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Letters to the Editor — Reactions to the Texas House passing school choice

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Letters to the Editor — Reactions to the Texas House passing school choice


Time’s wasting

A large swath of our education system is failing too many students. If public schools are not achieving appropriate standards, rather than expending energy on disagreeing with and protesting “school choice” or homeschooling, channel it toward just fixing the problem! But wait — that requires admitting there’s a problem and instigating changes. Ignoring the problem won’t make it go away.

Our education system was once the envy of the world. Sadly, over the years, expectations and standards have been lowered, while proficiency outcomes have declined. Wow, who could’ve seen that coming? Evidently no one.

If public schools were great, no one would be seeking alternatives. Truth is, far too many schools are less than adequate, and parents rightly should be all over the educational community to improve.

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Throwing more money at the problem is not the answer. The solution has two parts: committed parents wanting their kids to succeed, and a far-reaching change in the culture of the educational community.

My humble advice to lawmakers, teachers and administrators is to simply admit there’s a problem, take accountability and then get to work on solving it right now. Time’s a-wastin’.

B.R. Allen, Aubrey

Violating Texas Constitution

Re: “House OKs ‘school choice’ — $1B plan allows Texans to use state dollars to fund private education,” April 18 news story.

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Only those accepted by a private school can receive a voucher, so whose choice is it? The bill that passed the Texas Legislature created taxpayer-funded vouchers for private schools, even religious schools. Both points violate the Texas Constitution.

Dinah Miller, Dallas/Prestonwood

Despite constituents’ wishes

Well, the voucher bill passed, not that it was the right thing to do. It seems our elected officials no longer represent their constituents because this bill would not have passed they did.

Powerful money has infiltrated our common sense and civic duty — a governor who paid to get certain loyalists elected who he knew would pass his agenda. This was not the people’s choice. It was Big Money’s (politicians’) choice.

It should be against the law to do such a thing. In fact, I wonder if it isn’t? The Texas Constitution maintains in Article 7, Sec.1 “It shall be the duty of the Legislature of the State to establish and make suitable provision for the support and maintenance of an efficient system of public free schools.” No mention of private schools!

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Also, check out Article 7, Sec. 3a, “Taxes for Benefit of Schools.” In essence, it seems to me, our Legislature has violated the state Constitution.

Now our tax dollars will give people who can well afford their children’s private education a big break while diminishing funding for public schools where the majority of children will still be attending. Our public schools have been undermined and I believe students will suffer.

Pat Reinecker, Bedford

Our better natures

Texas is headed for “school choice,” all the positives and negatives having been laid bare. Some want the nation to follow suit.

Questions: Is this not an admission by local, state and federal government of abject failure to provide adequate public education despite throwing huge amounts of public funds toward it? Is it not where the larger part of my ever-increasing property taxes go?

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Has not the vaunted lottery system making a miniscule number of instant millionaires rescued public education with its promised funding? Have our public servants failed to enact relevant, viable firearms legislation to avoid turning public schools into battlegrounds with armed guards, metal detectors and security rivalling the TSA at airports?

Change is inevitable — too many of us, too many choices every moment. Entertainment and recognition are our new gods to escape reality.

All knowledge is accessible at the tap of a finger making study obsolete. Thanks to social media, whether real or fictitious, we love a good scandal and have several to choose from each day.

I realize this is a dark view but believe it factual and accurate. Hopefully, our better natures will surface and regain the soul of America.

Ted M. Moore, Dallas/Preston Hollow

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Not business-friendly

April 17 will be remembered as the day the Texas Legislature decided to pull the rug out from under its public education system. The billionaires who bankrolled the vouchers campaign probably fancy themselves as business-friendly, but corporations considering a move to Texas will have a different perspective.

They will see a robust economy, rich enough to fund an innovative public education system, that has chosen instead to subsidize the parents who want out of it. They’ll recognize this as a vote of no confidence for education and a preference for indoctrination. That’s not a business-friendly strategy.

Garry Potts, Dallas

Betraying students

This letter is for Shelly Luther, District 62 representative.

The Texas Legislature, of which you are a member, is voting into law the “school choice” legislation which essentially takes money away from public schools and gives it to private schools. Public schools are the backbone of Texas, and your Legislature has gutted them.

