Letters to the Editor | Week of May 26-31, 2025

Support teachers

As the 2025 legislative session unfolds, Texas teachers remain underpaid despite a historic budget surplus and worsening educator shortages. Gov. Greg Abbott continues to claim he supports teacher pay raises, yet has tied them to the controversial school voucher program — effectively holding salaries hostage for political gain. Meanwhile, the Republican-led Senate has consistently stalled or killed bills that would provide across-the-board raises, including House Bill 2, which faces an uncertain future.

This betrayal is deeply felt in South Texas, where public schools are the backbone of low-income communities. While some lawmakers like Senators Judith Zaffirini and Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa and Reps. Mando Martinez, Bobby Guerra and Sergio Muñoz Jr. stood strong for public education, others — including Reps. Janie Lopez (San Benito) and Ryan Guillen (Rio Grande City)— voted to divert public funds to private institutions. Rep. Oscar Longoria’s vote against vouchers rings hollow given his vocal support for “school choice” in the past.

Education is vital to lifting South Texas families out of poverty. Yet instead of investing in our schools and paying teachers what they deserve, our leaders are using education as a political pawn. Until teacher pay is prioritized on its own merits — not as leverage — Texas public schools will continue to suffer.

Fabiola Escalon

McAllen

Trump bashed

In his “100 days” Oval Office interview with Terry Moran of ABC News, Donald Trump complained about the Supreme Court’s mandate to provide burdensome due process “trials” for deportees. He asked, “Did Biden give trials to 21 million people flooding into this country?” Moran mentioned these were very different “hearings,” not trials, but to no avail.

The president was asked why he requires money from law firms where an individual lawyer worked in some way against him. He said, “They just signed whatever I put in front of them. I guess they gave me hundreds of millions because they felt they did something wrong.” In truth, they must pay their way out of enemies’ prison like medieval Catholics stuck in purgatory.

The president also has an uncanny knack for knowing what the future would be like without his leadership. Concerning tariffs he said, “I could have left the economy alone, but there would have been an implosion like nobody’s ever seen.” How scary to know that the world goes off the rails without the guiding hand of our own very special elected official.

Kimball Shinkoskey

Woods Cross, Utah

Editor’s note: We welcome your letters and commentary. Submissions must include the writer’s full name, address and daytime telephone number for verification. Letters of 200 words or fewer will be given preference. Submissions may be edited for length, grammar and clarity. Letters may be mailed to P.O Box 3267, McAllen, Texas 78502-3267, or emailed to letters@myRGV.com.

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