Cloudy Future

Re: “Schools would pay for property tax cap,” Front Page, Jan. 6:

If we thought our national leadership was laughable, depressing and dangerous, look at Texas’ education problem. The Express-News’ analysis of Gov. Greg Abbott’s property tax cuts show they mirror the Republican tax cuts of 2018, which will cripple our national government with debt and underfunding all vital departments other than Defense. In Texas, our governor thinks more property taxes should be cut, even though Texas schools ranks 37th in funding. There was little mention of school finance reform that parents have been requesting for years.

Thank goodness, in the Opinion Section, (Re: “It’s time to reform public school finance,” Opinion, Jan. 6), local Chamber of Commerce leaders Paula GoldWilliams and Richard Perez describe the neglect school districts like Edgewood suffer with our current system. Less funding burdens our schools with fewer teachers, resources and less preparation for our youth’s future. Because the state is not fully funding our state colleges, some students already can’t afford a higher education. In the 1970s through the 1990s we had better funding — when we had Democrats like Dolph Briscoe, Mark White and Ann Richards. Sadly, Texans re-elected Republicans who are not as concerned with education as they are with tax cuts. Perhaps in future elections, more Texans can be more considerate and thoughtful of our youth’s future.