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I wrote to you on your election victory night last November. You wrote back almost immediately. I brought up school vouchers. This is when you boasted you were a public school teacher, and I felt you knew what the consequences were of such a vote.

By voting for “school choice,” you and your fellow legislators have betrayed generations of Texas students, who will have less of an educational experience than your students had when you were teaching. In reality, over the long term, there will be teacher shortages, lack of facilities and virtually no resources for students.

And the families who can already afford private schools will just have a subsidy from the state to do what they were already doing: sending their children to private school.

You have betrayed millions of Texas students. How does that feel? How does the former teacher in you feel? Will future considerations make up for it? Is it worth it?

Dwayne Wilder, Denison

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Texas A&M Forward Transfer Seemingly on Visit to See Lady Vols Basketball | Rocky Top Insider

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Texas A&M Forward Transfer Seemingly on Visit to See Lady Vols Basketball | Rocky Top Insider


fatmata janneh lady vols basketball
Photo via Texas A&M Athletics

Lady Vols basketball is looking to add more pieces to its 2026-27 roster with high-level experience. After completing her junior season at Texas A&M, Fatmata Janneh has emerged as a Tennessee target for her final year of eligibility. According to her Instagram story on Sunday night, she is in Knoxville.

With the Aggies a year ago, the 6-foot-2 forward averaged 11.4 points per game on 43.3% shooting from the field. She also showed off an ability to hit from range, posting 1.1 makes per game on 33% shooting from three.

Perhaps Janneh’s biggest strength is her rebounding, though. She ripped down 9.7 boards per contest, good for the fifth-most in the SEC. This featured 2.6 rebounds on the offensive end per outing.

Janneh also averaged 1.1 assists, 1.4 steals and 0.4 blocks per game. She appeared in 27 games, starting in each.

More From RTI: How Watching The NCAA Tournament Drew Terrence Hill Jr. To Tennessee Basketball

Janneh started her career with a pair of seasons at St. Peter’s. As a sophomore, she averaged a double-double, posting 18.2 points and 11.6 rebounds per game. This made her a sought-after transfer in the portal before landing at Texas A&M as the nation’s leading defensive rebounder. As a freshman, she averaged 11.0 points and 8.0 rebounds.

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The forward is from London, England, attending Barking Abbey Sixth Form for her prep ball. She would be the second player from England to join the Tennessee roster if she committed. UT also added the commitment of incoming freshman and former Boston College signee Irene Oboavwoduo this offseason.

So far, Caldwell and the Lady Vols have landed five transfers in this portal cycle. This features Liberty guard Avery Mills, Northern Arizona guard Naomi White, Stanford forward Harper Peterson and Georgia forward Zhen Craft and guard Rylie Theuerkauf.

Tennessee will also roster a pair of incoming freshmen. Four-star recruit and top-50 prospect Gabby Minus is staying true to her signing despite the roster overhaul and assistant coaching changes, along with the addition of Oboavwoduo.





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Texas needs at least $174 billion to avoid water crisis, state says

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Texas needs at least 4 billion to avoid water crisis, state says


AUSTIN (Texas Tribune) — Texas communities will need to spend $174 billion in the next 50 years to avert a severe water crisis, a new state analysis revealed Thursday. That’s more than double the $80 billion projected four years ago, when the Texas Water Development Board last passed a state water plan.

The three-member board presiding over the agency authorized the highly anticipated draft blueprint Thursday, the first administrative step toward adopting the water development board’s plans for the next 50 years. The plan, released every five years, encompasses the projects that 16 regional water planning groups in Texas said are the most urgent, water development board officials said. 

The board’s latest estimates come as the state’s water supply faces numerous threats. Growing communities across Texas are scrambling to secure water, keep up with construction costs and cope with a yearslong drought. This week, Corpus Christi officials said the city may be just months away from declaring a water emergency. Meanwhile, other rural cities by the Coastal Bend are rapidly drilling wells to avoid a crisis. Residents in North Texas have also been bracing for groundwater shortages.

In an effort to restrain the crisis, lawmakers last year called an election in which voters approved a $20 billion boost for communities to use on water-related expenses. The water development board’s estimate shows that what lawmakers proposed on the ballot falls dramatically short of the needed cash, experts said.

