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.

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.

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 It seems our elected officials no longer represent their constituents because this bill would not have passed they did.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!

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?

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

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.

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

Image credit:
Jim Schlossnagle (Photo by Eddie Kelly/ ProLook Photos)

Nearly every major moment in Friday night’s clash between No. 1 Texas and Texas A&M unfolded in plain view.

Sophomore right fielder Tommy Farmer’s first-career home run in the seventh inning proved decisive in a 2-1 Longhorns win. Junior righthander Ruger Riojas delivered 5.2 shutout frames in his first Friday night start, an effort he later called one of the best of his season.

There was Riojas’ inning-ending double play in the fourth, costly defensive miscues from both sides in the seventh and eighth and a string of five consecutive strikeouts from freshman closer Dylan Volantis to slam the door.

Yet, the moment that may define the weekend was almost imperceptible.

If you were watching on TV, you missed it. If you were in the stands, you likely did, too. Before Texas A&M junior center fielder Jace LaViolette dug in for his first at-bat, he cast a glance toward the Texas dugout and nodded, locking eyes with his former head coach, Jim Schlossnagle.

It was a silent acknowledgement, a quietly-set tone for a weekend unlike any other between two programs that have never been so intertwined.

Schlossnagle, a veteran skipper now onto the fourth stop of his illustrious head coaching career, did little to try to hide that much.

“I’m full of emotion,” Schlossnagle said. “I [have] to coach the team, and I can coach the team in the moment. But when you’re sitting there and Jace walks over in his first at-bat and we make eye contact or Caden (Sorrell)—I care deeply about those guys. I had to make a professional choice. It had nothing to do with the players there or the players here … You coach the game without the emotion, but my heart was racing.”

That emotion wasn’t contained to Schlossnagle’s corner of the dugout. It threaded through the ballpark in a low, constant current beneath every pitch and every swing. From the stands, it was palpable. Not overtly hostile, but unmistakably personal—a rivalry reborn as familiarity.

On the field, the game carried the same charge. Riojas, a converted bullpen arm pressed into starting duty, fought through an Aggies lineup Schlossnagle praised for its toughness and potential for “changing the game with one swing.” They were qualities he had helped cultivate, now turned against him.

Success, after all, has rarely strayed far from Schlossnagle’s wake.

Across 22 full seasons as a head coach, his teams have reached the NCAA Tournament 19 times and the College World Series seven times, finishing once as national runner-up. He has rebuilt programs from the ground up and sharpened already formidable ones.

The pattern is repeating itself with startling efficiency at Texas.

The Longhorns, despite a rash of midseason injuries, have remained firm atop the college baseball world. Their magic number to secure at least a share of the SEC regular season title is already down to seven with three full weekends left to play. Earlier this week, they became just the third team to hold the No. 1 spot in Baseball America’s Top 25 rankings for consecutive weeks this season. As of April 26, they lead the nation with 14 Quadrant 1 wins, a critical mark as they push for the NCAA Tournament’s top seed.

They’ve done it with a masterful blend of instant-impact transfers, precocious freshmen and proven returners, all cultivated by one of the strongest coaching staffs in the country.

On Friday night, though, the tangled web of Schlossnagle’s past and present was impossible to ignore.

The pitchers he once recruited faced the hitters he vetted. The coaches he once hired stood in both dugouts, Texas A&M head coach Michael Earley among them. Every pitch, every at-bat, seemed layered with a deeper meaning, a collision of old loyalties and new ambitions.

It made for a night thick with unspoken acknowledgments, silent challenges and shared history.

“It’s OK for the fans to make this bigger than an SEC three-game series, but it’s not OK for us to do it,” Schlossnagle said. “We just have to keep plugging and adding wins when we can get them to put ourselves in a position to play beyond the SEC tournament.”

And yet, for all the pragmatism, the emotions still bled through the cracks.

During a quiet moment while a drone show painted the sky, Schlossnagle caught himself again, this time tipping his cap, quietly, to Texas A&M ace Ryan Prager, the lefthander who “pitched our club to the College World Series last year.”

He could—and did—coach the moment. But he also couldn’t outrun it.

“It’s awesome to get the win,” Schlossnagle said before a long pause that left a silence only filled by the tapping of his clipboard against his leg. “I’m just glad it’s over with. Tomorrow should be a little bit easier. We’re not playing an easier team. Just personally. For me.”