letter to the editor

Dear Editor: Early voting will have begun by the time this is published, but perhaps there will be many Republican voters who might find this helpful.

The Republican Party of Texas has 13 primary ballot propositions this year. These are NOT referendums nor will the outcome of the voting result in any of these propositions failing or passing. The party is simply asking the voters in the Texas Republican Primary whether they agree or do not agree with the proposition. Your vote will inform the legislature what you, as a Republican, are most interested in the legislature pursuing.

With that in mind, there is a very controversial proposition on the ballot. This is Proposition 11. It states, “Texas parents and guardians shall have the right to select schools, whether public or private, for their children, and the funding should follow the student.”

This proposition has two parts. First, whether you agree whether Texas parents have a RIGHT to make this decision for their children.Secondly, whether funding should be diverted tow here ver the child might receive his/her education.

The residents of Shackel ford County do not have much to beconcerned about in how their students are being educated, and what they are being taught. This is a close,conservative community that elects people on the various boards in our county or city who they do business with, go to church with, eat and fellowship with. But there are certainly districts in Texas, mostly in the large cities, that are pushing agendas that cross the line in what children are being exposed to, sometimes without the parents knowing until it becomes a media circus. It is for this reason that the legislature is asking whether parents have the right to make the choice where their children are to be educated. Most everyone would say, “Heck, yeah!” But when it comes to the money, ah, there’s the rub. The argument is that less funding for public schools will hurt them.Thatisquite possibly true. But again, the schools that will feel the money crunch will be those in large school districts that are, by and large, causing parents to no longer have faith in their public schools. Outside our small local Christian school in Albany, there are no other private schools in the county where this “lost” money would go. It’s basically a moot point where we live.

This proposition prompt smany emotional, rather than logical, responses. The bottom line, however, is if parents DON’T have the right to determine where their children are educated-and how-- one has to answer the question, “Who does?”. Unfortunately, the voter can’t agree with one part of the proposition and disagree with the other. It’s an allin- one choice.

At any rate, voters should understand they are simply agreeing or disagreeing with the thirteen proposition sappearing on the Republican ballot this year. Ladonna Viertel