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“What this number tells me at the end of the day is if we don’t get serious about (funding water projects), there are going to be serious consequences for Texas,” said Perry Fowler, executive director of the Texas Water Infrastructure Network. “Even with the billion-dollar-a-year plan kicking in, it’s not going to be enough to offset the costs of the projects that are going to have to be executed.”

The new estimate accounts for 3,000 projects, from regional infrastructure upgrades to smaller endeavors such as drilling new water wells. Texas’ water supplies are expected to drop by roughly 10% between 2030 and 2080, according to the water plan. In that same time frame, the maximum amount of water communities can draw is also expected to decline by 9%.

The 80-page plan notes approximately 6,700 recommended strategies that would add water to the state’s dwindling portfolio. The recommendations — which are not accounted for in the cost — include developing new supplies from aquifer storage and recovery, brackish groundwater, desalination and recycled water. It also calls for water conservation.

The report suggested that if Texas does not implement the plans and recommendations, the state is one severe drought away from an estimated $91 billion in economic damages in 2030.

The state’s plan attributes a variety of reasons for the bigger price tag, such as higher costs of construction due to inflation, impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on supply chains, and a growing backlog of water supply projects.

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“There’s a plan that can meet our needs,” said Matt Nelson, deputy executive administrator for the Office of Planning at the water development board, adding that they take their cues from the regional planning groups. “These are local projects that folks need to implement; they’re needed regardless of how they’re funded. It’s important to remember these are not top-down projects or state projects.”

Experts told The Texas Tribune that the board’s estimate is only a fraction of what Texas communities will need to ensure they have water in 50 years’ time, saying growth and development are outpacing the state’s ability to keep up.

“This is a bigger water plan in terms of volume strategies and capital costs compared to anything we’ve ever seen before,” said Jeremy Mazur, the director of infrastructure and natural resources policy at think tank Texas 2036.

Mazur suggested that the $174 billion only covers water supply projects and does not account for updating aging infrastructure, adding that the actual price could amount to a quarter of a trillion dollars.

“There’s a substantial magnitude with regard to the capital investment needed to both fix our aging and current systems and potentially develop the water infrastructure, water supply projects that we need.“

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The report largely confirmed what many water experts have warned regarding threats to the state’s water supply, said Sarah Kirkle, director of policy at the Texas Water Association.

“Population growth, extreme weather, and economic development needs are all increasing demands on our infrastructure, and the state is going to need more water, sooner,” Kirkle said. “This is all while water projects are becoming more costly and complex because the easiest and cheapest local projects have already been developed.”

Fowler, with the infrastructure network, said he expects the Texas Legislature to take up the issue next year, when lawmakers meet for the 90th legislative session. He said the state should take a bigger role in ensuring that communities can afford their respective water projects.

“It’s going to have to be a top-down priority, there’s no way around it,” he said. “The challenges are so immense that it’s going to take all hands on deck.”

Texas residents have until the end of May to comment on the proposal. Water development board officials must adopt it by January 2027.

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Alejandra Martinez contributed to this story.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at www.texastribune.org. The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans – and engages with them – about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.



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Co‑worker confesses to killing missing North Texas man and stealing his car, police say

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Co‑worker confesses to killing missing North Texas man and stealing his car, police say



A North Texas man reported missing earlier this week was found dead Friday, and police say a co‑worker has confessed to fatally shooting him and stealing his car.

The suspect, Gregory D. Lewis, 34, remains in custody and faces a forthcoming capital murder charge, according to the Fort Worth Police Department. 

Lewis is accused of killing 31‑year‑old Thomas King, who had been last seen in his Taco Casa work uniform. King was reported missing on Tuesday after failing to return home Monday from the fast‑food restaurant in the 1100 block of Bridgewood Drive.

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Car found at Arlington motel 

Police said King’s car was found at the Quality Inn on I‑20 in Arlington, and surveillance video showed Lewis arriving in King’s vehicle shortly after King left work. 

Detectives identified the man in the video and arrested him on unrelated charges.

  Gregory D. Lewis, 34

Tarrant County Jail

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Body discovered on Fort Worth’s East Side 

King’s body was located on Friday in an open field on Fort Worth’s East Side, authorities said. 

According to police, Lewis confessed to shooting the victim and stealing his car. 

Medical examiner review pending 

The Tarrant County Medical Examiner will determine the cause of death. 

CBS News Texas has reached out to Taco Casa for comment.

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