Will out-of-state billionaire’s record donation to Abbott buy school vouchers in Texas? | Opinion

Billionaire money talks loudest

Are there voters who believe their single votes carry the weight of the person who just donated $6 million to Gov. Greg Abbott? The largest donation in Texas history by Jeff Yass, a Pennsylvania Republican multibillionaire supporter of school vouchers, may buy the state a voucher system.

Most Texans want a first-class, adequately funded public school system serving every student.

In a democracy, a citizen gets one vote, while a megadonor can get legislation. It is another example of inequality and exclusion.

- Loveta Eastes, Fort Worth

Administration let us down

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was recently admitted to the hospital for surgery without informing President Joe Biden or his own deputy of his absence. (Jan. 10, 3A, “Defense Secretary Austin has prostate cancer, doctors say”) Meanwhile, the U.S. took major military action against targets in Yemen. Who was in charge?

If a major department head of a huge private company took leave without informing the chief executive, he or she would face serious consequences. But not in the Biden administration. Both Austin, for not reporting his absence and for poor performance, and Biden, for not taking corrective action, share responsibility in this fiasco.

- William Brown, Arlington

Abbott right to spread problem

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s open letter to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in Sunday’s Star-Telegram is laughable. (16A) His point is obviously to keep immigrants who are in the country illegally in Texas. Pritzker writes that Abbott is “dropping off asylum seekers without alerting us to their arrival at improper locations at all hours of the night.” Hello, welcome to the party. That is exactly what is happening at thousands of locations along the U.S. border.

Abbott is doing the right thing by letting Illinois share the burden of unfettered illegal immigration. Pritzker posits that federal reform is the key, however, as stated by Sen. Tom Cotton: The phrase “comprehensive immigration reform” is Washington code for amnesty, mass immigration and open borders in perpetuity.

And the cold weather in Illinois Pritzker worries migrants are being subjected to without proper clothing? Sunday’s forecast high temperature in North Texas is 37 degrees, with a low of 33. Next question.

- Mark Swanson, Mansfield

Kids need warmer clothing

While I agree that we went to school when it was this cold in the past, this time the schools made the right decision. (Jan. 18, 10A, “DFW schools shouldn’t have closed just over cold temps”)

In the past, parents bought coats, gloves and hats for kids having to wait for the bus, as the editorial suggests. Those waits sometimes are up to 30 minutes. But now, that isn’t always the case. Many parents buy their kids only hoodies, and many don’t have proper outerwear like we did in the past. Also, have you been in some of those classrooms in the winter? Even when it is above 32 degrees outside, some of them are freezing.

- Beth Karpinski, Fort Worth

Pro-life? Drop the uncivil bluster

For most of the years I’ve lived here, I’ve viewed Texas proudly. We are a quirky bunch, lots of bluster and big talk. But lately, the big talk has turned mean, and the political bluster uncivil. And inhumane.

The border crisis is undeniable. But can anyone call themselves pro-life if they are only concerned with the survival of an embryo and not a child drowning in the Rio Grande, or a child bused to a northern state in the middle of winter with no warm clothing and left stranded on the outskirts of the city? None of that is pro-life. And it most definitely is not in Christian teachings.

To be pro-life is to care deeply about all life.

- Wendy Stoecker, Arlington