Fort Worth school budget shortage is all about diverting your tax dollars to vouchers | Opinion

Tax money diverted from kids

So the Fort Worth ISD is experiencing a budget shortage. (Feb. 15, 1A, “Fort Worth ISD school board finalizes staff cuts”) Why am I not surprised, when state funds are withheld to try to force lawmakers to create a school voucher program?

I am against my tax dollars being diverted, leaving the public schools to cut educational opportunities to try to survive. No wonder our teachers are leaving in droves for better-paying, less-stressful jobs, even though teaching is their first love.

- Cecelia Gilbreath, Fort Worth

Lakewood Church shooting is why

There could not be a more perfect example of why Texas needs a red flag law than the recent shooting at Lakewood Church in Houston. The New York Times reported that in 2016, the shooter had been involuntarily hospitalized for mental illness. She kept several guns, including one in her son’s diaper bag. In 2022, her former mother-in-law, concerned for her grandson, asked for a welfare check. She had no way to request for the weapons to be removed.

Now the woman is dead and the grandson is critically injured.

- Philip Courtney Hogan, Dallas

I like what I see in Nikki Haley

As a mother and grandmother, I am deeply concerned about the future of our nation. I will vote for Nikki Haley for president because she had an outstanding record as governor in South Carolina, where she created jobs, got tough on illegal immigration, signed pro-life legislation and cut taxes. She is experienced in international affairs as a former ambassador to the United Nations. Most important, she is a positive person of high moral character and integrity.

We need a president who is younger, who has the energy to carry the heavy burden of leadership and who is not embroiled in the results of his or her own personal lawlessness. We need a commander in chief who is wise and can work well with our allies. As an Army mom, I believe Nikki Haley fits the bill.

- Carla Collier, Southlake

RFK Jr. disgraces his family name

Initially, I liked Robert F. Kennedy Jr., but his campaign for president has shown him to be not only an anti-vaccine extremist but also willing to trade on the family name for political gains. He claims that a political committee didn’t consult him about a new television commercial for his campaign that is basically plagiarism of a 1960 campaign ad for his uncle, President John F. Kennedy. (Feb. 13, Star-Telegram.com, “Super Bowl ad for RFK Jr. stirs Democratic and family tension over his independent White House bid”) All I can say is: Bobby Jr., you are slick, but you’re no JFK.

I am glad the Kennedy family has repudiated this. The family needs to come out regularly between now and Election Day to remind voters of RFK Jr.’s unsuitability.

- James A. Marples, Longview

Border problems belong to the GOP

The opinion expressed in your recent editorial “Border security bill shows all the ways Congress is broken” missed the mark. (Feb. 11, 4C) While Republican Sen. James Lankford called the proposed border legislation the most conservative immigration bill to come before Congress in years, your editorial board could only complain that it “fell short.”

Why not call the Republicans’ opposition what it is: a cynical attempt to continue to blame Democrats for immigration laws that have failed us for three decades. From last week on, every immigrant crossing the border belongs to the Republicans.

- Paul W. Hartman, Fort Worth

Fuel cells are the energy future

Andrea Hitt might be right about natural gas and renewables for now, (Feb. 4, 5C, “Solar and wind didn’t fuel Texas during cold snap”) but when hydrogen is generated during the day by solar-powered electrolysis, we’ll be able to use it at night as a fallback energy source through fuel cells.

- Luke Reilly, Fort Worth