organizations and resources expressly authorized by the state.

For those families who would like to send their children to a private school, that $8,000 won’t go very far. Using numbers pulled from Niche.com, only 216 out of 2,027 private schools in Texas offer tuition at a rate of $10,000 or less.

Contrary to its claim, Senate Bill 8 would not make private schools financially possible for most Texans.

Eve Margolis, Austin

Why is the education board not intent

on making our public schools better?

Abbott wants parents to have a choice and has been campaigning for private and other schools.

"We will not use your taxpayer dollars to teach our kids to hate … America," and “Our children are being taught a radical, woke agenda,” says Abbott. This begs the question, who is responsible for the school system that our governor disparages? If there is any criticism levied at our schools, should it not be directed internally?

Now with six new members, mostly conservatives, the 15-member State Board of Education walked back its opposition to school vouchers.

The pandemic was hard enough on students and teachers without having our leadership pull the rug out from underneath the system. Given the challenges facing our schools, and given that the state has just taken over the Houston school district, how is it possible that the SBOE is not 100% focused on making Texas’ public school program better?

Peter Ellis, Austin

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This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Austin American-Statesman Letters to the Editor: March 26, 2023